<p>My friend is applying to a top school with a strict honor code, and he's using half of his brother's essay.</p>
<p>Like, the top half of his brother's essay is pretty much an exact replica (the introduction is the exact same) and the second half is changed a little bit.</p>
<p>I don't plan on reporting this person, but is it possible that he will be caught?</p>
<p>His brother is currently a senior at said university.</p>
<p>Unlikely, I would think. I don’t think they use any plagairism-checking programs or anything, and it would probably take an admissions counselor remembering the essay for him to get caught.</p>
<p>“he” (possibly you in reality) won’t get caught. Admissions officers have to read thousands of essays, and probably won’t bother to check them for plagiarism. Also, I doubt they keep records of essays from 4 years ago…</p>
<p>If you mean caught as in denied by the admissions officer and subjected to disciplinary action, then no. I personally don’t think anyone with the slightest moral conscience can a truly live knowing full well that their life is nothing but a lie.</p>
<p>^Well there are some pretty sick people in this world. Moral conscience nonexistent.</p>
<p>you’ll be caught</p>
<p>There is a risk of getting caught: if an admissions officer who read your brother’s app reads yours, they’ll likely remember it and dig up your brother’s.</p>
<p>Beyond that, it’s completely unethical and disgusting that you would even consider it. Its false representation, plagiarism, and clearly unethical—I hope you get caught.</p>
<p>Oh Christ. Brothers sharing an essay isn’t some great ethical failure. If you elevate everything to that level then it ceases to have meaning. It isn’t great, but it shouldn’t make you disgusted. That’s reactionary and hollow.</p>
<p>That said, I can’t imagine someone thick enough to use someone else’s personal essay.</p>
<p>If you, or some friend of yours, is “applying to a top school with a strict honor code”, why on earth would that person be stealing someone else’s essay? If the whole entrance to the college is a lie, then that person shouldn’t plan to go to that school. Whether or not you get caught, it’s a question about fit.</p>
<p>This is a question of character. Ethical dilemma notwithstanding, character is who you are inside. Who really cares if anyone “knows” or if there is a risk of getting caught. Doing something like that sticks to you. I am much much older and from my experience, all I can say is that Karma is a funny thing; Don’t underestimate its reach.</p>
<p>Its not that big of a deal. I personally, would never take that risk.</p>
<p>It’s not like borrowing someone’s socks. And is “being caught” the standard of ethics that The Friend plans to live up to?</p>
<p>Of course it is a big deal – it’s lying to people. I would ALWAYS consider that a big deal, because I can’t have a relationship with someone I don’t trust.</p>
<p>Everybody makes white lies. </p>
<p>But morally that is wrong – it’s plagiarism.</p>
<p>I’m an only child, so I can’t relate.</p>
<p>I probably wouldn’t do it in your situation, unless I was really stressed.</p>
<p>Besides – seriously, you can’t just keep the idea and put it in your own words? At least ATTEMPT.</p>
<p>There is only a very small chance that your “friend” will be caught. I wouldn’t worry about it.
It really doesn’t take that much effort to change at least the introduction though. </p>
<p>On the grand scale of things, I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal. I am sure most people’s personal statements consist of lies to varying degrees of severity. I’ve proofread several essays where I know everything in it was basically a lie or great exaggeration.</p>
<p>^ Maybe some people lie severely about themselves in their essay, but others just embellish. Not everyone’s life or personal experiences are actually that exciting or interesting in real life, you have to embellish a little to make it sound interesting (and show some of your unique writing style). However in this case, the friend is just taking whatever his brother wrote and pretending it all applies to him. </p>
<p>Your friend probably won’t get caught. Adcoms go through thousands of applications each year, they’re not going to remember an essay from a few years ago, unless it was a very unique/outstanding topic. But if he does get caught, then it serves him right. </p>
<p>It’s just morally wrong to cheat your way into college. I surely hope he doesn’t plagiarize essays for his writing assignments in college. It’ll be even more salty if he gets rejected still.</p>
<p>I’m laughing my behind off on the people who don’t believe that the poster is really talking about his friend and not himself, HAHA. It’s plausible! Outside of CC, some people actually have lives (and friends without moral codes.)</p>
<p>Sure. But note that it’s his first post. How likely is it that somebody would <em>find</em> CC, sign up, and post just to speculate on a hypothetical problem of a friend?</p>
<p>You know what would be funny? If your “friend” did this and got rejected-not because they figured out that he copied the essay, but simply because he didn’t measure up.</p>
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<p>lol. Yes, because lying on your college application means your whole life is a lie. Look, it’s not a good thing to do at all and I personally would never do it. But jeez people, get over yourselves.</p>