<p>Assuming you don't state the reasons you should be accepted to Harvard in your Yale application, would using the same essays for each school you apply to be good or bad? Why?</p>
<p>Depends on the prompt. If they ask you why Harvard/Yale or what will you bring to the university I would say so. If it's something different that doesn't really involve the college you are applying to it doesn't matter</p>
<p>i don't think that it's a bad thing since admission officers know that we're applying to more than 1 school and on top of that, we have our senior courseload and ecs</p>
<p>for me, i tweaked my essays to accomodate the school that i applied to so all of them were 50-75% identical</p>
<p>Exactly. Recycling essays is fine as long as you do it properly. That's expected. Re-using exact essays is fine if it's a "topic of your choice" prompt as long as the essay mentions the right school ;) and would be good for both schools.</p>
<p>thanks..this is useful stuff 8)</p>
<p>The main essays for both Harvard and Yale are the common app ones.</p>
<p>Most colleges will require a general prompt, and you can get it to work with just a bit of finagling.</p>
<p>D had 3 main essays that she wrote and was able to rework them multiple times for college apps, and later for scholarship apps. She didn't just plug them in; you have to read the prompt and make sure you are addressing them. For a couple of her apps, there was a generic..."if you've written an essay for another application and would like to use it, state the prompt you were answering before your essay." She's a really good writer, but after a while, you just can't come up with something entirely different, and I don't think there's a reason you have to. It's not like colleges will be comparing notes with each other. As long as the original essay is all yours, you can reuse it however you feel appropriate...</p>
<p>I agree. However, just to let you know some colleges do compare. MIT and Harvard used to compare applicants which caused a huge law suit against MIT, because Harvard agreed to stop. MIT won the case, and continue to compare things with other schools. However, comparing essays they never do!</p>
<p>Why da hell not? I used the same essay for all of my schools, err... 'cept Syracuse, and got into all of my schools 'cept the one I originally wrote the essay for. (Note the irony)</p>
<p>Dont make the same mistake a friend of mine did...he wants to study international relations and talked in his essays about his love for the subject, and mailed the same essay in which he proclaims his love for int. rels. at MIT (he is also considering engineering). So he got rejected from MIT (but got into Yale )</p>
<p>It's better to just write different essays for the different schools since </p>
<p>1) increase your writing ability
2) more focused on answering the prompt, a subtle, but possibly significant advantage</p>
<p>Just my .02</p>
<p>At the point of applying, most people know the quirks of the schools they are applying to. If you are asked the same or similiar essay questions for two different schools, it is okay to use the same general essay, but it should be tweaked to fit the school. For all six schools I plan to apply to, I know enough about the schools that I wouldn't copy-paste essays to them. I know what the schools emphasis and what they like to see, and none of them are the same- no two colleges are. </p>
<p>When I read an essay question, I think, "How does this question RELATE to (insert school name here)? Why did they choose this question and this wording? Can I identify the particular parts of my character they are trying to match to their standards through this essay?" If there are multiple essays, I think, "Why did they ask these particular essays in this combination? How do they want each one to paint a picture of me, and what are they hoping to gain by having me answer in different essays?" If I have researched the schools thoroughly enough, these questions do not all have the same answer for any of the two schools, especially not the first question, which I view as most important.</p>