You have a choice on the commonapp: you can submit 3 different essays.
My solution requires you to 1° take a day/afternoon off from school and 2° do your own work.
REMOVE the old essay NOW and choose to enter a new essay
write your own essay and leave it there
submit it to a couple EA 11/15 or 12/1 schools
add more colleges than originally planned to your dashboard ( for which you’ll use your own essay)
This should be obvious but since you did something as shady and dishonest as have someone else write for you, I feel I have to mention this: DO NOT SHOW THIS NEW ESSAY TO YOUR BLACKMAILER/TUTOR nor anyone he may be in contact with.
-Cut your losses and notify your ED/EA school you’re withdrawing your application. No explanation needed, just be polite in the email. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, I much regret I have to withdraw my application to…”
Wait till your blackmailer contacts you again and tell him/her that, actually, you didn’t submit his essay so he’s free to contact universities, but you’re also recording this conversation and will bring it to your family’s attorney to see what can be done about the unsubsubtianted threats.
DO NOT PAY a blackmailer. Whenever possible, turn the tables on them.
Finally, please understand that it was a colossally stupid thing to do AND fraud.
Adcoms can “tell” if an essay’s been written by a kid or an adult. It’s a surefire way not to be admitted anywhere. If at any point of the admissions process you were suspected of cheating, you’d be blackballed everywhere (in the admissions process among highly selective schools) and if admitted but revealed later you’d be stripped of admission or even your degree. Yes, this HAS happened.
The problem is that you have broken school codes already, but I don’t need to tell you that. BUT the best lesson can be learned from big mistakes. Here’s an idea. Call an admissions Officer at a school the same caliber of the schools you applied to and tell them what happened. They know the pressure kids are under these days. I’m going to assume you’ll never take a shortcut again! Ask how they would handle it. You could even talk about the lesson learned in future essays as long as you are honest. Taking your lumps shows much more integrity than paying a blackmailer. Did your tutor suggest he/she write the essay? In your gut did you know it was wrong? Do not pay the blackmailer, it will tarnish your entire college experience. After getting their advice you may consider proactively contact an admissions officer where you applied, attaching an essay about what happened and what to do. Life lessons are hard, but owning up to them shows
@whatshappening, Under NO circumstances should you turn yourself in to the universities. There will be no mercy; you’ll be blackballed. Follow MYOS1634’s advice. Please (a) learn from this and (b) let us know what happens.
No matter what you decide to do about the ransom, DO NOT USE HIS ESSAY. Start from scratch, use own your own words, and make sure your entire application is completely honest. No exaggerations, no fake ECs, no gray areas at all.
Withdraw your applications from the schools to which u sent the tutor’s essay. Apply to other schools using your own essay. Then tell the extortionist to take a hike.
@whatshappening what you are reading in the thread shows different approaches to life. Kids all make stupid choices at one time or another. It’s how you take responsibility for those mistakes that help define who you are. Ask yourself what the right answer is then do it. You’ll regret not trusting yourself later.
What you care about is how this effects your applications. Unless someone on this forum is an admissions officer we don’t know. Call one or two, tell them how you want to address it then ask what they would do.
Delete the essay and write new ones. They need to be in your voice and tell your story. Shame on you for paying someone to do that for you. You are not the victim. And don’t seek revenge on him. Move on and start from scratch.
@NCmom14 Yes, lawyers and money fix problems B-) Thats what they are there for. A contract of services defines the relationship the OP had with the tutor and prevents future blackmail risk. I agree that he should not use the tutor’s essay, but the question here is how does the OP move forward with the application process and isolate future damages. Doing the ‘honest’ thing and withdrawing leaves him exposed to future blackmail threats and if the tutor is particularly tenacious then the risk could re-appear later when the OP is in college and the allegations could potentially be a risk he would have to face at that time.
@NCmom14 the parents had the tutor write the essay, this was done at their request. Integrity would appear to be in short supply in the household. The life or death scenario that has become college admissions is to say the least unfortunate. For the student to have that pressure and have parents who are advising that the best way to achieve success is through dishonesty is a blueprint for disaster. Children want to please their parents, trust and look to them for guidance. It is painful that the student has been placed in this situation by those closest to him. @whatshappening what have your parents said about how they are planning on combating this attempt at extortion?
OP made a mistake that can be fixed, but I get the impression from your posts that you think he should be punished anyway. How does “taking (his) lumps” (i.e. being blackballed permanently from colleges) help OP? It may satisfy your need for justice but it does absolutely zero for him.
@whatshappening doesn’t need a college admissions officer to tell him what to do. What he needs to do is relatively simple. Withdraw all essays he didn’t write himself, replace those essays with essays he did write, then apply to a wide range of other colleges with his own essays so he can be accepted or rejected on his own merits.
It bears repeating:
DO NOT call and volunteer this information. Politely tell your ED school you withdraw your application. ED Apps withdrawings happen every year and financial reasons are at the top of the list, although “something shady went down” may occur to the adcoms. But if you withdraw, there’s no penalty.
DO NOT pay the blackmailer.
DO write a new essay, yourself, immediately. It may not be as good as the other one but it’ll be yours and if there are any questions, you’ll clearly have submitted EA apps with an essay that isn’t the one the blackmailer says is his.
(If you need to improve that essay for the RD round, you can submit a third essay then).
Good colleges with 11/15 or 12/1 deadlines include College of Wooster, Dickinson, Ohio Wesleyan, Marist, Kalamazoo, Lake Forest. All on commonapp.
DO remember this lesson forever: if you are ever tempted to cheat while in college, or at any other point in your life, remember that it never ends well.
“learning a lesson” and “doing something stupid and un-necessary” are two different things.
Any cheating offense is cause for being rescinded. Any hint that an app was doctored is an immediate cut. And the blackballing risk is real.
The punishment here is that OP will never attend his ED school.
S/he can, however, attend very good colleges if s/he does the right thing immediately and withdraws that app.
I’d go to the police. Blackmailers aren’t known to stop. This will always loom over your head. Presenting others’ work as your own on your application could be cause for expulsion or for your degree to be rescinded. The risk doesn’t stop at admission.
I agree with T26E4. Consult an attorney. Withdraw the app, and the essay.
Write your own essays. Apply to a different list of colleges.
Paypal me a cool 300 and an address and all your problems will dissapear
I agree with another poster here, apply to a list of different schools that aren’t like the ones you’re applying to right now. Even if they aren’t Top 40, it’s better than having to go to CC or pick up a trade. Unless you want to do that. No shame there, I’ve considered becoming an electrician if my parents didn’t force me into college.
Call his bluff. Don’t pay him a dime. Lets face it, if he calls these schools and report that he wrote these essays, his days as a tutor is done (can he even prove he wrote these essays, as oppose to editing them?). Just tell him that your family will get the police involved, as blackmailing is a serious criminal offense. Sound as if this individual is on crack! This might be something he has done before and possibly gotten away with it.
^^^^ This is a good point. The fraud you’ve already committed (submitting to ED school) can be quickly retracted (like MYOS suggests). But if you HAD been admitted, your fraud would have grown by leaps and bounds and your options to wiggle free would be non-existent.
@austinmshauri Hi there - I do not think he should be punished, I may be naive. I would hope that Admissions Officers would not all disqualify him (or her) and potentially allow him to resubmit new essays. I’d like to see a solution that allows him to still apply to the schools of his choice without using the tainted essays. Maybe that’s not possible, but options that allow this student to retract the essays, take responsibility for the poor choice AND still be able to submit new essays to his current schools would be ideal. I guess the next best thing is to withdraw submitted applications, then update the essays and apply to other colleges.
The “taking your lumps” was intended as any alternative chosen instead of paying the blackmailer. It’s hard to do the right thing. I hope an Admissions Officer would try and support he/her. Again, maybe I’m being naive…
