<p>I was on my schools 4x800 relay and then taken off because another girl had beaten my time. my coach promised that if I could beat this runner I was back on the relay. I spent a month working my ass off and doing everything right and when i finally beat her my coach kept her in the relay because he felt she had more potential. i want to write about this for the failure essay on common app but I don't really know how to go about it. basically, this experience showed me that sometimes you can give it your all and do everything right and still get screwed over, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt try and still give things 100%. although i didn't get back on the relay the training i did for it made me a better mile runner</p>
<p>Your post suggests you are a bit bitter. Id stay away from that…its not an emotion you want on your app. </p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like a case of personal failure–it seems more like the coach failed you. You actually succeeded. Maybe this is more a “growing up” story where you learn that sometimes even if you do everything 110%, some $^&$%&^$# will still screw you over. Lesson learned.</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of holistic admissions - which is code for “We put on the relay team who we want on the relay team.”</p>
<p>I agree with Mitchclong. </p>
<p>Do you know how many essays read exactly like this? Very, very many. </p>
<p>Think about what you want to tell admissions officers about yourself. Put that first, and not the prompt. </p>
<p>What does this story say about you? Well, on the negative, it says that your coach didn’t feel you had more athletic out personal potential than a teammate. That is not good.</p>
<p>Next, it says that you work for what you want. That is good. BUT, it is not showing how you will benefit the school, how the school will benefit you, or how you translate your commitment on the field to other ventures where you are successful.</p>
<p>Keep thinking. :-)</p>
<p>Yup, many essays on some team-related disappointmemt. And they end with the same, "but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and still give things 100%. "</p>
<p>And then what? </p>