<p>so i started doing research in hopes of submitting to Intel senior year (i'm currently a senior now) and i realize now that i have no passion for it, i don't really even have a project (things didn't work out along the way)...since i did spent lots of time on it this past 2 years...i want to write a mini essay maybe for additional info. that tells them like yes i did intent to do research (for the wrong reasons aka Intel), but i've learned from THIS mistake and have grown as a person because i realize now that i need to do what i love to do, not what other people tells me and always follow my heart (now i'm much happier doing other activities)....what do you guys think?</p>
<p>Emphasize what you love about and what you’ve gotten from the other activities because of what you learned from the research project.</p>
<p>Waste of an essay IMO. Essays should show positives about you that illuminate what you will bring to the party. That you follow your heart should be a given.</p>
<p>I wrote my commonapp essay about how I used to treat some of my leadership positions superficially and focused, in narrative form, on the day that was a turning point in my behavior and reflected a little bit what I took away from it.</p>
<p>I would say go for it, as long as it’s overall positive and as long as it’s a well-written essay.</p>
<p>I wrote an essay about how I was rejected from a HS I wanted to go to, but made the best of the situation and later got accepted. So yeah, you should definitely write about failure. It’ll show the admissions about how you overcame the failure, and learned from it. </p>
<p>Writing an essay like this is much much better than just bragging about yourself imo…</p>
<p>^ It’s OK to write about failure that has a SUCCESSFUL ending, but I don’t see Code H’s story fitting that.</p>
<p>OP - I think your research experience will serve you very well in the future, but I agree with those who say your essay is supposed to illustrate your positives. IMHO you should write about something else.</p>