Writing Ideas

Discuss a Non-Academic Personal Failure

No one in today’s world is ever perfect. Even the best people in the world have failed in some way. It might have come from a person losing one’s job or from having a vehicle, home or other high-value property be destroyed or harmed in some way.

It can be a challenge in its own right for you to discuss any failures that you have dealt with in the past. But it can be very important for you to talk about those failures. You need to show in your MBA essay that you understand what you need to do in order to succeed in life. After all, no one ever truly succeeds without having gone through some failures.

Look At Prior Events

As you look at your life, think about the non-academic things that you have failed at in the past. Maybe you tried to get onto some sports team at your school but you failed to actually make it on the roster. You could talk about that experience. Remember that it doesn’t necessarily have to be overly relevant to your field of study.

Think About Feelings

Look back at your feelings after you failed at something. You might have felt rejected or as though you don’t have much going for your life as a result of what you failed to do. You can use this to discuss how you might have felt dejected but it can be used as a bridge to the next point in your answer. Talking openly about what you have done in the past and what you would want to do to keep your future a little brighter is always important when you consider what you might have felt.

Analyze the Issue

After you look at your feelings, you can talk about the issue that you had including how you might have been unhappy with your work in general. You could talk in particular about what you saw in your failure. Think about not only how you felt but also what you thought you needed to do in order to succeed in the future. Look back at how you might have wanted to change your life for the better.

Explore How You Used Those Lessons

The last point to mention involves how you were able to use the lessons that you took in from your failures. Be ready to talk about how you learned about your work and your efforts in terms of how you might help people including yourself. Write about how you might have changed your life around with different ideas for doing things. Think about how well you might change yourself in some way.

Don’t be afraid to revisit some of the personal failures that you experienced in your life. Those failures are intended to be strong learning experiences. You should be prepared to discuss those points in your MBA essay so you can show what makes your work so valuable and what you plan on doing in the future to be successful.