Common Application Essay Option Two Learn from Failure

The second essay option on the current  Common Application  asks you to discuss a time when things didnt go as planed. The question addresses difficulties in broad terms, and invites you to write about a challenge, setback, or failure: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success.  Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Many college applicants will be uncomfortable with this question. After all, a college application should highlight your strengths and accomplishments, not draw attention to your failures and setbacks. But before you shy away from this essay option, consider these points: Growing and maturing is all about encountering obstacles and learning from our failures.No college anywhere, ever, has admitted a student who hasnt failed at times.Its easy to boast about our accomplishments. It takes a greater level of confidence and maturity to acknowledge and examine the times when we struggled.A student who can learn from failure is a student who will be successful in college.Every single one of the thousands of applications a college receives will highlight successes, awards, honors, and accomplishments. Very few will show the type of confidence and introspection required to explore setbacks and failures. If you cant tell, Im a fan of this prompt. I would much rather read about an applicants learning experience from failure than a catalog of triumphs. That said, know yourself. Prompt #2 is one of the more challenging options. If you arent good at introspection and self-analysis, and if you arent comfortable with exposing a wart or two, then this may not be the best option for you. Break Down the Question If you do choose this prompt, read the question carefully. Lets break it down into four parts: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. This text was added to the prompt in 2015 and revised again in 2017. We can conclude from this addition that the colleges and universities that use the Common Application really want you to show how your encounter with an obstacle fits into the big picture of your personal growth and later accomplishments (more on this in the fourth bullet point below).Recount an incident or time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. This is the exposition of your essay -- the description of the challenge or failure that you are going to analyze. Keep in mind that the action requested here -- recount -- is the easy part of your essay. Recounting doesnt require a lot of high-level thinking. This is the plot summary. Youll need clear, engaging language, but you want to make sure you do the recounting as efficiently as possible. The real meat of your essay that is going to impress the admissions officers come s later.How did it affect you?  This is the second most important part of your essay. You struggled with something, so how did you respond? What emotions did failure evoke? Were you frustrated? Did you want to give up or did the setback motivate you? Were you angry at yourself or did you project blame onto someone else? Were you surprised by your failure? Was this a new experience for you? Be honest as you assess your reaction to the obstacle you encountered. Even if you were affected in a way that now seems inappropriate or an over-reaction, dont hold back as you explore the way that failure affected you.What did you learn from the experience? This is the heart of your essay, so make sure you give this part of the question significant emphasis. The question here -- what did you learn? -- is asking for higher level thinking skills than the rest of the prompt. Understanding what you learned requires self-analysis, introspection, self-awareness, and strong critical thinking skills. This is the one part of prompt #2 that is truly asking for college-level thinking. The best students are those who assess their failures, learn from them, and move on. Here is your chance to prove that you are capable of this type of thoughtfulness and personal growth. What Counts as a Challenge, Setback, or Failure? Another challenge with this prompt is deciding on your focus. What type of obstacle will lead to the best essay? Keep in mind that your failure does not need to be, as my son would phrase it, an epic fail. You dont need to have run a cruise ship aground or ignited a million-acre forest fire to choose this essay option. Failures and come in many flavors. Some possibilities include: A failure to apply yourself. Did laziness or over-confidence make you under-perform academically or in an extra-curricular event?A failure to behave appropriately. Did your conduct in a situation insult or hurt someone? How should you have behaved? Why did you behave the way you did?A failure to act. Sometimes our greatest failures are those moments when we do nothing. In retrospect, what should you have done? Why did you do nothing?Failing a friend or family member. Did you let down someone close to you? Disappointing others can be one of the most difficult failures to come to terms with.A failure to listen. If youre like me, you think youre right 99% of the time. Many times, however, others have a lot to offer, but only if we listen.Failure under pressure. Did you choke during your orchestra solo? Did you bobble the ball during an important play?A lapse in judgment. Did you do something foolish or dangerous that had unfortunate consequences? Challenges and setbacks can also cover a broad range of possible topics: A financial challenge that made it difficult for you to accomplish your goals.A serious illness or injury  that forced you to curtail your expectations.A significant family responsibility that forced you to reevaluate your priorities.A disability that has made your educational journey difficult.A family move that disrupted your high school experience.A geographical challenge such as living in a remote location with limited opportunities for ambitious students. This list could go on and on -- theres no shortage challenges, setbacks, and failures in our lives. Whatever you write about, make sure your exploration of the obstacle reveals self-awareness and personal growth. If your essay doesnt show that you are a better person because of your setback or failure, then you havent succeeded in responding to this essay prompt. A Final Note Whether you are writing about failure or one of the other essay options, keep in mind the primary purpose of the essay: the college wants to get to know you better. On a certain level, your essay isnt really about your failure. Rather, it is about your personality and character. In the long run, were you able to handle your failure in a positive way? Colleges that ask for an essay have ​holistic admissions, so they are looking at the whole applicant, not just SAT scores and grades. By the time they finish reading your essay, the admissions folks should feel that you are the type of person who will succeed in college and make a positive contribution to the campus community. So before you hit the submit button on the Common Application, make sure your essay paints a portrait of you that makes a positive impression. If you blame your failure on others, or if you seem to have learned nothing from your failure, the college may very well decide that you dont have a place in the camp us community. Last of all, pay attention to style, tone, and mechanics. The essay is largely about you, but it is also about your writing ability. If you decide that this essay prompt isnt the best one for you, be sure to explore the tips and strategies for all seven Common Application essay prompts.