Reflection: Overcoming Failure & Adversity

Some of our greatest opportunities to learn and grow come under the most challenging circumstances. How do you think about your personal setbacks? Times of failure? The obstacles you've had to overcome in your life?

What to Check Out:

1. Watch J.K. Rowling’s take on failure, which she calls “stripping away the inessential” at Harvard.
2. Listen to Skater Rodney Mullen describe the act of getting up again—in all aspects of life.
3. What stands between you & your goals? Read this article & put words to your personal obstacles.
4. Watch teenage comic Kevin Breel open up about the adversity hidden behind his funny persona.

Related College Questions:

The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What's the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

If your progression through college has been interrupted, please use the space below to explain the nature of your leave and your activities during your time away from school.

Respond to the following quotation: "Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted."

What is the best mistake you have ever made?

Nick's Picks: Spotlight on Macquarie University

Many students love the idea of a study-abroad experience. What if it spanned your entire college experience?

An adventure down under for American students interested in taking their undergraduate experience abroad, Macquarie University is a large public university in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia.

In this virtual hangout, Nick Soper of Creative College Prep chats with Lea-Anne Allen, Regional Manager, about some of the exciting things happening on campus.

Check it out!

Four Key Attributes of a Personal Statement (and what it's NOT)

I recently came across some guidelines for the personal statement on website of the Dutton E-Education Institute for Penn State that I thought were worth sharing for students just diving into writing their main college essays.

Here's a quick share of the four main ways to view your personal statement:

1. It's a picture. Provide a snapshot of who you are as a person.
2. It's an invitation. Your job is to "bridge the assumed distance of strangers." Invite your reader to get to know you.
3. It's an indication of your priorities & judgment. Your selection of material reveals your priorities & ability to discern effectively.
4. It's a story, or more precisely, your story. The personal statement allows you room for creative, meaningful self-reflection.

Just as importantly are the four things a personal statement is NOT:

1. An academic paper with you as the subject. The objective distance of academic writing disengages the reader from you in a personal statement.
2. A resume in narrative form. Other parts of your application, which might include a resume, already tell readers about your accomplishments. A personal statement must reveal and interpret well beyond a resume.
3. A journal entry. A common mistake is allowing your personal statement to read like a diary. Share only relevant material selectively, in a voice that remains both individual and professional.
4. A plea or justification. Don't beg and don't defend the (incorrect) assertion that you are more worthy than other candidates—it only backfires.

Keep these guidelines in mind and PRESS ON!