"A time you failed or were unsuccessful" secondary

[PB&Jam]

Received a secondary app from WashU; one of the questions asked me to describe a time when I failed or was unsuccessful. My two initial ideas were either to write about the extensive difficulties I had in lab trying to get my experiment off the ground, or to write about an experience I had in high school, where I got lost during my first cross country race.

My concerns about the first one are that the essay would turn out being too technical or not significant enough in my life (since I am not going for MD/PhD programs). But I am worried that the latter wouldn't be useable because it is an experience I had early on in high school, even though I consider it a more defining moment and a pretty good comeback story (I went from getting lost and finishing dead last in races my freshman year to placing very high in state championships my senior year, and eventually ran a half marathon, where I placed in the top 10% of women there.)

Thoughts? Should I use one of these or pick something that would work better?

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[LizzyM]

Why do you think that the school asks this question? What attributes are they looking for? What happens when you fail or are unsuccessful? How might you handle a failure or setback in your medical education or your medical career? How can you use this essay to highlight your strengths, skills, attitudes or the coping mechanisms you draw on when you face a difficulty? It isn't so much what the story is about as much as it is showing us how you deal with it.

IMHO a more recent story is better than one from >7 years ago.

 

[PB&Jam]

Why do you think that the school asks this question? What attributes are they looking for? What happens when you fail or are unsuccessful? How might you handle a failure or setback in your medical education or your medical career? How can you use this essay to highlight your strengths, skills, attitudes or the coping mechanisms you draw on when you face a difficulty? It isn't so much what the story is about as much as it is showing us how you deal with it.

IMHO a more recent story is better than one from >7 years ago.

Thank you for your input! For me, I think the cross country idea would answer all of your "sub-questions" nicely. My idea would be to try to mitigate the fact that the actual event occurred seven years ago. I would have only a small part be about the actual event, and the rest of the essay about how it shaped me, the resilience and determination it took to keep running after that, where I ended up, other activities I tried despite knowing I would fail at first, and how this all ties into how I will face challenges in medical school and as a doctor.

 

[pithy84]

"Describe a time you failed" is an interesting prompt.

New question: Can I tell the story of a time that I failed but ultimately succeeded? Or does it need to be an utter failure where I was forced to move on?

I have a really nice story for any prompt about "overcoming obstacles". I tried to do something, everyone told me I had failed and I should give up, and I simply said "No. I refuse to accept failure." I pulled out all the stops, I learned some new skills, and I eventually succeeded.

It is a good story about overcoming obstacles, but it is possibly not a good story about coping with failure.

It probably depends on the wording of the prompt. Sometimes, as a doctor, you fail and your patient is dead and it really is over, in which case a story about ultimately succeeding might not address the question at hand.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Be sure to avoid technical jargon...even if you talk about your research, you need to simplify to where an elementary or middle schooler could understand it. Otherwise, LizzyM summed it up perfectly...I have nothing more to add Think before you speak in interviews and think before you write!