<p>Ok. So I'm trying to be responsible and work on my other college apps. And since I loved the essays I wrote for Princeton, I am trying to use one of them on the comon app. The P-ton topic I wrote my 300-word essay on was "Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way." But the common app one says: "Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you and describe that influence." At first glance they seem the same, but if you read carefully, one asks to describe a person, and the other an influence. Am I just being overly obsessive and technical? Or should I choose the option of writing about my own topic, and put Princeton's prompt at the top?</p>
<p>Also... there is space on the common app to make my essay three times as long as it is now. Should I use up every available character to say as much as I possibly can? It just seems so perfect now, and I don't want to change it in any way....</p>
<p>Trust me, neither essay is supposed to be a description of the person. Both essays need to be about the significant influence...this is about you.</p>
<p>umm, actually I've read that if you are asked to describe the person, you mainly describe them (but do talk about their ifluence on you). Through describing them, you are also conveying a lot about your character.</p>
<p>yup....b4nnd is correct. although ofvourse the only way one can know the influence is by knowing how the person who influenced you is. But neither of them wants you to focus on the person but to focus on how the person influenced you.</p>
<p>hmmm... I'll try adding a paragraph that talks only about the influence; maybe then it will fit their topic more. I'm just afraid the essay will lose focus. So far it's about why I admire my sister and want to share her qualities.</p>