Misinterpreted a College Essay?!

Hi all… I am majorly freaking out right now because I reviewed my application for UVA and realized I COMPLETELY misinterpreted one of the essay prompts.
The prompt was:
Describe an engineering feat that serves the common good and why it inspires you to study engineering.
I responded by talking about one of my own engineering projects, saying that it is the beauty of solving projects like the one I discussed that inspires me to study engineering. I think the essay in itself is good, but it definitely is not what the prompt was referring to.
Did I completely miss the mark? How much will this negatively impact my application?

I wouldn’t worry about it. That is only one small piece in the whole picture of your application.

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Thanks! This is one of my top choices, so I definitely don’t want to take any chances.

Honestly, there’s nothing you can do but like most errors in life, you learn from them. You now know to read, think about it, and re-read again before starting.

They may see it as answering the question - there’s no way to know.

And if you get turned down, you’ll have no idea why - because they’ll never tell you.

As long as you have other schools that are targets and safeties, you’ll be fine. You can be happy at many a school - I promise. Not just UVA.

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