<p>PCHope and texaspg (#958 and 959)–well, that angle worked out really well for Amy Chua, for DD#1.</p>
<p>C’mon, the failure question is easy–you write about your efforts in some area that is outside your experience/expertise/talent. So if you’re a math person, you don’t write about failing in a math competition–you write about striking out on the baseball team, or failing to get the lead in the school play. And the moral is that although you “failed,” you weren’t defeated because you gave it your best.</p>
<p>They are 17 year olds- how deeply significant can any failure be?</p>
<p>Obviously, adcoms are looking for how you responded to that failure. Would you think there is a hierarchy of “failures” that impress them in different magnitudes? Imo, it’s about what your choice says about you, what your description shows about your thinking and perspective, how you write it, whether you get them nodding their heads. The goal is “great kid.” Not, "wow, that hurt him more than this other kid’s loss.</p>
<p>I think one issue is that many kids do not understand what a particular cllege likes and seeks. We joke about tuba players, but each school has an idea of what works there- and it is different than simply what works in that kid’s high school. It’s not all about college classroom and lab performance- we’re sending them off to engage in communities, 24/7.</p>
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And (at least!) 1,000,000 parents who think their student is in the top 1,000 – when viewed holistically. This group is well-represented on CC, of course!</p>
<p>One can also fail abysmally and be led to an area that one is better suited for.</p>
<p>I think it’s impossible to speak with authority on how a response to a prompt should be shaped to satisfy a school when essays are read by a multiplicity of readings. Birmingham sessions for the admissions commitee can’t really level all the differences in taste, understanding and maturity of the readers.</p>
<p>I think it best to encourage students to answer each essay prompt in a way that highlights their strengths and expect to be accepted at the schools that appreciate their package, or at least one adcom does.</p>
<p>When S was applying he was stumped in trying to decide his common application essay. I told him to write about something he really cared about. Teasingly he asked, “Star Wars?” I answered, “why not?” And he did. He wrote a lively, informed essay that demonstrated his interests in Classics, music, morality and humor. He was accepted at some wonderful schools and rejected at some. There were probably readers who thought his topic juvenile and/or trite. He did get rejections from unexpected places.</p>
<p>He’s in grad school and still loves Star Wars and is still working with mythology.</p>
<p>for the record: [How</a> To Write A College Essay | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/how-to-write-a-college-essay]How”>How To Write A College Essay | MIT Admissions) From MITChris.</p>
<p>Also I am starting to think the failure essay is for the grad mba-?</p>
<p>“Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?”</p>
<p>This was the question last year. MIT has 4 other short essays though and so this is not a decider.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about this year, but last year MIT asked this “failure” question, turned into a challenge question:</p>
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<p>I find QuantMech’s comments about MIT interesting. When my son was denied, we weren’t shocked, certainly, but we wondered what they are looking for. None of the young men in our geographical area known to us through math and science competitions - were accepted. And this is a diverse group in terms of background, interests, personality…all tippy top in math and science, and some truly brilliant minds that will do great things, undoubtedly. I am fairly sure that MIT is missing many great students, which is fine in a larger sense because the talent is spread around amongst other schools.</p>
<p>Another note, MIT’s rejection letter was odd - it asked the applicants not to “contact MIT for any reason - the decision is final.” Really? Does MIT have a huge problem with applicants calling afterward, more so than other colleges? Quite insulting, actually.</p>
<p>^ Interesting. What would they do if you did? They’ve got no “hand”, at that point.</p>
<p>I believe several other top schools have similar policies, i.e., decisions are final and please don’t contact.</p>
<p>That may be true, texas, but the tone of the MIT letter was particularly harsh. Most of the other schools my kids applied to sent very kind rejection letters - clearly written in a soft tone to mitigate the letdown, but MIT did not convey a certain concern in the letter that the rejection may be a huge disappointment. Obviously, a rejection is a rejection, but I thought it was interesting in that it said something about MIT admissions.</p>
<p>You know, a rejection may be easier to take if it leads you to think that those rejecting you are a bunch of jerks.</p>
<p>I agree with you, Gourmetmom, that there are good ways to let kids know they have been rejected, and much less good ways. As you describe it, MIT’s seems pretty classless to me. </p>
<p>Spreading the talent around has its benefits. As a faculty member at a large public research university, I’m always very pleased when I find some really stand-out talent in my classes.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve never achieved 100% buy-in from the CC community, on my remark that if a student should logically start mathematics at the graduate level in a public research university, then maybe it would be better all around for the student to be admitted to one of the “top” schools, where they could start with an undergraduate level class, because there are some deep enough and challenging enough.</p>
<p>Re lookingforward, #966: I am essentially certain that the failure essay was for undergrad admissions. However, as you can see from my join date, I am “vintage” when it comes to CC. I assume that MIT has replaced the old one with the “challenge” essay, which I endorse enthusiastically.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom wrote:
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<p>Years later I am still perplexed and perturbed MIT denied my son. My newest theory is that some MIT rejections are just an attempt to mess with all our minds.</p>
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This is 100% aimed at the parents, IMO.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl,</p>
<p>Sometimes you assume too much. None of my kids have applied to Yale or any other Ivy. One is at UVA now and the other two want to go to achool in the MW or SE. Also, I agree that isolating a legacy preference is hard becuase many apply ED and so it is mixed in with that preference, kids of legacies at top schools are likely to be very smart due to genetics, and legacies are more likely full pay. My sole point in raising legacies (and mostly just citing statistics) is to point out that AA is not the only preference given to students beyond athletics.</p>
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<p>In other news, the sun sets in the west. I hardly think anyone was unaware of this advantage, esp when the colleges themselves often share the admission rates of legacies versus the total applicant pool.</p>
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<p>Or you could look at it through a more positive lens. The lack of cuteness is also a direct clue to move on, and stop hoping and dreaming up all scenarios that triggered the rejection. </p>
<p>This is similar to some discussions (there are threads about this too) about the “bad” rejections letters. Some seem to think that the syrupy letters that have words such as “we had plenty of qualuified applicants and we agonized over the final cuts” are a balm to the wounds. As far as I am concerned, the news remain the same: they picked someone else as their discretion permits. It also means that I felt short in the comparison. No amount of sweet words (and obviously hypocritical to boot) will change the result. </p>
<p>Just as the girlfriend (or boyfriend) that dumps you, the “please understand and let’s be friend” is only extending the agony. A tough and firm rejection makes life easier!</p>
<p>I don’t remember the failure essay from the year my son applied (2006). In retrospect, I think he was happier at Carnegie Mellon than at MIT, but I have to admit to a wonderful feeling of Schadenfreude when Marilee got her comeuppance shortly after he was rejected.</p>