<p>So, I'm stressed out about apps. My own fault, I know. So are several of my friends. My solution: lots of caffeine and hope. My friend's solution: reusing his cousin's essay for the common app essay.</p>
<p>:O Knowing that we are applying to a lot of the same schools and that he's doing this...well, it ****es me off.</p>
<p>^Didn't know that was a blocked word. Sorry. I just needed to rant.</p>
<p>Some of the schools we're both applying to - Stanford, Yale, Brown, St. John's, UChicago, etc. I wonder where his cousin applied. (I hope he gets caught...But, I doubt it. But, then again, his cousin did apply just last year. I don't know..)</p>
<p>Your friend is a moron.</p>
<p>No offense.</p>
<p>(that's exactly what I was thinking when he told me what he was going to do)</p>
<p>But beyond being upset because he's being a moron...I'm upset because I worked hard on my essays. Or rather, am still working hard on them. And he's just...gah.</p>
<p>I think that this is the exception to the rule, so don't freak out about it, those who worked dilligently on essays of their own. </p>
<p>Your friend is taking a big risk.</p>
<p>If his cousin wrote amazing essays, well lucky him.
If his cousin wrote mediocre essays it's not going to help him.</p>
<p>He's not going to get caught though.</p>
<p>Dude! He's going to get caught for sure. Just make sure you can prove you wrote it first before they he can say you were the one that copied.</p>
<p>I don't know if his cousin wrote great essays. I've never met him. I did ask, though, and his cousin is at MIT, so I'm assuming he wrote amazing essays.</p>
<p>I hope he gets caught...I mean, his cousin submitted it last year. I'm sure that the essay will still "feel familiar" to the adcoms. They read a lot of essays, but they probably remember them somewhat for a year or two, right?</p>
<p>Unless your friend is applying to the same schools his cousin did, he wont get caught. And if he is, who knows? </p>
<p>Do schools keep essays on file?</p>
<p>I think they keep your application on file for a few years in case you apply again. Not sure. I would assume they'd keep the application, especially if the person got in. Just in case later there's something that doesn't seem right. In other words, if they lied on the application.</p>
<p>These schools read 15,000+ applications a year. You think that that the adcoms actually remember any of these for more than a month or two (assuming that the essay isnt Hemingway, that is)?</p>
<p>Nothing's going to happen to him unless someone says something OR its really, really good.</p>
<p>Devil's advocate here: essays are digitally entered and we all know how easy it would be to run a match on a character string back to a database of essays...</p>
<p>"lets run "first line checker" on this essay, Bob, I'm a little suspicious"</p>
<p>Hmmm let's see.
At my old school, this one girl was reusing a girl who had graduated the previous year's essay for her Uchicago essay.
It sounded exactly the same.
Later, her ex-best friend wanted to read it, broke into her email, and took the essay and read over all her college apps to find out that she lied on everything.
He told the entire school, the counselor, and sent complaints and copies of the essay and apps to UChicago.</p>
<p>She was rejected from Uchicago EA.</p>
<p>Just an anecdote to be cautious.</p>
<p>your friend is not smart enough to write an essay to get into those schools? he is already starting with the wrong foot!
I am furious, beacause like most of us, we are working our butts off and there he goes taking a break from it? what's his excuse! whrfff!</p>
<p>multitasker - I totally never considered that. He is smart, but his laziness is enough of a terrible start. Well, that and his obvious lack of integrity. </p>
<p>I'm assuming he's using the essay for the Common App main essay, so he'll get caught right? Thing is, I can't really do much considering all I know is what he has told me, but if it is digitally entered, then I'm sure the colleges will find it, right? They'll realize that it sounds familiar (he did describe it to me and it sounds really creative) and call him on it.</p>
<p>I steal people's ideas. But not their expression. Which makes all the difference. (Just like Shakespeare stole from Sophocles...)</p>
<p>Does anyone just plug in essays they've already written -- e.g. reusing your own essays?</p>
<p>Plagiarism is surprisingly easy to detect if anyone's looking for it, from a computational standpoint. That is, if any college runs all the essays through a service similar to turnitin, then your friend will be caught if both essays are in the database. Even if significant portions of it were changed, the word patterns will still be evident, and the similarity would be detected.</p>
<p>Not that I support/oppose this idea, but you may want to confidentially tell the schools your friend is applying to what your friend has done-- not to sabotage your friend's apps or help your apps, but to teach your friend a lesson - what he did was wrong. Dead wrong. Completely unacceptable in the world of academia. It's much better he learn the lesson that it's wrong to plagiarize now than later in life when you have a reputation to defend(Imagine applying to grad school having been suspended/expelled for plagiarizing). It may seem harsh doing something like that to your friend - but it may be to his own benefit.</p>
<p>Anyway, just a thought.</p>
<p>"Not that I support/oppose this idea, "</p>
<p>I am only sure you are making a very modest proposal. <em>rolleyes</em></p>
<p>i would not worry about what my friend is doing and just worry about my own applications. i definitely would not say anything to anyone about it because it would reflect poorly on my character and perhaps your friend is only saying he's doing this. you aren't 100% sure he's actually going to go through with it. he may have a change of heart/stop being a moron and write his own essay.</p>
<p>I agree with Newjack88... don't worry about</p>
<p>If he really is going to do that, he'll feel the ramifications of that later (whether it is through rejection or being accepted, but not being happy at his new school or not being able to handle it... if he just isn't going to write his own essay, I don't see how he would be successful later on)...what goes around, comes around</p>
<p>Finished my apps :] </p>
<p>Newjack - He did end up going through with it, but I'm not 100% sure (he told me he did, but, hey, I didn't see him actually do it)</p>
<p>Tapedduck - You're right. I think just the emotional strain would be enough to handle.</p>
<p>Mikesown - Do colleges actually do that - cross referencing word patterns, portions of the essay - with other colleges' applications b/c it's a similar service? (I made two my of last minute "Why" essays pretty similar, which I know is generic and offensive...but, at 3 am, I didn't care.) I'm not going to tell the colleges. His decisions, like the two posts above me mentioned, it will catch up to him in one way or another.</p>