<p>Not from this site, but a really good essay written by someone I know or someone online?</p>
<p>How can colleges find out it whether it's yours?</p>
<p>For example, if I use my older friend's essay to apply to schools he didn't apply to, how would the schools I apply to know it's not mine?</p>
<p>I really am just asking this question out of curiosity.</p>
<p>Well, I figured I'd get a comment in before the torrent of people telling you personally not to do it, how it could backfire, etc. I'll instead take you at your word that you're asking this out of curiosity.</p>
<p>Realistically, there isn't much chance of you being found out. That said, AdComs are rumored to have this uncanny ability to detect plagiarism, and if they feel as though your work isn't actually your work, they could easily toss you out without a second though.</p>
<p>That said, it's generally a better idea to write your own essay. Your friend's essay may be great, but you have something unique to offer to the table. I've rarely found that someone else's essay was "good enough" for me to use as my own. I don't say this out of pretentiousness but out of the simple fact that I like my own work way better than I like other people's ideas of what the work should look like.</p>
<p>Plus there always IS that chance that you could get caught red-handed. Not entirely sure how, maybe if someone reported you, but it could happen.</p>
<p>Of course the first reason is because you'd be dishonest.</p>
<p>But after that, you would need to modify it to fit your specific ECs and stuff like that. It wouldn't be in your own voice, either.
Honestly, I don't know how they could catch you if it was just an essay written by an older friend that was never put online or anywhere, not like I think you should do it. If it's from another person online, then there is a chance that the school would search for duplications within their database and reject the both of you; you would be screwing yourself and someone else in that case.</p>
<p>Don't steal essays...</p>
<p>yeah, write your own</p>
<p>I will write my own, I was just curious. </p>
<p>Because why should the essay be a crucial factor in college admissions, if it is seemingly really easy to cheat on?</p>
<p>"Why shouldn't I steal an essay?"</p>
<p>In addition to lowering your own self-esteem forever, there's the practical problem of being admitted to a school that's too hard for you, and then flunking out.</p>
<p>bump for my last question</p>
<p>Not so easy:</p>
<p>Turnitin:</a> Home: Welcome to Turnitin
iThenticate</a> | Content Protection | Home Page
EVE2</a> Plagiarism Detection for Teachers</p>
<p>Not to mention checking against the graded writing sample and SAT W.</p>
<p>already wrote my essay and completely happy...but just the question about the essay vs. the SAT W. What if you spent hours writing about a topic you love for you college essay, and wrote it very well BUT you wrote an SAT W essay in 25 minutes about something you're not too crazy about first thing in the morning?</p>
<p>^yea...my SAT essays are always crap, but I'm spending so much time on making sure I do the college essays really really well. I hope a 25 minute sample can't screw me completely from having a good app essay...</p>
<p>This is one reason some schools are not fully utilizing the SAT W score. Our D's school said that their "students will almost never encounter an analogous, time-constrained essay exam ... we worry that the standardized and time-limited nature of the ACT and SAT essay exams encourage a kind of artificial, mechanized, writing-for-the-test that seems antithetical to the reflective and analytical writing taught in a rigorous liberal arts curriculum ... we further believe that good writing involves rewriting, something standardized, time limited essay exams do not allow."</p>
<p>hmm, I'm curious, has anyone heard of someone being wrongfully accused of "stealing" an essay? seems like a possible situation, if you're paranoid</p>