Can I Reuse My Other Essays For My Personal Statement?

[platypig]

There is a section of my common app essay that I feel would work really well in an essay about diversity since I discussed a unique hobby of mine. I also spent a lot of time working on it and have been complimented on it quite often, so I am kind of confident in the quality of that section. I would of course add to it, but would it be okay to incorporate it into my personal statement or diversity essay?
Thanks!

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[DrFortiusNatando]

There is a section of my common app essay that I feel would work really well in an essay about diversity since I discussed a unique hobby of mine. I also spent a lot of time working on it and have been complimented on it quite often, so I am kind of confident in the quality of that section. I would of course add to it, but would it be okay to incorporate it into my personal statement or diversity essay?
Thanks!

It will depend on the school. For a school that only has 1 or 2 short essays and one is diversity, I would not recycle/reuse what is in your main PS. You should make sure you highlight as much as you can about yourself and you should not repeat yourself if you have little opportunity to give information. Obviously, if a school has many secondary essays, you can rework a small piece of your main PS in a diversity question.

 

[platypig]

It will depend on the school. For a school that only has 1 or 2 short essays and one is diversity, I would not recycle/reuse what is in your main PS. You should make sure you highlight as much as you can about yourself and you should not repeat yourself if you have little opportunity to give information. Obviously, if a school has many secondary essays, you can rework a small piece of your main PS in a diversity question.

Sorry if I wasn't clear! I was talking about reusing what I had in my common app essay for undergraduate college. Do you think that would count as plagiarism or anything like that? I remember hearing something about how reusing your own writings still count as plagiarism if it was submitted previously.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Sorry if I wasn't clear! I was talking about reusing what I had in my common app essay for undergraduate college. Do you think that would count as plagiarism or anything like that? I remember hearing something about how reusing your own writings still count as plagiarism if it was submitted previously.

I wondered why you were using the phrase "Common App". Of course you can rework what you used in your college applications when you apply to medical school. I doubt you would use the same essay, as I am sure you have some added growth and perspective 4 years later, but certainly feel free to borrow away. This is not plagiarism! (What sometimes counts as "plagiarism" at some schools is reusing an essay you wrote for an English course in another English course or other course).

 

[platypig]

I wondered why you were using the phrase "Common App". Of course you can rework what you used in your college applications when you apply to medical school. I doubt you would use the same essay, as I am sure you have some added growth and perspective 4 years later, but certainly feel free to borrow away. This is not plagiarism! (What sometimes counts as "plagiarism" at some schools is reusing an essay you wrote for an English course in another English course or other course).

Thank you! I am just using a section that I thought I phrased very well, but I am definitely going to add a lot more to it.

 

[907914]

QUOTE="gorowannabe, post: 20720098, member: 954070"]I wondered why you were using the phrase "Common App". Of course you can rework what you used in your college applications when you apply to medical school. I doubt you would use the same essay, as I am sure you have some added growth and perspective 4 years later, but certainly feel free to borrow away. This is not plagiarism! (What sometimes counts as "plagiarism" at some schools is reusing an essay you wrote for an English course in another English course or other course).[/QUOTE]

I mean...my undergraduate school has accepted the same “how will you use this money” essay for the last 3 years for the scholarship application lol

To OP, no one will know what your common app essays were so you are more than welcome to pull anything you want out of it. However, I would certainly hope that 21 year old you is both a better writer and has more experiences to draw from than 17 year old you...

 

[differentiating]

To OP, no one will know what your common app essays were so you are more than welcome to pull anything you want out of it. However, I would certainly hope that 21 year old you is both a better writer and has more experiences to draw from than 17 year old you...

This. My college essays were well-received when I applied, so I had a similar idea to OP... and then reread them and immediately got second-hand embarrassment. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong in using snippets of old applications, but you may be better off starting from scratch all the same.

 

[Rachapkis]

You don't have any concerns about plagiarism since you would be relying on your own work. A word of caution, however: I am dubious that an essay submitted to gain admittance for college is specific enough or mature enough for medical school. I understand the desire to rely on something that worked before, but you would be well served--even if your medical school essay centers around the same hobby as your college essay--to tease out more mature themes and to focus on the elements of your experience that, at a minimum, are relevant to medicine and serving patients, and, better yet, to the program you're applying to.