I have a question about this essay. The challenge I wrote about for this prompt was a difficult intellectual problem that I tried to understand and has influenced my thinking in this field. Now, after reading many takes of this question, I see that the general consensus is to have written about a personal difficulty and not a challenging problem. Is my take on this prompt completely erroneous?
You have flexibility in interpreting the prompt. The topic of this essay won’t influence the admissions decision.
It’s hard to answer without a look at the actual prompt.
No idea why you think the topic chosen wouldn’t influence admission. They don’t ask for essays just to torture applicants – they actually read them and judge the applicant based on them…
The biggest thing to remember with these prompts is what did the admission officer learn about you. Have someone read it and if they cannot discern that you wrote it rewrite it. In other words if its generic you are not answering the question. They want to learn who you really are in the essays.