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Can I use the same essay for different colleges?
Can you submit the same essay to different colleges? Yes, no, and maybe.
You have so many essays to write for college applications!
There’s your main college admissions essay, or the personal statement .
There are college specific “ Why this college? ” essays.
Then there are a variety of supplemental , additional information essays.
Add to that all the scholarship essays and merit aid essays….
Then multiply that number by all the schools you plan to apply to!
Thinking about all these essays might lead you to ask:
Can I use the same essay for different college applications?
Do I have to write a different essay for each college application?
Will colleges know if I use the same essay?
This article will answer some common questions about using the same essay for different colleges.
Writing a few solid, well-crafted essays, then tweaking and revising them for different schools, can be a smart and effective strategy for maximizing your time and effort. (So you can do all the other important things you have to do you senior year , like improving your test scores or preparing for AP exams.)
Can I submit the same Personal Statement to different schools?
Your personal statement college essay is your main college essay. There’s a lot riding on this essay. If you do it right, you’ll spend a great deal of time coming up with the story you want this essay to tell about yourself–then writing, rewriting, and editing this essay.
The good news is that you can definitely reuse your personal statement for all your college applications.
Your personal essay is the signature piece of your college applications. You absolutely can send this essay to all the colleges you apply to. In fact, colleges expect you to.
Do colleges know if you use the same essay?
Colleges don’t have a secret way to know if you submit the same essay to different schools.
Admissions officers are too busy reading all the admissions essays to compare notes on the essays with admissions representatives from other schools!
And remember, the admissions committee from one university is competing against other colleges to attract the best and brightest applicants. So admissions committees are unlikely to share notes, even if they did have time to do so!
That said, colleges expect you to use the same main personal statement essay for all the colleges that you apply to. They understand you are applying to multiple schools and you can’t write a different main essay for all of them. No one has that much time!
However, if you simply copy and paste your “Why this college?” essay without carefully editing it, and College B gets the essay you wrote for College A, then colleges will know that you didn’t write a new essay for that college application.
So either write new essays for the college-specific essay prompts, or be very careful about reusing those essays.
Note that colleges will probably find out if you plagiarize an essay or use AI to write it. College admissions counselors have read thousands of admissions essays, and they know if an essay isn’t in a student’s own voice. Plagiarism and AI checkers make it very easy for school admissions officers to know if you’ve submitted someone else’s essay instead of writing your own!
Need help writing a great college essay ?
Can you use the same essay for the common application and the coalition application?
Yes, you can use the same essay for the Common Application essay and the Coalition for College application essay.
You can also use the same college application essay for any individual colleges that don’t participate in either of those application systems.
While most colleges, from state universities to the Ivy League, do participate in either the Common App or the Coalition App (or both), many don’t. You’ll have to apply directly to those colleges.
The point of the Common App and the Coalition App is to simplify the college application process and save time and effort. So, if you end up applying to schools through both apps, you can use the same essay.
Actually, colleges expect that the Coalition App or Common App Essay you submit will be the same one you submit to every college where you apply.
Both the Common App and the Coalition App essay prompts are the same (or very similar) every year. So if you know you’ll apply to colleges using both apps, just choose an essay topic that fits a prompt from both apps.
If you can’t find an essay question you want to write about, you can always write on the topic of your choice.
If, for any reason, you decided you want to edit or even change the essay you are using on either app, you can do that at any point. This won’t change the essay for applications you’ve already submitted, but the new essay will be used in future applications you submit.
Should College-specific essays be unique for each school?
The answer to this question depends on the prompt. Some essays are so college-specific that you have to write a new essay for each college.
Other supplemental essay questions are general enough that you can write short essays about your personal experiences that would work for multiple colleges’ essays.
It really just depends on the prompt. Let’s look at some common supplementary essay topics.
Why this college?
The “Why this college?” essay is one that you can’t really reuse.
When a college asks you to write about why you want to attend that college, you should write a college-specific answer. You should mention what appeals to you most about that college, how you would contribute to the school, and why you want to attend that college.
This essay is your opportunity to demonstrate your genuine interest in and fit with a particular university.
This is your chance to show the college admissions officers that you’ve carefully researched the school’s academic programs, faculty, and campus culture–and why you believe that college is a good fit for your goals and talents.
If you could send school-specific essays to multiple schools without making any changes, then you didn’t do a good job of answering the question!
Be really specific about why you want to attend that college! Is it the intellectual life of the student body? The research opportunities and specific programs in your major? Colleges want to know that prospective students have a good reason for applying!
Note: selective colleges might list this as an optional essay. However, if asked to write a “Why this college?” essay, you should. It might make a difference in your application.
Supplemental essays
You may be able to use the same supplement essays (or variations of them) at different colleges.
Many colleges request supplemental essays on a variety of topics. Often, these are so specific that it’s unlikely you’d get the same question from different colleges. So you might find it difficult to reuse these essays. But if you did have the opportunity to reuse them, you could.
This might include questions like “What’s your perfect day?,” “Tell us about an aspect of your life that has not been addressed elsewhere in the application,” or “What does privilege mean to you?”
Supplemental essays are your chance to share your unique perspective on a certain topic. They are a great opportunity for you to share more about yourself. Talk about things that you haven’t showcased in other parts of your application materials.
Even though these essay topics seem general, it’s best if your answer somehow ties back to the specific college you’re applying to. Colleges are looking for students who want to be at that school and who will be all in for participating that school’s social and academic culture.
If you reuse a supplemental essay, be very careful to remove any reference to another college!
Common Supplemental Essay Topics
Are you curious what you might have to write about in a supplemental essay? The possibilities are endless, but here are some common topics.
1. Personal growth
Reflect on a challenging experience that transformed your perspective or helped you develop as a person. How has this experience made you ready for college and shaped how you see your future?
2. Diversity and identity
Discuss your unique background, cultural heritage, or personal values. How does your identity shape your worldview? How can you foster inclusivity on campus?
3. Intellectual curiosity
What are you passionate about learning? How will the college’s academic environment nurture your intellectual growth?
4. What major
Explain why you are interested in your first-choice major. If undecided, what areas do you expect to study in college first?
5. Adversity
How have you navigated through a challenge or difficult circumstances? What have you learned from those experiences and how have they influenced your goals?
6. Extracurricular activities
Tell us about one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that have had an impact on you.
7. Future aspirations
Share your dreams and aspirations beyond college. What are your ambitions for your particular career path, entrepreneurial endeavors, or professional goals?
What’s the best way to reuse essays for college applications?
Personal statement.
For your main essay, you only need to write one personal statement. Choose from all the college essay prompts to find the topic you feel like you can do a great job writing about.
Write, edit, and re-write. Get feed back from a trusted family member or one of your high school teachers.
Keep working on your personal statement until you feel like it’s the perfect essay to share your story with the college admissions committees.
Then you can send the same essay to every college on your list, whether through the Common App or Coalition App application platform, or through a school’s own portal.
The fact is, you’ll almost certainly have to write several supplemental essays.
You might be able to reuse some. But remember, it’s not a good idea to copy and these essays without carefully considering the text.
Often, colleges try to ask unusual questions for their supplemental prompts, so you will have to write a new college-specific essay.
Or, colleges ask why you want to attend that institution—in which case, you don’t want to risk copying and pasting the name of a different school into that essay space.
However, there are times when you can reuse a supplemental essay.
Here’s how to manage and reuse supplemental essays
In order to keep track of all your extra essays, I recommend that you save every version of every essay you submit. Here are all the steps to take to reuse essays at different colleges:
1. Read the essay guidelines closely
Note what your essay needs to include and what the word count is. Be sure you answer the question. Use all the words allowed, but don’t go over the limit.
2. Start by writing the essay in a Word file or Google doc
Do not write the essay directly into the essay submission box. Writing in Word or a Google doc will make it easier to edit and save the essay.
3. Review the prompt and make sure you stayed on topic
It’s always smart to refer back to the essay question and make sure you answered it.
4. Make sure the essay is college specific
If possible, reference the school’s values, organizations, and unique programs. Personalize the essay by mentioning the college’s name.
5. Edit, revise, and proofrea d
The importance of this cannot be overstated. Avoid grammatical errors, incomplete thoughts, or typos.
6. Save the essay
Use the name of the college and a word that will help you remember what the essay is about.
7. Copy and paste
After you’re done revising, and you’re ready to submit the essay, copy and paste the essay into the application’s essay response box.
Make sure the formatting is okay and all the text is there before clicking submit.
8. Refer back
When you have to write another supplemental essay with a similar prompt, look through your files to find previously written essays that could be relevant.
9. See what you can reuse
Review the new prompt, guidelines, and word count. See if you can edit and reuse an old essay.
10. edit and reuse the old essay as a whole
See if it would work to use an already written essay as-is or with just a few tiny changes. You will save a lot of time if you can do this!
11. Pull paragraphs or ideas from the old essay to help you craft a new essay
Use parts of an already-written essay as the starting point of a new essay. This is a great way to quickly create short, personal essays.
12. Start over with step one for A new essay
Sometimes you just don’t have an essay that you could repurpose, so you may have to write an additional essay. Always be sure each essay meets the specific essay requirements of each supplemental prompt!
By keeping a copy of all your supplemental college essays, you’ll be able to craft new essays more quickly and efficiently.
A bonus of this system is that if you end up having to write more essays for any one college, you’ll quickly be able to find your original essay, so you can write about something different in the later essay.
By the time you complete the college admissions process, you are likely to have many files with variations of the same themes. By carefully editing essays before reusing them, each essay will be tailored to a specific prompt.
What NOT to write in your college essay !
Final thoughts on using the same essay for different college applications
You probably found this article because you wondered: Is it okay to use the same essay to apply to different colleges?
Yes, it’s completely okay to send the same main application essay to each university on your list. Your essay demonstrates who you are, your unique life experiences, and what you stand for.
You only need to write one main personal statement, and you can use that for all the schools you apply to.
It’s also okay to reuse parts of your supplemental essays, but only when it makes sense to do so. Be sure your supplemental essay answers the question asked by each different college’s prompt. Make sure your answer fits with how you want to portray yourself at that college.
Give yourself plenty of time to write your main college essay (including revising, editing, and proofreading it). Also allow extra time to write your supplemental essays—and revise, edit and proofread them! You may be surprised how many additional essays you have to write.
Remember, your essays let college admissions counselors learn more about you. Every supplemental essay you write tells more of your story. Let your passion and personality shine through.
Ultimately, using the same essay for different college applications allows you to streamline the process, save time, and present your best self to multiple institutions. With creativity and strategic thinking, you can craft essays that leave a lasting impression on more than one admissions committee.
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Graduate of Brown University, higher ed professional, and mom of three. Sharing everything I’ve learned about college with you.
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Can I reuse an essay for a transfer application?
I applied to a few colleges as a freshmen and got into all of them. I spent hours on all of my essays and perfected them so would it be an option to reuse those? It’s only been one year and everything I said previously still stands so I don’t see how i could better them. Would colleges care/notice?
If you mean reusing the essay for the same school, yes, they will notice. They will pull up your freshman app when evaluating you as a transfer. I wouldn’t reuse.
Many schools keep your file active, meaning that if you applied and were accepted for freshman year, and you are now applying to transfer (during your freshman year), you won’t have to reapply with a full application. Those schools typically just ask for your college transcript and a “why do you want to transfer” essay.
Reach out to the admissions officer from your home region and/or the admissions officer who handles transfers. Tell them you realize that not choosing their school originally was a mistake and ask what steps you need to take to transfer.
What if you were wait listed at that school? Would they still pull up your previous application?
If you are applying to school you previously applied to then it woudl be best to write a new essay. If you are applying to a new/different group of schools then I guess it would be fine (perhaps update it a bit though).
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