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  • Interpersonal essay
    From: liclsanchez  Dec 24, 2011 Posts 3

    Dear all,

     

    I was thinking about what to write in this essay, and it came to my mind one time when I was president of a club at my university and didn't handle an interpersonal situation well. Even though I performed poorly, I can say that I learned a lot from that situtation and since then I have improved considerably. My question is: would it look bad if I write about a situation I didn't manage correctly even though upon reflection I extracted a lot of value from that experience? Thank you for your advice

  • Re: Interpersonal essay
    From: Fanaticalfan  Dec 24, 2011 Posts 1,159
    In reply to

    Personally, I think that failures are often (usually?) far more powerful teachers than successes. Plus, the self-confidence and honesty to admit failures can well be construed as leadership attributes.

    FF

  • Re: Interpersonal essay
    From: victormlee  Dec 24, 2011 Posts 2,553
    In reply to

    liclsanchez,

    Few examples are good or bad in and of themselves. What matters more to AdCom is how you position your experience and how you explain its impact on your development. While you certainly want to be honest about a poorly handled situation, you don't need to give every detail about how terribly it may have been handled. Set up the context so the situation is clear in AdCom readers' mind, but then focus more attention on the value you extracted from that experience.

    Don't worry about having performed poorly in the past. Occasional missteps are part of the learning experience inherent in life; and as the saying goes, if you haven't failed, you haven't tried hard enough or you aren't pushing yourself. That could be bad, too.

    -Victor

    WG '11 

     

  • Re: Interpersonal essay
    From: liclsanchez  Jan 01, 2012 Posts 3
    In reply to

    Guys you're awesome... thank you for your advice!

  • Re: Interpersonal essay
    From: victormlee  Jan 01, 2012 Posts 2,553
    In reply to

    You're welcome. Good luck!

    -Victor

S2S: Essays