New Company to Sell $10 Ticket to Ivy League

Prospective college and graduate school students are flocking to a new Web site that sells successful admissions essays from some of the country's top schools.

For just $10, prospective college students can purchase a pack of more than 10 essays through the "IVYESSAYS" site developed by Daniel Kaufman.

The site has been operational for roughly six weeks and has received an average of nearly 100 visits per day, according to Kaufman.

Kaufman said that there was an unmet demand for this kind of service.

"Currently, the access to information and resources to help writing the essays is very unequally distributed," Kaufman said.

But admissions officers said the service will not be useful for applicants applying to top-notch schools.

"I am doubtful it will have much effect," said Joyce P. Curll, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid at Harvard Law School. "I've read thousands of personal statements; my belief is that one that is successful for one applicant may not be for another."

"The most effective personal statement tells us about the person. They are effective because the person is in them," said Curll.

Although IVYESSAYS is one of the first sites selling this service, the business of hawking application essays has been around for years.

Earlier this fall, two Harvard Business School students were pressured by Harvard administration to shut down a similar Internet site selling copies of application essays.

"This is not a new phenomena," said Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of admissions for Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges.

Lewis noted that applicants have been able to purchase essays from books in the past, but also said that the increased availability through the Internet may actually decrease the effectiveness of the service.

"Because of [the increased availability on the Internet], I think students will be more careful to use [essays from the service], since they could be identified universally," Lewis added.

But admissions officers are still taking precautions against the potential abuse of this service, as they have in the past.

"You can be sure we'll be buying the essays ourselves and becoming very familiar with them," Director of Admissions for the MBA program at the Harvard Business School Jill Fadule told The Boston Globe.

Although Curll said she believes the service will not be utilized much by applicants to Harvard, she said she was fairly certain that offenders would be caught.

If one of the purchased essays was found in an application, the applicant would lose any chance of being admitted to Harvard. And since incidents of plagiarism would be reported to an inter-school misconduct review committee, the applicant would likely be rejected by other schools as well, said Curll.

Lewis said that if the College discovered that an application essay was plagiarized, it would be unlikely that the student would be accepted.

Although Kaufman admits that there may be temptation for students to plagiarize, he said he has done everything he could on the site to dissuade them.

Prior to purchasing essays, students must sign a contract acknowledging that the essays are copyrighted, that they understand what plagiarism is and that they pledge not to replicate the essays in any form.

But if a case of plagiarism does arise, Kaufman said that IVYESSAYS "will cooperate gladly with any admissions office who believes a student has committed plagiarism.

"Because of [the increased availability on the Internet], I think students will be more careful to use [essays from the service], since they could be identified universally," Lewis added.

But admissions officers are still taking precautions against the potential abuse of this service, as they have in the past.

"You can be sure we'll be buying the essays ourselves and becoming very familiar with them," Director of Admissions for the MBA program at the Harvard Business School Jill Fadule told The Boston Globe.

Although Curll said she believes the service will not be utilized much by applicants to Harvard, she said she was fairly certain that offenders would be caught.

If one of the purchased essays was found in an application, the applicant would lose any chance of being admitted to Harvard. And since incidents of plagiarism would be reported to an inter-school misconduct review committee, the applicant would likely be rejected by other schools as well, said Curll.

Lewis said that if the College discovered that an application essay was plagiarized, it would be unlikely that the student would be accepted.

Although Kaufman admits that there may be temptation for students to plagiarize, he said he has done everything he could on the site to dissuade them.

Prior to purchasing essays, students must sign a contract acknowledging that the essays are copyrighted, that they understand what plagiarism is and that they pledge not to replicate the essays in any form.

But if a case of plagiarism does arise, Kaufman said that IVYESSAYS "will cooperate gladly with any admissions office who believes a student has committed plagiarism.