Essay about friend's influence

College Essays
1

<p>When writing about the significant influence that a friend had on me, is it better to elaborate on one specific, meaningful event I had with him or is it fine to discuss several important experiences and tie them together?</p>

<p>I first tried focusing on one particular event/incident I had with my friend that had a profound influence on me. I thought doing so would allow me to go indepth about my friend and his contribution to my growth. But as I was writing, I found out that one event is not enough to fully encapsulate the influences he had on me. At the same time, I’m hesitant about discussing several influences as I think it would seem more like listing and limit the depth of each influence. </p>

<p>Which is a better option? Is writing about a friend’s significant influence overused in college essays and possibly a boring topic?</p>

<p>Thanks! =)</p>

2

<p>It’s probably better generally to focus on one event, but since one incident doesn’t seem long enough, you should probably include another. Don’t drag one example for too long. The topic may be overused (a friend is a significant influence for many people), but if what you write about is personal interesting to you, I’m sure that it’s fine.</p>

3

<p>^Honestly, what college essay topic isn’t “overused” anymore (I bet mine wasn’t, actually). Almost every essay idea I’ve looked at the past week or so has been labeled as cliche by me or someone else. </p>

<p>And try both methods. I personally think listing a few examples might tread too closely to the five paragraph cookie cutter format, but who knows?</p>