Question on Common App Prompt 5

College Essays
1

Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

My essay is about how I became independent.

So, one person told me that I should add in more events, as to portray the independence I came to possess from that original event.

Another person told me that the above does not answer the prompt and the essay should specifically be talked about one event, and that talking about additional events would be considered off-topic.

Which one is more right?

2

I meant is one better than the other or are both equally good.

3

I don’t think it’s supposed to be an autobiography, telling the timeline of you from toddler to college student.

I think the point is to pick one moment in time when you did or realized something that transitioned you from thinking and feeling like a kid to thinking and feeling like an adult.

It’s a snapshot of that one event, and an explanation of how and why you changed. Its about YOU, not the event.