<p>I’ve heard a lot about people reusing supplemental essays for different colleges–evident mostly by the fact that they leave the original college’s name in the essay. Now I’m thinking of doing the same–to an extent–and am wondering if it would be ethical.</p>
<p>I wrote my essay for Davidson truly out of my heart. I expressed several reasons why I wanted to go there and why it was such a good match for me, including the honor code. I wrote it completely with Davidson in mind. But now I’m tackling two other colleges–colleges I am, obviously, less excited about–and I’m not getting the same sort of passion that creates 1100 word supplemental essays (sorry adcom x.x D:). </p>
<p>College A is very similar to Davidson: it is a small, selective liberal arts school with a highly rigorous academic program. I was thinking to copy several of my points that could be applicable to any such college (i.e. intellectual atmosphere, small class sizes, good relationships with professors, tight-knit community etc).</p>
<p>College B asks basically for a ‘why honor code’ essay. Davidson’s honor code was a big part of my Davidson essay, so I could just copy that whole paragraph.</p>
<p>I’m not worried about the colleges finding out I copied it. I would obviously rework it and provide different examples specific to the colleges. It would, however, be blander since I haven’t visited College A and College B is a safety (hence why I didn’t name them o-o). And I wouldn’t accidentally leave the wrong college name in.</p>
<p>Basically what I’m asking is; is this ethical and honest? It would be pretty brazen to do something dishonorable on an honor code essay. I’d like to get a second opinion on this, because although I’m inclined to go through with it, my conscience is tugging at me–but I’m honestly not sure. Where’s Randy Cohen when you need him?</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any real answer for this unless you’re an admission dean or know what an admission dean does. I, however, did the same exact thing you did. Cornell is my dream school and in their essay they asked about your interest in engineering and why Cornell. I wrote it out of passion. Columbia asked for the same question but it just asked why Engineering, so I used my why Engineering part in the Cornell essay and condensed it immensely. Since the Cornell essay was 500 words limit I used 498 and the Columbia essay was only 1500 characters limit I was able to condense it.
I don’t seem the harm of it unless they ask you directly to say something about the school, and it wouldn’t hurt to add something about the school in there regardless if it’s on the same topic.
And I think it’s a unanimous thought that no school knows what other schools you are applying to</p>
<p>I think it’s fine, to some degree. I mean, the thought behind your decision to go to a liberal arts college is universal, so it makes sense to use similar passages for similar schools. Be sure to tailor a portion of it to demonstrate you’ve researched the specific school.</p>
<p>Of course it’s ethical. You’re answering the prompt the most honest way possible; if anything, answering the same prompt with different responses would be unethical because you’re distorting how you really feel.</p>
<p>Because a lot of the school I’m applying to are similar, or at least I’m applying to them for similar reasons (interdisciplinary teaching, genuine appreciation for knowledge, the spirit of debate), I’ve mentioned the same things in their essays. I haven’t used the same phrasing, but a lot of my points overlap–because, in my mind, these schools <em>are</em> similar and that’s why I’m applying to them. I don’t see using the same arguments as unethical if the arguments ought to be the same anyway.</p>
<p>I applied to 5 women’s colleges and put the same paragraph about why a women’s college in each one but the other paragraph was about that particular school.</p>
<p>Same here. Applied to one specific college that I liked, wrote all the essays with genuine statements and then ‘converted’ them to fit other colleges’ forms. I don’t think it’s necessary to involve ethics; it’s just a practical - not wrong - way to accomplish your goal faster.</p>
<p>Honestly, pull Davidson out and slap on what ever college you applied to. But to be honest, if your Why Essay can fit any college, it is going to hurt you. Your Why X essay is not what you think. The real question is “Why should we take you”. Your supposed to discuss how SPECIFIC parts of a school will end up benefiting you. </p>
<p>For example - I wrote my Why Penn essay and was planning on using it for colleges. But once I started writing it, I realized. The essay was Penn crazy. I used so many specifics for Penn, other schools would know I was recycling. Try not just writing your essay as “I will do this, this, and love this”. Give it a unique flavor. If you eat chocolate ice cream every single day, I’m sure you want a change of flavor.</p>