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Essay Tip #2-The "Influential Person" Essay

Mark montgomery.

• August 4, 2011

Many college applications, including  The Common Application  , ask an essay question about “the most influential person in your life”. Why, or how, that person influenced you. A key tip to answering this essay is to remember that it is not necessarily about whom you choose to write about but how you write the essay and connect it back to yourself.

One of the most common responses that students give when writing on this essay topic was that it was either a parent or a grandparent who influenced them. For some, it may be a teacher, a coach, a friend, a child, a counselor, or numerous other options.

When writing this essay think about spending less time writing about whom that person was. But actually how they influenced you. Remember that the admission counselor reading your application wants to learn about you,  not necessarily the person who influenced you.

For example, if you choose to write about your grandfather consider the following. Many students write that their grandfather influenced their life. Because they were kind, generous, overcame adversity, taught them new things, were hard workers, etc.

Some students spend the entire essay spouting all of the wonderful attributes about their grandfather. But forget that the essay is supposed to show the admission committee who they (the student) are. You don’t want the admission committee to want to admit your grandfather at the end of reading your essay- you want them to want to admit you!

This is not to say don’t write about your grandfather (or grandmother, mother, father, or person of your choice). It is simply to say, think about writing the essay in a way that connects the individual you choose to write about back to you. What makes you a person that the college would want to have as part of their community?

Can you elaborate on specific examples from your relationship with that influential person that impacted your way of thinking? Or, can you discuss certain actions you took as a result of lessons learned from that individual? Perhaps, you can even consider relating what you learned from that influential person to something that you hope to do, or accomplish, in college or in the future.

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It's not unusual for a college admissions essay to talk about a person who played an important role in your development. Whether this is a parent, a friend, a coach, or a teacher, such essays can be powerful if they avoid common pitfalls.

Key Takeaways: An Essay on an Influential Person

• Don't just describe a person you admire. Be analytical and reflective to explain why you admire them.
• Essays focused on parents or celebrities are common and often not the best choice for your focus.
• All good application essays are about you , even when you are writing about someone else, so make sure the admissions folks are getting to know you through your essay.

With the pre-2013 Common Application , one of the essay prompts stated, "Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence." While you won't find this question among the seven 2020-21 Common Application essay prompts , the current application still allows you to write about an influential person with the "topic of your choice" option . Some of the other prompts also leave the door open for writing about an influential person.

Do Much More than Describe the Influential Person

Any essay on an influential person needs to do much more than describe that person. The act of describing requires very little critical thought, and as a result, it doesn't demonstrate the kind of analytical, reflective, and thoughtful writing that will be required of you in college. Be sure to examine why the person was influential to you, and you should analyze the ways in which you have changed because of your relationship with the person.

Think Twice About Essays on Mom or Dad

There is nothing wrong with writing about one of your parents for this essay, but make sure your relationship with your parent is unusual and compelling in some way. The admissions folks get a lot of essays that focus on a parent, and your writing won't stand out if you simply make generic points about parenting. If you find yourself making points like "my Dad was a great role model" or "my mother always pushed me to do my best," rethink your approach to the question. Consider the millions of students who could write the exact same essay.

Don't Be Star Struck

In most cases, you should avoid writing an essay about the lead singer in your favorite band or the movie star who you idolize. Such essays can be okay if handled well, but often the writer ends up sounding like a pop culture junkie rather than a thoughtful independent thinker.

Obscure Subject Matter is Fine

Be sure to read Max's essay on an influential person. Max writes about a rather unremarkable junior high kid he encountered while teaching summer camp. The essay succeeds in part because the choice of subject matter is unusual and obscure. Among a million application essays, Max's will be the only one to focus on this young boy. Also, the boy isn't even a role model. Instead, he's an ordinary kid who inadvertently makes Max challenge his preconceptions.

The "Significant Influence" Need Not Be Positive

The majority of essays written about influential people focus on role models: "my Mom/Dad/brother/friend/teacher/neighbor/coach taught me to be a better person through his or her great example..." Such essays are often excellent, but they are also a bit predictable. Keep in mind that a person can have a significant influence without having an entirely "positive" influence. Jill's essay , for example, focuses on a woman with only a few positive qualities. You could even write about someone who is abusive or hateful. Evil can have as much "influence" on us as good.

You Are Also Writing About Yourself

When you choose to write about a person who has had an influence on you, you will be most successful if you are also reflective and introspective. Your essay will be partly about the influential person, but it is equally about you. To understand someone's influence on you, you need to understand yourself — your strengths, your short-comings, the areas where you still need to grow.

As with the college admissions essay, you need to make sure a response reveals your own interests, passions, personality, and character. The details of this essay need to reveal that you are the type of person who will contribute to the campus community in a positive way.

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Sample Essays: Influential Person

Please select from the following sample application essays:

Essay 1: Wellesley | Essay 2: Harvard | Essay 3: Harvard

Note: The following essays were not edited by EssayEdge Editors. They appear as they were initially reviewed by admissions officers.

Sample Essay 1

Wellesley, Influence of mother

It took me eighteen years to realize what an extraordinary influence my mother has been on my life. She's the kind of person who has thoughtful discussions about which artist she would most want to have her portrait painted by (Sargent), the kind of mother who always has time for her four children, and the kind of community leader who has a seat on the board of every major project to assist Washington's impoverished citizens. Growing up with such a strong role model, I developed many of her enthusiasms. I not only came to love the excitement of learning simply for the sake of knowing something new, but I also came to understand the idea of giving back to the community in exchange for a new sense of life, love, and spirit.

My mother's enthusiasm for learning is most apparent in travel. I was nine years old when my family visited Greece. Every night for three weeks before the trip, my older brother Peter and I sat with my mother on her bed reading Greek myths and taking notes on the Greek Gods. Despite the fact that we were traveling with fourteen-month-old twins, we managed to be at each ruin when the site opened at sunrise. I vividly remember standing in an empty ampitheatre pretending to be an ancient tragedian, picking out my favorite sculpture in the Acropolis museum, and inserting our family into modified tales of the battle at Troy. Eight years and half a dozen passport stamps later I have come to value what I have learned on these journeys about global history, politics and culture, as well as my family and myself.

While I treasure the various worlds my mother has opened to me abroad, my life has been equally transformed by what she has shown me just two miles from my house. As a ten year old, I often accompanied my mother to (name deleted), a local soup kitchen and children's center. While she attended meetings, I helped with the Summer Program by chasing children around the building and performing magic tricks. Having finally perfected the "floating paintbrush" trick, I began work as a full time volunteer with the five and six year old children last June. It is here that I met Jane Doe, an exceptionally strong girl with a vigor that is contagious. At the end of the summer, I decided to continue my work at (name deleted) as Jane's tutor. Although the position is often difficult, the personal rewards are beyond articulation. In the seven years since I first walked through the doors of (name deleted), I have learned not only the idea of giving to others, but also of deriving from them a sense of spirit.

Everything that my mother has ever done has been overshadowed by the thought behind it. While the raw experiences I have had at home and abroad have been spectacular, I have learned to truly value them by watching my mother. She has enriched my life with her passion for learning, and changed it with her devotion to humanity. In her endless love of everything and everyone she is touched by, I have seen a hope and life that is truly exceptional. Next year, I will find a new home miles away. However, my mother will always be by my side.

The topic of this essay is the writer's mother. However, the writer definitely focuses on herself, which makes this essay so strong. She manages to impress the reader with her travel experience, volunteer and community experience, and commitment to learning without ever sounding boastful or full of herself. The essay is also very well organized.

Back to top.

Sample Essay 2

Harvard, Favorite fictional character

Of all the characters that I've "met" through books and movies, two stand out as people that I most want to emulate. They are Attacus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird and Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham from Field of Dreams. They appeal to me because they embody what I strive to be. They are influential people in small towns who have a direct positive effect on those around them. I, too, plan to live in a small town after graduating from college, and that positive effect is something I must give in order to be satisfied with my life.

Both Mr. Finch and Dr. Graham are strong supporting characters in wonderful stories. They symbolize good, honesty, and wisdom. When the story of my town is written I want to symbolize those things. The base has been formed for me to live a productive, helpful life. As an Eagle Scout I represent those things that Mr. Finch and Dr. Graham represent. In the child/adolescent world I am Mr. Finch and Dr. Graham, but soon I'll be entering the adult world, a world in which I'm not yet prepared to lead.

I'm quite sure that as teenagers Attacus Finch and Moonlight Graham often wondered what they could do to help others. They probably emulated someone who they had seen live a successful life. They saw someone like my grandfather, 40-year president of our hometown bank, enjoy a lifetime of leading, sharing, and giving. I have seen him spend his Christmas Eves taking gifts of food and joy to indigent families. Often when his bank could not justify a loan to someone in need, my grandfather made the loan from his own pocket. He is a real-life Moonlight Graham, a man who has shown me that characters like Dr. Graham and Mr. Finch do much much more than elicit tears and smiles from readers and movie watchers. Through him and others in my family I feel I have acquired the values and the burning desire to benefit others that will form the foundation for a great life. I also feel that that foundation is not enough. I do not yet have the sophistication, knowledge, and wisdom necessary to succeed as I want to in the adult world. I feel that Harvard, above all others, can guide me toward the life of greatness that will make me the Attacus Finch of my town.

This essay is a great example of how to answer this question well. This applicant chose characters who demonstrated specific traits that reflect on his own personality. We believe that he is sincere about his choices because his reasons are personal (being from a small town, and so forth). He managed to tell us a good deal about himself, his values, and his goals while maintaining a strong focus throughout.

Sample Essay 3

Harvard, Family illness: Mother's fight with cancer

I am learning, both through observations and first-hand experiences, that there are many mishaps in life which seem to be unexplainable and unfair, and yet have devastating consequences. Disease fits into this category. Its atrocity does not stem from the fact that it is a rare or uncommon occurrence, since illness and disease pervade our lives as we hear numerous stories of sick people and come into contact with them each day. However, there is a marked difference between reading in the newspaper that a famous rock star or sports icon has tested H.I.V. positive and discovering that your own mother has been diagnosed with cancer.

Undoubtedly, the most influential people in my life have been my mother and father. It is to them that I credit many of my accomplishments and successes--both inside and outside of school. Throughout my childhood, my parents have always fostered and encouraged me in all my endeavors. At all my sporting events, spelling bees, concerts, and countless other activities, they have always been front row and center. My parents, in conjunction with twelve years of Catholic training, have also instilled in me a sound belief in a loving, caring God, which I have come to firmly believe. It therefore should not come as a surprise that the news of my mothers sickness would greatly alter my entire outlook on life. Where was my God?

My mother, in fact, had been aware of her condition in the spring of my junior year in high school. She deliberately did not inform my sister or me of her illness because she did not want to distract us from our studies. Instead, my mother waited for the completion of her radiation therapy treatments. At this time, she brought me into her room, sat me down on the same wooden rocking chair from which she used to read me bedtime stories, and began to relate her story. I did not weep, I did not flinch. In fact, I hardly even moved, but from that point onward, I vowed that I would do anything and everything to please my mother and make her proud of me.

Every subsequent award won and every honor bestowed upon me has been inspired by the recollection of my mother's plight. I look to her as a driving force of motivation. In her I see the firm, enduring qualities of courage, strength, hope, and especially love. Whenever I feel discouraged or dispirited, I remember the example set by my mother and soon become reinvigorated. Instead of groveling in my sorrow, I think of all the pain and suffering that my mother had to endure and am revived with new energy after realizing the triviality of my own predicament. For instance, last year, when I was playing in a championship soccer game, my leg became entangled with a forwards leg on the other team, and I wound up tearing my medial cruciate ligament. I was very upset for having injured myself in such a seemingly inane manner. Completely absorbed in my own anguish, I would not talk to anyone and instead lamented on the sidelines. But then I remembered something that my mother used to say to me whenever something like this happened: If this is the worst thing that ever happens to you, I'll be very happy, and you'll be very lucky. Instantly, many thoughts race through my mind. I pictured my mother as a young thirteen-year-old walking to the hospital every day after school to visit her sick father. She had always told me how extremely painful it had been to watch his body become emaciated as the cancer advanced day by day and finally took its toll. I then pictured my mother in the hospital, thirty years later, undergoing all the physically and mentally debilitating tests, and having to worry about her husband and her children at the same time. I suddenly felt incredibly ashamed at how immature I had been acting over my own affliction. I gathered my thoughts and instead of sulking or complaining, helped coach my team to victory.

I am very happy to say that my mother is now feeling much better and her periodic checkups and C.A.T. scans have indicated that she is doing very well. Nevertheless, her strength and courage will remain a constant source of inspiration to me. I feel confident to greet the future with a resolute sense of hope and optimism.

The majority of the suggestions for this essay highlight the danger inherent in relying on an overly poignant topic, in this case the writer's mother's bout with cancer. Part of why the reactions to this piece are so passionate (and why there are so many of them) is because had the applicant just taken a slightly different approach, he could have had a powerful and touching composition on his hands. It is always frustrating when a piece with so much potential misses the mark. In this case, the material and emotion are all there. Had he spent more time and written with more sincerity, this essay might have been a real winner.

I wish this kid had started the essay with his mom sitting him down in the rocking chair. That would have been a powerful beginning. In general, using the introduction of the essay to paint a scene or mood can be very effective.

He should begin with the most simple and striking sentence possible, such as "On January 5, 1995, my mother learned that she had cancer." Use real times and exact places. Let the most dramatic point go where it belongs, at the end of the sentence--also known as the stress point.

Because this topic is so personal, I yearn to know more about the student's reaction to his mom's cancer, how he and his family dealt with it over time. As written, things just seem a bit too tidy.

The author describes a valuable life lesson, but I find the writing style to be artificial and a bit maudlin. I imagine he resorted to the thesaurus more than once.

The writer tells us a sad story about his mother with cancer and how he has strived to do his best because of what his mother has been through. The topic can be a tear jerker, but this essay lacked the depth and richness that other essays with similar topics possess.

The experience obviously impacted the student very much. But what students do not realize is that they do not have to share such personal issues within the confines of a college essay.

I don't believe the "epiphany" in the conclusion as it's described. It's too easy and convenient to be believable. He begins his description with "For instance," which negates almost everything that follows. When he sees his mother in his mind, he "instantly" thinks this and "suddenly" does that, and finally "helped coach his team to victory." He "coached" the team. "Cheered" maybe. "Coached?" No way.

This essay smells of contrivance. Yes, his mother's bout with cancer affected him. Just not in the way he wants me to believe. This is the "lasting sanctifying effect" essay. Look at what the writer is actually saying (using his own words): I used to be "absorbed in my own anguish" and "lament" my bouts with adversity. But, "instantly" or "suddenly" (take your pick), I became a young man "confident to greet the future with a resolute sense of hope and optimism." Why not say, "I used to be a thoughtless, immature teenager. My mother got cancer. I'm now a thoughtful, mature adult. You should admit me to _____." His essay is no less subtle.

Return to: Lesson One: College Essay Questions

• Sample Essays: Important Issue

Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.

How to Write a Descriptive Essay on an Influential Person in Your Life

How to Write a Speech About Someone I Admire

A descriptive essay on an influential person can be about someone who has had a positive or negative impact on your life. This person can be a teacher, a coach, a family member, a friend, an employer, a political figure, a historical figure or even a fictional character. The key element of writing this type of essay is to reflect on how and why the person has influenced you.

Focus Your Essay

As in any essay, when writing about an influential person in your life you should include a thesis statement. In this case, the thesis statement declares how or why this person has influenced you life. For example, if writing about your soccer coach, you may write, "Through his advice and the example of his character, my soccer coach has inspired me to never be lazy, to get back up after a fall, and to be a confident leader." The thesis statement gives you, the writer, a focus and direction so that you are not only describing a person, but exploring the causes and effects of that person's impact on you.

Start With an Anecdote

Instead of starting the essay with an explicit physical or personal description of the person, you can more meaningfully reveal who the individual is by sharing a personal story. For example, if you are writing about your sibling, you can begin the essay with a specific memory of a moment or experience you shared in which your relationship or your sibling's strengths and weaknesses are revealed through actions. This is an engaging way to entertain the reader while imparting valuable information about the person you are describing.

Describe the Person

At some point in the descriptive essay, you need to describe the influential person. This description -- which can include physical attributes, biographical information and personality traits -- should be related with concrete language. The description should paint a vivid picture of all that matters about the person. The writer needs to be judicious in which descriptive material she selects for inclusion in the essay; the information should be determined by the overall point being made in the essay. For example, if your thesis statement is about how Abraham Lincoln is your hero because of all his accomplishments relative to the social and political conditions of the time, descriptions of his favorite hobbies or hair color may not be pertinent. The description serves to give a deeper and more vivid portrait of the influential person, but should ultimately serve the higher cause of the thesis statement and the effect of the person on the writer.

Describe Your Relationship

When writing about an influential person, you have to talk not just about the person, but also about the reason the person has made an impact on your life; this means you have to talk about yourself, what specific things you have learned from this person, and how those lessons affect you today. An important strategy for successfully describing the relationship between the person and the writer is to give specific examples. For example, don't just say, "my grandmother is generous"; give specific examples of her generosity: "she always makes sure everyone is fed before eating," or "she sold her jewelry to help pay for a car so that I could drive to work." These specific examples are more powerful and evoke more empathy than general descriptive words such as "kind" or "generous."

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Soheila Battaglia is a published and award-winning author and filmmaker. She holds an MA in literary cultures from New York University and a BA in ethnic studies from UC Berkeley. She is a college professor of literature and composition.

How to Write a College Essay About an Influential Person

• November 2, 2022

When brainstorming topics for your college essay, you’ve probably considered writing about a person who has influenced or inspired you–a parent or grandparent, a sibling, a teacher, or another significant figure in your life. You may be writing an essay of your own design or responding to the fourth prompt on this year’s Common Application: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Writing about someone else in a college essay can be tricky—after all, your ultimate goal is still to tell admissions officers enough about you to help them decide whether to offer you admission. But there’s a way to do that even while writing a specific, insightful essay centered on another person. In this post, we’ll walk you through the process of choosing someone to write about, brainstorming, and pulling your ideas together into a finished essay.

Choosing a person to write about

One of our favorite college essays about someone other than the writer is Zoya Garg’s essay about her mother, which was published in the New York Times . Garg writes about her mother’s dreams of a career as a stand-up comedian and how a gift from Garg helped set her on the path to achieving those dreams:

“My mom finds a baffling delight from drinking from glass, hotel-grade water dispensers. Even when three-day-old lemon rinds float in stale water, drinking from the dispenser remains luxurious. Last year for her birthday, I saved enough to buy a water dispenser for our kitchen counter. However, instead of water, I filled it with handwritten notes encouraging her to chase her dreams of a career.”

One of the things that works well about Garg’s essay is how precisely Garg pinpoints the ways her mom has inspired her—Garg mentions her mother’s curiosity, her sense of humor, and her ability to “light up conversations” with and “reach the hearts of” everyone she encounters. If you’re going to write an essay about someone else, choose someone about whom you can identify these kinds of details, rather than someone who has inspired you from afar.

Inspiration doesn’t always have to be positive—perhaps you were inspired by not wanting to be like a particular person in your life. But if you choose to write about someone who inspired you in a more indirect or negative way, be mindful of the tone you’re striking in your essay and the impression it might leave on an admissions officer. Remember that your essay is an opportunity to show the kind of community member you would be if admitted to the school.

Brainstorming your essay

A successful essay about someone who has inspired you will have two key ingredients: examples and reflection. (To learn more on the importance of reflection in the college essay, check out our Complete Your College Essay Online Course .) But unlike a recipe, you don’t have to add these ingredients in any particular order—you can begin by brainstorming either one and still find your way to a powerful finished essay.

If you’d like to start with examples, spend some time thinking about moments when this person inspired or influenced you. Try to pinpoint them as precisely as possible: Did you have a conversation with your father or a driving lesson with your mother that particularly taught you something? Did time spent with an older sibling while on a family vacation show you something about the person you hope to become?

Once you have your list of moments, try writing a sentence or two about what you learned in each instance. For example: Driving with my mother, who always wanted to take the scenic route, reminded me of the importance of patience, something I have long struggled with. 

If you already know what you’ve learned from the person you’re focusing on, you can just as easily do this brainstorm in reverse. Try first writing out the “lessons” you’ve learned. Then, under each one, list as many examples as you can think of that illustrate how this person taught you what you’ve learned from them—the driving lesson, the meaningful conversation, the morning spent surfing, and more. The most evocative examples and moments on the list will be excellent material for your essay.

Beginning to write

You’ve probably spent a lot of time with the most important people in your life. (If you haven’t, that might be an essay in itself!) That can make those people even harder to describe, because we know so much more about them than can fit into a single essay.

As you begin to write, return to some of the questions you asked during the brainstorming process:

• What one illustrative story can you tell about this person?
• What one or two key things have you learned from them, or what one or two things have they inspired you to do?
• Was there a specific experience one of you went through during which they inspired you?

Think back to Zoya Garg’s anecdote of a birthday gift, which tells a much larger story about her relationship with her mother and about Garg’s own ability to understand and support those around her.

Sometimes the easiest way to build this kind of essay is to work backwards. Consider this person’s traits – what does the reader need to know most about the person, and what have you learned from them? Perhaps it’s your mother’s fondness for taking the scenic route, or your sister’s willingness to try new things. Then make a list of experiences, traits, or adjectives that best capture those elements: Is it the way they laugh, how they take charge in difficult situations, how they walk into a room? In Garg’s essay, one telling detail is her mother’s “baffling delight” in drinking out of fancy glass water dispensers, which kicks off the entire story. Those are the perfect kinds of characteristics and small moments to include in your essay.

And remember—it isn’t enough just to describe this inspirational person. You’ll also need to describe how their influence shows up in your life, in big or small ways.

Revising your essay

Once you’ve drafted your essay, and perhaps taken some time away from the draft, look at your essay with fresh eyes . This is a great opportunity to check that your essay is specific and precise in the way you describe the person who inspired you, so that the admissions officers reading your essay will come away feeling like they know that person. Keep in mind that even if you’re writing about an experience of anti-inspiration, or someone who inspired you not to be like them, it’s worth trying to strike a positive tone in your essay.

And finally, remember that your ultimate goal is to give the admissions committee insight into who they might be inviting into their campus community. You want them to feel as though they’ve gotten to know you —no matter who else you introduce them to along the way.

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How to Write an Influence Essay

Elizabeth sobiski.

Influence essays are about a real or fictional character who has had significant influence on your life. This might be a relative, friend, coworker, musician, writer, or someone in history. Fictional characters could be people described in songs, through poetry or other writings and art. These types of essays are popular with colleges and universities as a assessment of an applicant. The key with influence essays is to be honest, and rather than writing about someone just because you think it will impress the readers most.

Explore this article

• List the people you look up to

1 List the people you look up to

List the people you look up to, whom you trust for advice, or who have helped during rough times. Is there a certain song or artist you always turn to? This might be someone or something that makes you feel better when you are down, as well as reinforcing a good mood.

Narrow the list to the two top contenders. It is helpful to write down the characteristics of your choices to clarify your thinking. Doing this also creates a deeper understanding of yourself and of why this person or thing has such a great influence on you. This understanding will help make the topic of the essay meaningful to the reader.

Identify specific situations of influence. List a few of the most important occasions that this person or thing has truly helped you. This list will make the essay writing go smoothly, and it will be easier to weed out the things you don't really want in it, which cuts down on the number of revisions.

Draft the essay. This type of essay follows the same general guidelines for structure as other essays. Include an introductory paragraph, which will name the person or thing of influence, followed by supporting paragraphs that depict the specifics of the influence. The essay ends with a conclusion paragraph. The essay's length depends on what is required. A single-page essay will highlight one incident or description, while you'll add more detail and examples to longer essays.

• If you are having a difficult time deciding on the person or thing that has influenced you the most, do not be tempted by obvious choices such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King. Unless these people have had a profound impact on you, the readers of the essay might feel that the assignment was not taken seriously.
• Remember that a person of influence in your life does not have to be someone with whom others are familiar. Your essay will introduce them and help the reader understand the person.

About the Author

Elizabeth Sobiski has been writing professionally since 2005. She provides businesses such as Burdick and Lee Galleries, Clearwater Fishing Charters and Read Finder with custom content to keep their digital and print media fresh, informative and directed to their target audience. Sobiski holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Roosevelt University in Chicago.

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An Essay about Someone Who Has Made an Impact on Your Life

Who has made a significant impact in your life and why? Essay on the topic might be challenging to write. One is usually asked to write such a text as a college admission essay.

Our specialists will write a custom essay specially for you!

A topic for this paper can be of your choice or pre-established by the institution. Either way, you may have to describe a person who influenced your life.

Here, we’ll tell you how to write about someone who had a huge impact on your life:

• Learn story-telling techniques.
• Choose the right person that affected you significantly.
• Describe the representative situation in an engaging way.
• Focus on yourself and the meaning of your journey.

However, it may not be enough to write about someone who had a great impact on your life. You should know some other peculiarities which we are going to discuss right now. Don’t forget that you can always find help here with any academic task.

📃 Writing about a Person Who Influenced You

Writing your essay about someone who has made an impact on your life starts with learning a few techniques. One of the main things you should know is that you will have to create a captivating story. Thus, you should know how to write personal narrative essays , some basic rules of story-telling.

Here is what you should keep in mind:

Just in 1 hour! We will write you a plagiarism-free paper in hardly more than 1 hour

• Tell a story. A great way to engage your audience is to say something in the form of a story. Human brain processes information better that way. With words and sensory details, you can create a mental image of the person you are describing.
• Be personal. It can resemble composing an autobiography or memoir as you have to talk about your actual experience. There is nothing more moving than an individual story, so do not be afraid to open up in the reflective essay. Talk about the change you’ve experienced after meeting the person that influenced you.
• Don’t be predictable. A good story needs some level of suspense. There are many ways in which it can be done. You can try to tell the story chronologically or go back in time and include flashbacks. Try to surprise your readers with an intriguing essay title.
• Create a three-dimensional character. The focus of the story is not the sequence of events. It’s the character. Provide enough details and explain to the reader what makes that unusual.
• Show instead of telling. It’s a core idea of good story-telling. By doing that, you invite the readers to the scene. For starters, try using dialogue instead of narration.
• End on a positive note. Even if you had to face challenges, tell about a positive influence in your life. The biggest impact might be harmful, but it helped you grow nonetheless. Help the readers to see a piece of wisdom or a lesson you have learned.

Besides, we have listed some quick hints. With them, you’ll complete your essay on someone who has made a significant impact on your life and why successfully:

• Someone’s impact that you can describe may be either positive or negative. A vast majority of essays written about influential persons speak positively about them. However, do not try to overidealize. It’s fair to talk about negative as much as about positive. A person that influenced you does not have to be likable or perfect. It is enough to recognize the positive qualities that made an impact on you. It will help the commission to see you as a thinking and just person.
• Be as specific as possible. Describe a particular incident that explains this person’s impact on you. You have to describe the qualities of the person through the actual events that took place and the overall environment. However, remember that the story is also about you and how the person influenced you. Be specific about your growth and journey. The essay is the best way to demonstrate your thoughts and personality.
• The main character of your essay might be someone you do not know personally. Stay truthful and honest to yourself. If someone who has made an impact on your life is a person you have never met, write about it. You could talk about your grandparent whose story you’ve heard or an author of your favorite book. Describe how a person that you’ve met on social media and the friendship with them changed you.

Whoever it is that inspired you, remember that the essay is also about you. It is not the best practice to talk about celebrities, though. You might appear as a fan and not as a thinker.

🎯 College Application Essay

Why are you writing paragraph after paragraph about the person who has made an impact on your life? If this essay is for some contest or is a part of the college application package, be careful.

We’ve gathered some tips on writing an application essay:

• Construct a story. Every story should have a good beginning, a middle, and an end. The first paragraph should serve as an introduction to your information. At the same time, leave the last section for the conclusion. The middle part is where you describe the events in your account.
• Outline it. To make every paragraph count, you should create an outline. It will help you to understand what you want to say in each particular moment in your story. As well as stay on track and coherently describe the incident in your essay.
• Provide examples. They can help you prove your point and demonstrate your role model’s qualities. Instead of saying my father is a generous person, you can find an example in which he showed generosity. These parts should always lead back to you. The goal here is to show how their good conduct influenced your life decisions.
• Be honest. Staying true to who you are is essential. Read successful college essay examples if you’re not sure about it. After all, the paper is not about the role model, but it is about the influence. Try to write something that will be creative and unique. Honesty is the key to reach your reader’s heart.
• Ask someone to read it. Once you finish, ask a friend or a relative for their honest feedback. They can evaluate the content, the grammar, the readability, and the style. An independent reader can help you to improve all of these points.
• Don’t include the prompt. Remember that the admissions committee will receive hundreds of essays on this subject. Do not repeat standard templates and writing prompts. Your goal is to stand out from the crowd, and the only way to do it is by writing something meaningful and personal.

Most importantly:

Receive a plagiarism-free paper tailored to your instructions. Cut 20% off your first order!

You will have a particular word limit. It means you need to be very precise and clear when writing your essay on the person who has had the greatest impact on your life. You should be able to express the main idea and explain the effects in 200 or even fewer words.

Tips on how to prepare “remembering a person” essays can also be useful for your task. Look up successful someone who has impacted your life essay examples as well.

Who Has Made a Significant Impact in Your Life & Why: Essay Example

Every person has a unique character that is formed under the impact of various factors. These include the environment, social status, financial status, and many other elements that play a vital role in the life of any individual. However, being social creatures, people are most of all impacted by other people as they since the first minutes of their lives, up to the last ones, they live in society and interact with its representatives.

People Who Influenced You: Essay Topics

• Teacher’s influence on my personality . 
• Discuss how your teacher’s attitude influenced your desire to study.  
• Describe a teacher who had a negative impact on your zeal to learn the subject.  
• How the example of Henri Cartier-Bresson influenced my desire to become a photographer.  
• Parental influence on my life outcomes . 
• Explain how a conversation with happy spouses changed your views on marriage.  
• How James Brown influenced my dancing style.  
• Effect of an online friend on my life.  
• Analyze how the example and behavior of your parents influenced your character.  
• School bullies and their impact on my life . 
• Discuss the impact Disney cartoon characters had on your perception of gender roles.  
• Narrate how Maria Montessori work impacted your desire to become a teacher. 
• Describe how your vegetarian friend influenced you to change your eating habits .  
• Examine the role of your coach in your decision to take up football .  
• Role of influencers in American society . 
• How your Italian relatives impacted your view on family and your cultural values.  
• Discuss the way Aristotle’s understanding of ethics influences your ethical values. 
• Analyze the impact if your father’s beliefs on your career choice . 
• How meeting my best friend affected my life.  
• Teacher’s impact on my choice of career . 
• Why I think George Washington is a true hero : the impact of his personality on my life.   
• Describe how life and example of Florence Nightingale inspired you to become a nurse.  
• A fictional character that influenced my worldview.  
• My mother’s influence on my ideals of beauty .  
• Hayao Miyazaki and his influence on me . 
• How my uncle helped me to overcome my fear of riding a bicycle .  
• Write about a celebrity you consider a role model .   
• Why Steve Jobs’ story inspires me.  
• Discuss how your physical education teacher motivated you to take up a healthy lifestyle.  
• Describe the way Jane Austen influenced your love for reading.  
• Teacher’s impact on my personal life . 
• Analyze how the example of Greta Tunberg inspired you to become an environmental activist.  
• My friend helped me to overcome my fear and it changed my life.  
• Influence of Martin Luter King on my beliefs. 
• Why Roberto Clemente is my hero.  
• How superheroes affect modern society.  
• Examine how your favorite K-pop group influenced your personal style.  
• The role of my grandparents in building up my identity .  
• Impact of my parents on my self-confidence.  
• Explain how your mother’s example influenced your desire to enter a college.  
• The way Mother Theresa’s life and example changed my worldview.  
• A person who inspired my interest in Indian art .  
• Jay-Z’s biography and influence on me . 
• The role of my family in my decision to lead a healthy lifestyle .  
• Discuss how Jane Addams legacy influenced your resolution to become a social worker.  
• Why Helen Keller is a person I would like to resemble.  
• Analyze the role of Edgar Allan Poe in shaping your literature taste.  
• How the activities of Eleanor Roosevelt motivate me and a lot of other Americans.  
• Abraham Lincoln and his impact on my life . 
• Impact of my coach on my professional development and success.  

Thank you for reading the article. We hope you found it helpful. Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends and peers. Leave your comments below, and good luck with your college admission essay!

You might also be interested in:

• School Days Essay: How to Describe a Memorable Event
• Growing Up Essay: Great Ideas for Your College Assignment
• Childhood Memories Essay: Brilliant Writing Ideas
• Excellent Remembering a Person Essay: Free Writing Guidelines
• Life Experience Essay: How to Write a Brilliant Paper
• Tips for an Admissions Essay on an Influential Person: Allen Grove, ThoughtCo
• 7 Storytelling Techniques Used by the Most Inspiring TED Presenters: Nayomi Chibana, Visme
• Someone Who Impacted My Life Essay: Bartleby
• Application Essay: The Writing Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Essays That Worked: Undergraduate Admissions, Johns Hopkins University
• The Only Four College Essay Writing Tips You’ll Ever Need: Inside Admissions, Tufts Admissions
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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Influential Person — Who is the Most Influential Person in Your Life

Who is The Most Influential Person in Your Life

• Categories: Influential Person

About this sample

Words: 1797 |

Published: Sep 25, 2018

Words: 1797 | Pages: 2 | 9 min read

Works Cited

• BBC. (2019, December 20). Greta Thunberg: Climate Crisis Activist Gets Comic Book Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50861907
• CNN. (2019, September 23). Greta Thunberg: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.
• Greta Thunberg's official website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gretathunberg.org/
• Svenska Dagbladet. (2018, August 20). Greta Thunberg: "Skolstrejken för klimatet kan pågå i åratal" [Greta Thunberg: "The school strike for climate can go on for years"]. Retrieved from https://www.svd.se/greta-thunberg-skolstrejken-for-klimatet-kan-paga-i-aratal
• The Guardian. (2019, March 11). Greta Thunberg: The Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Leading a Global Movement.

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Frans de Waal, who explored empathy among apes, dies at 75

Witnessing two chimpanzees fight and then reconcile began the primate researcher’s exploration into the inner lives and emotions of the animals.

Frans de Waal was just starting his career in primate research in the mid-1970s when he watched a male chimpanzee aggressively confront another at a zoo enclosure in the Netherlands. Later, the chimp calmed down and held his palm up, a gesture of reconciliation. The two chimps hugged.

The moment sparked a lifetime of exploration, probing the inner lives of chimps, apes and other species for evidence of empathy, morality and sentient awareness — traits long assumed to exist at high levels only in humans. In other words, Dr. de Waal often said, we are not so special.

“I consider human cognition as a variety of animal cognition,” said Dr. de Waal, who died March 14 at 75 at his home in Stone Mountain, Ga. “We are exceptionally smart, but we are not fundamentally different.”

For more than five decades, Dr. de Waal was renowned for his wide-ranging curiosity — from studying acts of altruism in chimps to questions of fluid gender roles in primates — as well as his storytelling flair.

In more than a dozen books and frequent talks around the world, Dr. de Waal shared anecdotes and his deadpan humor (often mocking ideas of human exceptionalism) while bringing his work to a wide audience.

“I hate the so-called ‘ivory tower’ of science and feel that I have an obligation to communicate with the general public,” said Dr. de Waal, a longtime professor of psychobiology at Emory University in Atlanta and a research scientist at the school’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center (now the Emory National Primate Research Center.)

One of Dr. de Waal’s favorite tales was about Kuni, a bonobo , a primate found in central Africa. A bird slammed into the walls of her glass enclosure at a British zoo. Kuni gently picked up the stunned bird and took it to the top of the tallest tree in her habitat. She unfolded the bird’s wings and set it loose, like a toy airplane. The bird was still too disoriented, and Kuni watched over it for hours until it could fly away.

“[Kuni] tailored her assistance to the specific situation of an animal totally different from herself,” Dr. de Waal wrote in his 2005 book , “Our Inner Ape.”

In other books and lectures, he described problem-solving such as two chimpanzees joining forces to lug a heavy box or signs of apparent compassion with male chimps taking over care for the young when females were absent. He helped popularize the term “alpha male” in primate terms — not as a swaggering victor but as a leader who shows care and wise judgment for the entire group.

An example was how a group of bonobos helped an ailing newcomer named Kidogo adjust to a new zoo setting. “[They] took him by the hand and led him to where the keepers wanted him, thus showing they understood both the keepers’ intentions and Kidogo’s problem,” he wrote.

Dr. de Waal stressed that such behaviors should not be viewed as just simple versions of human interactions. Instead, he said, they should be regarded as a different, but equally rich, array of emotions and social learning that includes passing on knowledge and sharing a sense of community and generational continuity.

“The possibility that empathy is part of our primate heritage ought to make us happy, but we are not in the habit of taking pride in our nature,” he wrote in a 2005 essay in New Scientist. “When people commit atrocities, we call them ‘animals,’ but when they give to the poor, we praise them for being ‘humane.’ We like to claim the latter behavior for ourselves.”

Among some detractors, Dr. de Waal was accused of trying too hard to tease out deeper meanings from his observations of primates. In response, he described his critics as too influenced by concepts — passed down by cultures and religions — that only humans are capable of such higher values.

“One can only shudder at the thought that the humaneness of our societies would depend on the whims of politics, culture or religion,” he wrote in the book “The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society” (2009).

His work was more widely seen as advancing research by leading primatologists such as Jane Goodall and evolutionary psychologist Desmond Morris , whose 1967 book “The Naked Ape” outlined compelling comparisons between apes and humans.

More recently, Dr. de Waal found allies among groups seeking “personhood,” legal status for primates and other animals such as dolphins, whales and elephants. “Uniquely human emotions don’t exist,” Dr. de Waal wrote in a 2019 essay in the New York Times. “Like organs, the emotions evolved over millions of years to serve essential functions.”

In 1995, the Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) recommended Dr. de Waal’s book “Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes” (1982) as reading for freshman GOP congressmen as a guide on how to get ahead. Dr. de Waal lamented that his concepts of “alpha male” had been hijacked by politicians. He became so dismayed during the 2016 election campaigns that he added a clarifying message to one of his books.

“Merciless tyrants do sometimes rise to the top in a chimpanzee society,” he wrote , but added that the most successful alphas “are typically not necessarily the biggest, strongest, meanest ones around since they often reach the top with the assistance of supporters. Most alphas protect the underdog, keep the peace and reassure those who are distressed.”

‘So humanlike’

Franciscus Bernardus Maria de Waal was born on Oct. 29, 1948, in the southern Netherlands town of ’s-Hertogenbosch, also known as Den Bosch, and was raised in nearby Waalwijk. His father was a banker, and his mother was a homemaker.

He began his field studies with macaques, a small primate species found in pockets across Africa and Asia. He received the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree at Radboud University in Nijmegen in 1970 and a postgraduate degree at the University of Groningen in 1973. Two years later, he began researching chimpanzees at a zoo complex in Arnhem, Netherlands, and received a doctorate in biology from Utrecht University in 1977.

He moved to the United States in 1981 to take a take a position at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in Madison and subsequently lectured at the University of Wisconsin. In 1991, he became a research professor at Emory and later was named director of its primate center.

In a 2016 interview on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show,” Dr. de Waal told guest host Susan Page he believed that zoos, circuses and other captive settings for animals should not be banned but monitored rigorously to ensure adequate care.

“I’m more of what they usually call an animal welfare-ist,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that we need to stop all these things, but we need to really closely pay attention on how we treat animals.”

Dr. de Waal’s wife of 44 years, Catherine Marin, confirmed the death and said the cause was stomach cancer. Survivors also include five brothers.

At the zoo in Arnhem in 2016, Dr. de Waal’s mentor, biologist Jan van Hooff, took the rare step of entering the chimpanzee habitat to comfort Mama, a 59-year-old chimp and the alpha female for four decades in the chimp colony. She was close to death. Mama appeared to recognize van Hooff. She reached out to hug him, draping one hand over the back of his hand and gently tapping his hair.

“So humanlike,” said Dr. de Waal of his friend’s encounter, which became a viral video and inspired the title of Dr. de Waal’s 2019 book “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves.”

“People were surprised how humanlike the expression of Mama was and how humanlike her gestures were,” he said on NPR’s “Fresh Air” show. “And that is something that struck me is … everyone knows that chimps are our closest relative, so why wouldn’t the way they express their emotions be extremely similar to ours? But people were surprised by that.”

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Use Your Allusion: See How Many Literary References You Recognize

By J. D. Biersdorfer March 28, 2024

• Share full article

Lines from poems and plays frequently serve as inspiration for later literary allusions. This 12-question quiz is crafted from a running list created by the Book Review’s staff to test your knowledge on a wide variety of referenced works. The source material spans thousands of years and includes ancient Greek history and modern pop songs.

The quiz is in the multiple-choice format, so just tap or click your answers. After you finish, you’ll get your score and a list of links to the original works. (And yes, the headline above does allude to a pair of 1991 albums from the rock band Guns N’ Roses. Give yourself extra credit if you spotted it.)

Video illustration by Erik Carter

Over the years, “I Sing the Body Electric” has been used repeatedly, including as the title for a Ray Bradbury short story (and his “Twilight Zone” script), as a musical anthem to creativity in the 1980 film “Fame” and in the lyrics of a 2012 Lana Del Rey song. But who said it first?

Benjamin Franklin

Mary Shelley

Walt Whitman

Paule Marshall

Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel “Things Fall Apart,” Joan Didion’s 1968 essay collection “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” and Robert B. Parker’s 1983 thriller “The Widening Gyre” all take their titles from the same poem. What is the original poem — and who is its author?

“The Second Coming,” by William Butler Yeats

“The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost

“‘Hope’ Is the Thing With Feathers,” by Emily Dickinson

“The Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Alfred Tennyson

“Band of Brothers,” the 2001 World War II television drama, is based on a 1992 book by Stephen E. Ambrose. But which previous work used the phrase “band of brothers” quite notably?

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” by Erich Maria Remarque

“Henry V,” by William Shakespeare

“Richard III,” by William Shakespeare

“The Red Badge of Courage,” by Stephen Crane

Wait! “Band of Brothers” was decades ago and I just finished watching the new “Masters of the Air” series. Is that show’s title an allusion as well? If so, quiz me!

George Orwell

Winston S. Churchill

John Maynard Keynes

Moving on from land and air to water now: The title of “The Sea, the Sea,” Iris Murdoch’s 1978 novel, is also a famous line (“Θάλαττα! θάλαττα!” in the original language) shouted by Greek warriors when they reached the top of a mountain and could see a nearby body of water. What is the name of the Greek work?

“Odyssey,” by Homer

“Lysistrata,” by Aristophanes

“The Persians,” by Aeschylus

“Anabasis,” by Xenophon

Which 1951 poem by Langston Hughes gave the playwright Lorraine Hansberry the title for her 1959 stage play, “A Raisin in the Sun”?

“Let America Be America Again”

“The Weary Blues”

OK, back to Shakespeare, because that guy had a serious literary output that is still influential centuries later: Which one of the following books does NOT take its title from “Macbeth”?

“The Sound and the Fury,” by William Faulkner

“Let It Come Down,” by Paul Bowles

“For Whom the Bell Tolls,” by Ernest Hemingway

“Something Wicked This Way Comes,” by Ray Bradbury

“The Moon Is Down,” by John Steinbeck

The last line of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1899 poem “Sympathy” gave Maya Angelou the title for her first autobiography in 1969. What is that title?

“Little Brown Baby”

“Invitation to Love”

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

Elif Batuman has named both a novel and a nonfiction book after works by a certain 19th-century Russian author who wrote, among other things, “The Brothers Karamazov.” Who is this writer?

Alexander Pushkin

Leo Tolstoy

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Nikolai Gogol

Which novelist is renowned for his allusions to popular music and literature in his work — and named his 1987 novel after a Beatles song on the band’s 1965 “Rubber Soul” album?

Bret Easton Ellis

Haruki Murakami

Paul Beatty

Hanif Kureishi

In the epigraph of his 2015 book, “Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates quotes a passage of a poem with the same title that influenced him. Who wrote that poem?

Gwendolyn Brooks

James Baldwin

Toni Morrison

Richard Wright

Which Scotsman’s work inspired the titles of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”?

Sir Walter Scott

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Burns

James Boswell

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James McBride’s novel sold a million copies, and he isn’t sure how he feels about that, as he considers the critical and commercial success  of “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.”

How did gender become a scary word? Judith Butler, the theorist who got us talking about the subject , has answers.

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students  who inspired it.

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .