"time you failed" - talking about IA?

[lukeocyte]

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for an open-file interview, is it a bad idea to bring up the circumstances of a disclosed non-academic IA as your answer to "tell me about a time you failed"? it was definitely a failure on my part but i don't know if it's a good idea to rehash something on my app that is viewed negatively and has likely already been reviewed by my interviewer. my other/safer example i'm thinking of using involves a specific campus project i co-led within a club that didn't have the expected outcome. thanks in advance for any input!

 

[polymerization]

I agree with your initial thoughts around already having done your due diligence by disclosing. I get the urge to hide in plain sight (i.e., "Look at how little this event ultimately matters, I'm willing to talk about it at length on my interview"), but if, say, your interviewer was for whatever reason unaware or disinterested, you opened up a can of worms by bringing it up.

After the interview, interviewers write a report scorecard on your responses and how they think the interview went. I think it is more valuable for you as a student for them to hear about your highlights. Leave the past in the past unless they choose to ask you about it. Be prepared to respond in a mature, non-confrontational way if they do ask.

 

[wysdoc]

for an open-file interview, is it a bad idea to bring up the circumstances of a disclosed non-academic IA as your answer to "tell me about a time you failed"? it was definitely a failure on my part but i don't know if it's a good idea to rehash something on my app that is viewed negatively and has likely already been reviewed by my interviewer. my other/safer example i'm thinking of using involves a specific campus project i co-led within a club that didn't have the expected outcome. thanks in advance for any input!

Think of a different example from your life, because they do usually want to hear you discuss something that is not already in your application.
It doesn't have to be an example from a club or from college at all