Yale University
Prompt:
The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you and what did you learn from the experience?
Failures, Fails, Fs. People frequently face failures throughout their lifetimes, some more memorable than others. I have encountered many failures during my 15-year journey. All of which helps to make the person I am today. One failure stands out in particular. Not because it was the most embarrassing or the biggest but because I learned so much from it.
In the middle of seventh grade, I decided to try out for soccer. I had no prior experience whatsoever other than just kicking around a ball with my dad. That was all the knowledge I had about the sport. I decided to try out for soccer because even though I didn't have much experience, I wanted to play a sport and soccer was a sport that attracted me. I loved being active and I wanted to use that attitude at school.
I waited the days till it was tryout day. They said it was two days. Two days to show off your skills and your capabilities of playing the sport. That was a problem. I lacked the experience in playing that sport and I was unprepared. Nonetheless, I still tried out, trying my hardest to meet the standards to make the team. I tried to follow the examples of others who were trying out and maybe learn from them. For two days I gave my fullest efforts in hopes of making the team.
The results were posted on the office door the day after the last tryout day. They listed the names of those who made the team. I asked my friends to come and check it with me. I looked over the list more than once until I realized I was not on the list. I was devastated. Although it was inevitable, I still felt discouraged because I couldn't make the team. I never experienced failure like this one. Probably because I never tried out for a sport before. My friends gave me encouraging words saying that I could probably make it next year and that I tried my best. These words really touched me and I wanted to make the team the next year. That was the moment I truly got the lesson from failure.
I wasn't going to give up and I was going to try harder. I found a website that gave information on an organization that was kind of like a club for soccer. I gathered all the data and then finally asked my dad to sign me up. During the season that I joined the club, I learned more about soccer and the basics. I worked hard to improve at soccer and tried my best to give all my efforts every single practice. Eighth grade, I guess my hard work payed off because I made the soccer team. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. Being able to make the team that I couldn't the year before and knowing that my efforts truly payed off. It was an amazing feeling that taking the initiative to join a club to learn and not giving up on my goal, I was able to reach it.
The most important lesson that I took away from the failure, is that hard work really does pay off in the end and that preparation is key. From the experience, I felt that I could do so much more now and accomplish more. I tried harder at everything that I did. The failure that I thought was going to discourage me helped me to become a better person. It is a lesson that I will never forget and it will always remind me about the importance in determination and preparation.
I waited the days till it was tryout day. They said it was two days. Two days to show off your skills and your capabilities of playing the sport. That was a problem. I lacked the experience in playing that sport and I was unprepared. Nonetheless, I still tried out, trying my hardest to meet the standards to make the team. I tried to follow the examples of others who were trying out and maybe learn from them. For two days I gave my fullest efforts in hopes of making the team.
The results were posted on the office door the day after the last tryout day. They listed the names of those who made the team. I asked my friends to come and check it with me. I looked over the list more than once until I realized I was not on the list. I was devastated. Although it was inevitable, I still felt discouraged because I couldn't make the team. I never experienced failure like this one. Probably because I never tried out for a sport before. My friends gave me encouraging words saying that I could probably make it next year and that I tried my best. These words really touched me and I wanted to make the team the next year. That was the moment I truly got the lesson from failure.
I wasn't going to give up and I was going to try harder. I found a website that gave information on an organization that was kind of like a club for soccer. I gathered all the data and then finally asked my dad to sign me up. During the season that I joined the club, I learned more about soccer and the basics. I worked hard to improve at soccer and tried my best to give all my efforts every single practice. Eighth grade, I guess my hard work payed off because I made the soccer team. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. Being able to make the team that I couldn't the year before and knowing that my efforts truly payed off. It was an amazing feeling that taking the initiative to join a club to learn and not giving up on my goal, I was able to reach it.
The most important lesson that I took away from the failure, is that hard work really does pay off in the end and that preparation is key. From the experience, I felt that I could do so much more now and accomplish more. I tried harder at everything that I did. The failure that I thought was going to discourage me helped me to become a better person. It is a lesson that I will never forget and it will always remind me about the importance in determination and preparation.
Your essay has some stories about you in the past but you maybe kinda have to dig deeper. Tell us more about the things you've encountered during these years. Add more major events of the story so we know the whole reasoning as to why you didn't get in or why you thought you weren't able to meet their standards. Add some of your own thoughts. Also, you should check your grammar to see if you misspelled anything, but overall your essay was pretty good. Just be more in depth with your stories :)
ReplyDeleteThe story in your essay is pretty fluent in describing your path from failure to success, giving a voice that can help the reader feel what you were going through. There are some errors in the essay, such as a few double spaces. In the second paragraph, the part "...since I was younl wanted to join a sport..." it was a little hard to tell what you were saying, unless you meant "...since I was young, I wanted to join a sport..." In the second to the last sentence, there's a double space with two I's. Your character is described well in the situation read, and is understandable to follow through.
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