I’ve had the same conversation with several clients recently, so I assume this is advice that may be welcome more broadly: be very careful re-using application essays, or pieces of application essays, for supplemental prompts.

I’ve looked over a number of short responses on supplemental questions that were taken directly from the same student’s longer essay for another school or scholarship. They seemed really out of place and were obviously re-purposed bits that didn’t directly address the prompt. Perhaps they just seemed obvious to me, because I had already seen the longer versions for the earlier prompts? I don’t think so. In all the cases where I said “this looks like an obvious re-hash,” there were the same two issues.

1. The response didn’t directly answer the prompt. It was generally related to the prompt, yes, but didn’t answer the question.

2. The response was narrative—telling a story—when the prompt called for a basic explanation.

If you must re-use an essay section for a supplemental, please keep these two things in mind.

Narrative essays are really popular, and are often completely appropriate. So how can you tell if a prompt is asking for a narrative? The simple answer is to look at the verbs of the prompt. Let’s look at the Common Application prompts to see what I mean.

Prompt #1 ends “If this sounds like you, then please share your story.” This prompt clearly and directly asks for a story, so a narrative essay is perfect.

Prompt #2 asks you to “recount a time when you faced a challenge,” and prompt #3 asks you to “reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea.” “Reflect on a time” calls for at least a little narration—you have to explain the basic facts of the situation—and “recount a time” certainly asks for a narrative.

But look at prompt #6: “describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time.” That prompt, to describe a concept, is not asking for a story. Start with the assumption that “describe” and “explain” call for straight-ahead expository writing, not some kind of story.

So if you must re-use an essay section, make sure that you’re not using a “share your story” or “recount a time” essay for a “describe” or “explain” prompt. The same is true of the other way around: if they ask for a personal story and you just explain a concept, then you’re not answering the prompt.

I’ve said “if you must re-use an essay” twice now, so let’s ask: when is it ok to re-use an essay?

Ideally, you’d never re-use an essay or essay section, even if it’s essentially the same prompt. Re-writing from scratch may give you close to the same result, but you may find a great sentence that you hadn’t thought of yet. You might clarify an idea or make a better transition than you did the first time. You want to give your complete attention to whatever writing prompt you’re working on, even if it’s a familiar one. This attention will, in the long run, make you a much better thinker and writer.

But that’s also not very realistic. If a prompt is essentially the same as one you’ve already written about, then you’re probably going to re-purpose, and that’s fine. Just be extra careful.

It’s when a prompt is similar to, but not quite the same as, an earlier one that you get yourself in trouble. In this case, you should read your earlier response, keep it in mind, and then answer the new one fresh. You’re trying to get and hold your reader’s attention because you want something from them. So throwing out something that is close—but not close enough—is no good. Make sure you answer the question they ask you, not a similar one that somebody else asked you. You want to get your acceptance letter from them, right? Not some other person’s acceptance letter? Then respond to their prompt, not someone else’s prompt.

When you never want to re-use a response is when you find yourself using the word “just.” I’ll just take this paragraph from my long essay and use it here. I’ll just make a few changes and then it will be close enough. As I’ve written before, “just” is a red flag that you’re not taking something seriously enough. You’re being dismissive and minimizing the importance of the task. If it’s not important, then why are you working on this particular application? If it is important, then why aren’t you giving it the attention it needs to do it well? Don’t “just” do anything for college applications. That takes up too much time and energy.

Even saying all this, I understand that there may be times you just re-use part of an earlier essay because you’ve run out of time, energy, and/or enthusiasm. You know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best you’re going to do. I get that. And it’s ok. That one short-answer prompt is probably not going to be the one thing that impresses the readers and gets you accepted, but it’s also probably not going to be the one that gets you declined. Holistic admissions is all about looking at the whole thing.

All I ask is that you remember that when you get your decision back from the school. If you get declined, don’t beat yourself up and obsess over that re-used writing response. And if you get accepted, don’t assume that means nobody cares if you submit ill-fitting, re-used responses.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, here are three easy things you can do:

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2. Check out three related Apply with Sanity posts: “Yes, you can write about that,” “The two-minute time machine,” and “How should you handle supplemental questions?”

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