The prompt is stupid, if you ask me, but my son has written his essay and I’m afraid that it isn’t completely following the prompt. He wrote his “story” describing a scene from when he was 4 years old and described me (his mom) and daycare, and trip to the hospital and how this whole ordeal impacted his life and the direction he wants to take with his career. It is very well written and draws you in. But I’m afraid that it’s “off on a tangent” so to speak. Does he need to re-write it and only talk about his environment? He says our environment is boring (and I kind of agree :-/ ). It only took him a month to get this done. cry
It kind of sounds to me like it does fit the prompt? I would argue that your presence in his life and his childhood experiences were part of the environment he grew up in. It’s really hard to say for sure though, as I can see how it could also come off as off-topic depending on how it was written.
Is he applying for Spring or Fall? If it’s for Fall at least he still has plenty of time to rewrite it. Or maybe he can keep what he has but use some creative editing to make it more apparent how the things he wrote about are part of his environment.
I think they allow a ton of leeway on the essay. But I agree with @imaginarysonic… it sounds like he did stay within the prompt! Good luck!