With 'IvyEssays,' students can buy their way into school

The Internet company sells pre-written application essays for Ivy undergraduate and graduate schools. Students seeking acceptance into the Wharton School of Business graduate program, the Law School or any of the University's undergraduate schools may soon be able to buy their way into Penn -- literally. Officials from IvyEssays -- a new business that buys and sells successful admissions essays over the Internet -- claim that the service is intended to help students who don't have access to college counseling resources, and not to encourage plagiarism. The company offers two packets of essays for the Wharton School of Business, and essays for the University's Law School and undergraduate programs are included in many of the law school and undergraduate essay packets. Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said he is concerned that the service will encourage dishonesty. "I am chagrined that this type of use of technology is allowing students to misuse the system," he said. "We depend on every part of the application being a reflection of the individual applying and this type of plagiarism erodes the quality of the process." He said admissions officers will recognize essays that students have bought from IvyEssays when they start receiving essays that are suspiciously similar. "We can never be sure that students are writing their own essays, but this will make us more vigilant," Stetson said. He added that the Admissions Office may be forced to change the essays on the University's application regularly to prevent the formation of a library of responses for any one question. But IvyEssays officials maintain that they simply want to give students an equal chance of gaining acceptance into the school of their choice. "The playing field to get accepted at leading institutions is inherently slanted," IvyEssays Managing Editor Helen Lee said. "Those who have access to information and assistance have a greater chance of acceptance than most applicants." She added that reading successful essays can give students a sense of the types of essays admissions officers are looking for. IvyEssays buys essays from students who have been accepted to any of 60 top undergraduate and graduate programs. The company pays $25 to $40 for undergraduate essays, $40 for law school essays, and $60 to $75 for business school essays. Students wishing to sell their essays are required to produce an acceptance letter or other proof of admission, give up the copyright to the essay and delete all proper names. Students interested in buying essays from IvyEssays can visit the company's World Wide Web site, located at http://www.ivyessays.com, to order packets of essays pertaining to their particular interests and goals, or essays used to gain admission to specific universities. Lee explained that such packets contain five to 10 sets of essays. Packets of undergraduate essays cost $10, while law school packets sell for $20 and business school packets are between $50 and $60. Lee said business school packets are more expensive, because they require more essay writing than law school or undergraduate applications. Lee, 27, said IvyEssays President David Kaufman, 28, founded the company last year. Both are graduates of Williams College. The company already owns the copyrights to over 1,000 essays acquired through personal contacts and people who have visited the Web site, according to Lee. Most of these essays are for business schools, but the law school and undergraduate essay collections are growing every day, she said.