Re-using past year essay questions?

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
1

<p>So I’ve found out the downside of trying to start on the essays way too early: I wrote one based on the 2011 supplement that I found earlier in the year on Princeton’s website, a question on empathy, and just realised that they replaced it with a new one this year. To my initial relief however, the last, more open, prompt (using a quotation of your choice) would allow me to basically just re-insert the essay question they discontinued.</p>

<p>I’ve been wondering (or over-thinking, as you will) though, has anyone had any experience with trying to re-use past year questions, and will it somehow look unfavourably on your application (will the admissions office for example think I’m just rehashing an essay I used last year, even though it’s my first time applying). I’m not really looking for authoritative answers on this, just some general sentiments, so any help will be much appreciated :)</p>

2

<p>Considering that the admissions office reads thousands of essays, they probably remember last year’s questions quite clearly. However if you can modify it enough to fit the new question effectively, it shouldn’t matter. </p>

<p>Essays are a very important component of your application. Spend time on them…make them the best they can be while keeping your own voice. Good wishes!</p>

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<p>I would say use the essay, but apply it to the fourth supplement prompt. All you will have to do is find a quote from a book that has to do with empathy. You may have to reword it a bit, but there is no reason to write an enirely new essay. Hope that helps :)</p>

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<p>Hey thanks so much for the responses guys :slight_smile: I’ll most probably make use of the fourth prompt to insert the quote from the past-year question (and consequently my essay), so hopefully that means no rewriting is involved!</p>