The “failure” essay can feel like one of the most daunting and fraught parts of your application. After all, the purpose of your application is to convince the reader that you are an excellent, qualified, and prepared candidate, and on its face writing about your biggest failure would seem to undercut this mission. How do you navigate this problem? The first thing that I stress to candidates is that you should re-conceptualize your mission slightly. Your purpose is not really to write about your biggest failure, but to write about your biggest comeback. In the end, if done well, this isn’t a story of defeat, but one of adaptation and resilience. Here are four tips to help you pull this off:
- Make it an actual failure
One of the most common questions on an interview is “what’s your biggest weakness?” Among the worst answers you can give is something like, “I care too much” or “sometimes I just get too passionate about my work.” It’s very obvious here that the candidate is just trying to take a strength (commitment, passion) and package it as a weakness. It’s phony and comes across that way. It’s so transparently self-aggrandizing that you might as well say, “I’m just too smart” or “many people think I’m too awesome to be around.”
Similarly, many applicants struggle to identify an instance of actual failure, so they will talk about a time they almost failed until their better judgment, cleverness, and talent saved them, or they will identify a failure so miniscule that it will seem to the reader that the candidate has never done anything that’s challenging or important. After all, a pretty good assumption to make about life is that the more you’re tested, the more substantial your failures will be… and everyone (!!!) will fail sometimes.
Given this, don’t duck the prompt. Think about your life and work history and identify an actual moment where you came up short or experienced a genuine disaster. Importantly, the essay should not ONLY focus on the failure. In fact, I would say that at least a third (and probably more) of the essay should focus on how you dug your way out, thought about your mistake, and changed. Thus, in some sense, the bigger you make your failure, the better opportunity you have to demonstrate self-awareness, resilience, adaptability, and resourceful problem-solving.
- Be explicit about how you failed and why
A key element of this essay is owning your mistake. Talk specifically about the bad choices you made, the insufficient mindset you brought to the moment, and why they led to your failure. A mature leader recognizes when they have failed and then seeks to adapt, and the first step in this process is obviously naming your shortcomings, so be specific in this regard.
- Be thoughtful about what you learned
So here is where the essay begins in earnest. Parts 1 and 2 listed above are about setting the table so that you can now demonstrate your resolve and excellence. You’ve owned and described the failure, and now is the part of the essay where you explain in specific detail what you’ve learned. In this section, look to pair big-picture assessments of where you failed with particular things you can do in the future to not make this mistake again. For instance, if you realize that your mistake was not relying on the expertise of others in your group, then state that and follow that up by writing that on future jobs you made a point of noting the areas of expertise of everyone on your team so that you could reference their knowledge, skill, and experience when things got sticky. If applicable, you should also join this with a bigger insight into your thinking about problems and challenges. So, using the previous example, you could note that you now recognize that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but the mark of a resourceful leader seeking to leverage maximally the experiences of their group and network.
- Be specific about how you have grown and improved.
If you can, provide an example of how you applied this new self-knowledge. Ideally, this would be by writing about a specific subsequent experience in which you applied a new mindset, skills, and approach and met with success. This is important to include because it allows you to frankly discuss your failure in a manner in which you both fully own that failure and use it as a way to position your journey positively.
In the end, remember that a failure essay should be a positive story in the sense that it shows growth, self-awareness, and a willingness to use setbacks as a means of ensuring eventual success.
Brian is a seasoned Personal Statement guru who has helped hundreds of applicants get into top business schools. In last year’s admission cycle alone, Brian’s clients earned admission to such prestigious institutions as Harvard Business School, Wharton, Said Oxford Business School, Kellogg, UofMichigan Ross, Stanford, Sloan, and Duke Fuqua, to name but a few. You can find Brian and other excellent consultants at Gurufi.com, or you can reach him directly at fobi@fourthwrite.com
