Essay的種類非常多，在國外大學中也是最常見的essay提交方式之一，國外大學里基本上每周都有Essay小dissertation，很多中國留學生們都會抱怨essay太多，各式各樣的Essay、Assignment、Paper不知道什么時候能寫完。接下來要給大家介紹的Failure Essay的寫作方法，以及優秀的Failure Essay案例分享。在很多時候，留學生們在正面想不清楚一個問題的時候，可以考慮從反面來想想，所以，大家在構思一篇Failure Essay的時候，提醒大家最好從以下幾個方面去考慮：

        1）不要把生活中的一些小Failure寫進Failure Essay

有的留學生為了不暴露自己的弊端或者所謂的弱點，就找個不是錯誤的錯誤來闡述。這樣，反而會讓老師覺得你不勇于承認你的錯誤、避重就輕。千萬不要把你上大學的時候沒考上名牌大學，沒能進到世界五百強實習等等諸如此類這種當作所謂的failure來寫。別拿這些小事來糊弄他們！這些根本就算不上是Failure。

         2）你覺得把一些特別Trivial的Failure寫進去有用嗎？

有的留學生倒是寫了Failure了，但是Faillure的程度小的不能再小。因為你對Failure的定義，也說明了你的眼界和觸地反擊的承受能力。老師并不關心你和你爸媽吵架，或者和兄妹吵架中的挫敗感，所以這些就沒必要寫進去了。你經歷過的比較大的Failure并且能從中走出來，學到很多，那么這樣的Failure寫進去是非常加分的。

         3）寫上自己比較難忘的Failure或許效果會更好

太過誠懇和坦白，也不是件好事。畢竟，我們在寫文章時候，要注意老師的喜好。比如看國外的一些失敗Essay的案例，有人竟然寫自己性侵犯而入獄的歷史。沒錯了，這個確實是個大大的failure，但是，老師會對有這種Failure經歷的人產生好感嗎？我覺得不能，所以，盡管提倡大家寫比較大的Failure，但是大家還是要謹慎選擇Failure素材啊。

         4）在寫Failure本身時更要注重從中學到了什么

在failure的essay中，千萬別把重點放在描述Failure故事的本身了。想寫出優秀的failure essay，就要多寫你的lessons learned，也就是從中學習到的收獲，多寫你改進后的行為。如果要“避重就輕”的話，這估計是避重就輕最好的切入點了。

         5）采用的Failure案例的故事時間不要太久遠

 在選擇failure essay的素材的時候，一定要把握好火候。別寫太小的時候的事情，會讓adcom的人覺得你在刻意逃避直面問題本身；也別寫離申請時太近的例子，使得你的essay里沒有足夠的space來給a better you和lessons learned留下余地。

         說了這么多理論知識，下面就給大家整理了一篇Failure Essay的優秀案例，留學生們可以從中去學習它的寫作技巧，格式等等，看完相信不會寫Failure Essay的同學都會受益匪淺。

Question: Describe a failure that you haveexperienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself?(500 words)

Absolute US was an annual event inSingapore that helped prospective students meet those of us who were alreadyschooling in USA. It is now defunct, but I’d once tried- and failed- toresurrect it.

When I took this up, Absolute US had beenon the brink of death, and I’d begun the project by formulating a three-facetedrevival plan. First, it’d previously been held at Singapore’s largest club, andI decided on a smaller and cozier venue instead.

Second, some games would be organized tospice things up. Finally, a team of motivated shareholders- rather thanlow-energy volunteers- would be assembled by pitching Absolute US as amoney-making venture. Besides arming myself with a good plan, I also workedextremely hard, playing whatever role was necessary- be it the leader who’dformulated the entire plan; the more hands-off project consultant; or theevent’s game designer- to make my re-conceptualization a reality.

I had a good plan, a dedicated team, andhad been doing whatever it took to succeed. But in spite of this, Absolute US2006 boasted historical attendance lows and didn’t make a profit. What’d gonewrong?

Having reflected upon the affair, I nowrealize that the project had been doomed from the start, because of threeerrors in execution.

First, we’d ignored local contexts. Makingplans from abroad left the project without proper intelligence on the ground.I’d designed the new, apparently perfect, plan and organized the team when Iwas in Chicago in April 2006. When my team returned to Singapore in June afterschool had ended, I went to Thailand for a month of social work. As studentswho’d spent the year abroad, we eventually picked a venue that turned out to bea has-been so past its popularity peak that it folded a month after our event.A better appreciation of the need for ground-level research would have servedus well.

Second, as leader I’d failed to strike abalance between involvement with the project vision and its details. I’d workedhard, involving myself in all the project nitty-gritty’s. However, my trying togo it alone working out every detail, rather than trusting others to execute,not only caused a breakdown in communication of the project vision to my team,but also left them without a leader for a short period when I was in Thailand.Though I’d immediately stepped down and become a project consultant insteadafter realizing the problem, it’d been too late. The leaderless period hadalready demoralized my team.

Third, I’d lacked a backup plan. I’d takenfor granted that no hiccups would occur, and when one did, I was caught unprepared.In particular, I’d planned to communicate from Thailand via email, but thiseventually proved unfeasible because I’d unexpectedly lacked Internet access.

What I’d learnt, in short, was that havinga neat idea is no guarantee of successful execution. This had been a painfulbut educational experience, and I look forward to doing things differently- andsucceeding- in future endeavors.

 言而總之，總而言之，寫Failure Essay的出發點就是向老師show你已經做了很多很多的事情，但是最終你還是screw things up了，但是你并沒有stop在那里，而是借此機會進行了反思和學習。而且，在最后的learning的總結也很給力。一個好的作者不但能夠go detail的告訴大家他做了什么，而且，還能夠通過1-2句話把自己的反思總結到一個很高的高度。這樣的Failure Essay我相信不得高分都難。