supplement essay and common essay

The Cornell essay prompt is
Tell us about an engineering idea you have, or about your interest in engineering. Describe how your ideas and interests may be realized by “and linked to” specific resources within the College of Engineering. Finally, explain what a Cornell Engineering education will enable you to accomplish.

My common prompt is
Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

Those two prompts seems very similar. I’m just curious how I should approach these two essays. In fact, a lot of the schools’ supplement is similar to the common prompt. Is it bad to have some overlapping or repeat?

Thanks.

The only way these seem to relate is that your Common App “problem” might be solved the “engineering idea,” or maybe it shaped your interest in engineering. But the CA doesn’t have to be about engineering, and you can make the Cornell essay more focused on the “Why Cornell” component. No overlap is better than overlap, but I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker.