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Is it okay to write about failure in college essays?

Hello everyone! I was thinking of writing about a time I failed and how I bounced back from it in my college essay. Is it a good idea to write about failure, or should I focus on a more positive topic? Looking forward to your thoughts on this!

11 months ago

Hello! Writing about failure can be an excellent choice for your college essay, as long as you emphasize how you've grown and learned from the experience, rather than focusing the entire thing on your failure itself. College admissions committees know everyone trips up sometimes, and so they appreciate when students can reflect on their setbacks and use them as opportunities for growth. This shows resilience, maturity, and the willingness to accept responsibility for one's actions.

To ensure your response is focusing on your response to the failure, rather than dwelling on the failure itself, share your thought process, how you analyzed the situation, and how it influenced your future actions or decisions. This will help provide a positive, growth-oriented angle to your essay.

For some guidance on writing about failure, check out this CollegeVine blog post: https://blog.collegevine.com/overcoming-challenges-essay

Best of luck with your essay, and remember to put your best foot forward!

11 months ago

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