Failure Essay Topic

College Essays
1

Hello! I’m a high school junior looking towards next year’s college applications. I am planning to use the “failure” prompt for the Common Application, and I would appreciate some feedback on my intended topic.

I want to write about how my rejection from the school play led to me taking on more backstage roles (including assistant director of a later show!). I would express how I now have a more realistic view towards rejection and will not take things for granted, as well as how it affirmed my love for theatre and my need to be involved. Since I plan to go into a theatre-related field in my college years, this will hopefully express theatre as an extracurricular I feel very strongly about.

Thank you in advance.

2

bump

3

Perhaps your essay could touch on the fact that even though you didn’t get the role you tried out for, you realized how much more important being a team player was. Rather than take your toys and go home, so to speak, you support the play by going behind the scenes. The play wouldn’t go on without people like yourself willing to work off stage. I edited an essay for someone who rode the bench for three years in a sport - her senior year she was finally a starter. Wrote a great essay about supporting the team, and the lessons she learned by NOT being the star.

4

That’s an excellent idea. My theatre department emphasizes the “ensemble” ideal, and I could definitely relate that to how I felt part of a team.