<p>Hey, so I wrote my personal statement for the common app. prompt: "indicate an influential person and describe that influence."</p>
<p>I wrote about my math coach/teacher, but he is also the one writing me a letter of recommendation. We have a great relationship and he wrote me a great letter of rec., but would it be detrimental in any way to write my essay about him? They are not going to repeat any of the same,redundant information (i hope), but will the colleges view this negatively in anyway?</p>
<p>Possible ways I think they may view it: 1)using the same tool twice (aka using my math teacher for a recommendation AND essay topic) 2) I have such a close relationship with him that his recommendation is too biased in a way.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think you should choose another topic just because admissions officers want to know different sides of you… They want new information.<br>
But have you read your letter of rec? Because if you did, then you could try to talk about your relationship in a way that added something to your application (didn’t colide with nay info provided in your teacher’s rec). But again, the admissions officers could think it’s weird that nothing colided, meaning that they could think you read the rec (they are very suspicious you know…). This could be a problem if you waived your right to read it…</p>
<p>Anywaaaaays, I suggest you choose another topic. Show them another side of you. Hope it helped.</p>
<p>Remember that whatever you write about, the admissions offices will be interested in learning about you. If you choose to write about your relationship with your teacher, your essay still needs to focus on you – how, for instance, your relationship with him changed you. The essay shouldn’t focus on the details of his life.</p>
<p>Definitely! I am just talking about how he influenced ME and I talk about such details like how I grew a passion for math through him and how I got rid of the biases I had early in my life.</p>
<p>I’m not worried that I wrote about him or that the letters of rec and this essay clash with each other. More so just worried that admissions officers will read the name “[Teacher name]” in two different places and think badly of it.</p>
<p>I doubt that they’ll think badly of what you’re planning to do. They may find it interesting to read the different viewpoints – yours and the teacher’s – on the relationship.</p>
<p>Thanks. More opinions?</p>