Can You Submit the Same Essay to Different Colleges?
The various types of application essays are broken down here, along with information on whether or not it is acceptable to use the same essay for various college applications.
Along with studying to raise your GPA and ACT/SAT scores to go with it, creating an application takes a lot of time and effort. Writing an outstanding college application essay requires time as well. In order to save time, wouldn’t it be ideal to use the same essay for several college applications?
The short answer is “It depends.” The extended response is a little more complicated, but we’ll discuss the various scenarios and best practices in this post.
Can You Submit the Same Essay to Different Colleges?
Yes, it would save time and can save time, but only under certain circumstances. You see, many colleges will request that you submit your application with the same questions or essay prompts.
Your greatest hero, who is he? What makes you want to enroll in this college? It shouldn’t take you long to polish up and submit an essay you’ve already written if it happens to correspond with a similar prompt from another college. It is acceptable to reuse an essay.
However, it won’t always work. You’ll just need to write another essay to submit if a college asks for a different topic. Even if you reuse an essay, you should still make sure it is customized for the college you are applying to.
That could entail just a few minor edits here and there, a complete rewrite, or even the creation of an entirely new essay.
A personal Statement Or Primary Essay Can Be Used for All College Applications
The longest essay you will likely write is your personal statement. Although there are general guidelines you can use as a guide, this essay can actually be on any subject you choose, as long as it is personal.
Instead of starting with the prompts, Signature College Counseling frequently digs deeper to learn about the student and unearths their individual story. Can you use this essay for different applications, though we’re getting off-topic here? That is, in fact, what this essay is all about!
If the school requires and permits you to do so (which is actually true for 99% of the colleges you apply to), your personal statement essay will be sent to ALL of the schools that you apply to use that application when you write it and copy it into the Common App or Coalition Application (or something similar).
Having one essay sent to many different schools is therefore good news!
Supplemental Essays Should Be Unique for Each School’s Application
Supplemental essays are answers to questions posed by a particular school. They are usually more concentrated and shorter in length. Questions typically include “What makes you want to enroll in this school?” or “Why did you decide to major in this area?”.
Sometimes, the prompts can be more esoteric, like, “Select a person in history or who is currently living who you would like to have dinner with and tell us what you would like to discuss with them” or “Describe yourself in five unique ways for our benefit.”
Here’s the thing, you may think that you can copy and paste “Why this school” essay or “Why this major” essay to another school that asks the identical question, but The exact opposite is true, I can assure you of that. You want to be absolutely certain, so do your research and inform the school of your decision.
Be specific and make sure you do your homework to avoid giving the impression that you simply copied an essay you had written for another school into this one. They are aware of it, I promise. Don’t use generalizations; instead, be sincere and specific.
Having said that, there are inevitably a number of themes that run throughout the essays our students are required to write.
So, while you won’t be able to exactly copy an essay, you will be able to use parts of an essay (or essays) that you have written for the supplemental essay for another college. While it’s not common, it does happen occasionally.
Consider Personalizing the Essay a Bit
Make sure to follow the right procedures to make sure the essay adheres to the prompt if you want to reuse your essays. You should skim the paper, insert the college’s name somewhere within it, and rephrase some of the most memorable passages.
You don’t have to completely rewrite it, but you should add words and make sure the prompts are followed.
Your time management skills will matter more than how much time you spend on your college applications. Your time is extremely valuable as a senior. Spend the majority of your time and energy on a strong essay and a complete application, but don’t neglect finals and grades. Save time by applying to multiple colleges using the same essay, if at all possible.
