cousin gave me her Duke essay and we have almost the same story, can i adapt it if i change the details
My cousin got into Duke last year and sent me her Common App essay. It's about moving schools a lot, which I also did (4 schools in 6 years, military family). I'd change names, places, some details and make it fit me.
My parents think it's fine since it's family and the experiences are basically the same. Is it actually a problem? It's a really good essay and I've been stuck on mine for 2 months.
I've started like five drafts and they all sound like a list of places I lived. Hers actually makes you feel something.
- ?
It is a problem, and a serious one. Changing the names and details of someone else's essay is still submitting someone else's writing, which is what the Common App's certification and every college's plagiarism policy are about.
A few practical points on top of the principle:
- Essays from admitted students circulate. Some schools run submissions through similarity tools, and essays from the same high school or family often reach the same reader pool.
- Duke, if you apply, has your cousin's essay on file from last year.
- Even with no detection at all, an adapted essay reads like an adapted essay. The structure was built for her moments, not yours.The good news is that you have a strong topic of your own. Four schools in six years as a military kid is real material. To get unstuck:
1. Write a list of 10 specific moments from those moves, small ones: the first lunch at school number three, a box you never unpacked.
2. Pick the one you can describe in the most physical detail.
3. Write 300 messy words about only that moment. Do not explain the lesson yet.Read your cousin's essay for inspiration on tone if you want, then close it before you write.