以下示例文章回应2019-20通用申请提示#2：“我们从遇到的障碍中吸取的经验教训可能是以后成功的基础。请讲述您面临挑战、挫折或失败的经历。这对您有何影响，您从中吸取了什么教训？”阅读这篇文章的评论，学习写自己文章的策略和技巧。

理查德关于失败的常见申请论文

Striking Out I've played baseball ever since I could remember, but somehow, at fourteen, I still wasn't very good at it. You'd think that ten years of summer leagues and two older brothers who'd been the stars of their teams would have rubbed off on me, but you'd be wrong. I mean, I wasn't completely hopeless. I was pretty fast, and I could hit my oldest brother's fastball maybe three or four times out of ten, but I wasn't about to be scouted for college teams. My team that summer, the Bengals, wasn't anything special, either. We had one or two pretty talented guys, but most, like me, were just barely what you could call decent. But somehow we'd almost scraped through the first round of playoffs, with only one game standing between us and semifinals. Predictably, the game had come down to the last inning, the Bengals had two outs and players on second and third base, and it was my turn at bat. It was like one of those moments you see in movies. The scrawny kid who no one really believed in hits a miraculous home run, winning the big game for his underdog team and becoming a local legend. Except my life wasn't The Sandlot, and any hopes my teammates or coach might've had for a last-minute rally to victory were crushed with my third swing-and-miss when the umpire sent me back to the dugout with a "strike three - you're out!" I was inconsolably angry with myself. I spent the entire car ride home tuning out my parents' words of consolation, replaying my strike-out over and over in my head. For the next few days I was miserable thinking about how, if it hadn't been for me, the Bengals might have been on their way to a league victory, and nothing anyone said could convince me that the loss wasn't on my shoulders. About a week later, some of my friends from the team got together at the park to hang out. When I arrived, I was a little surprised that no one seemed to be mad at me - after all, I'd lost us the game, and they had to be disappointed about not making it to the semifinals. It wasn't until we split into teams for an impromptu pickup game that I started to realize why no one was upset. Maybe it was the excitement of reaching the playoffs or the pressure of living up to my brothers' examples, but sometime during that game, I'd lost sight of why most of us played summer league baseball. It wasn't to win the championship, as cool as that would have been. It was because we all loved to play. I didn't need a trophy or a Hollywood come-from-behind win to have fun playing baseball with my friends, but maybe I needed to strike out to remember that.

理查德散文评论

通过查看理查德的所有作品，可以从他的作品中学到很多东西。通过客观地思考别人的文章，当你需要写自己的文章时，你会变得更好，因为你会理解招生官在寻找什么。

标题

“出击”并不是一个非常聪明的标题，但它完成了任务。它告诉你你将要读一篇关于失败和棒球的文章。一个好的标题概括了一篇文章并引起了读者的兴趣，但与其说是一篇有趣的文章，不如说是一个合适的标题。

语言与语调

理查德倾向于使用非正式的语言，如“我的意思是”和“你会想”，使他的文章具有对话性和友好性。他自我介绍说自己是一个不起眼的运动员，与他的兄弟们不相称，这种谦逊让他更容易与读者建立联系。虽然并非所有大学都喜欢这种非正式程度，但大多数大学都希望尽可能多地了解你的个性。理查德轻松的语调实现了这一点。

这篇文章的语言也很紧凑，引人入胜。每一句话都有一个要点，Richard用词清晰地传达了背景和情况，这很节省。大学招生官员可能会欣赏理查德论文的整体清晰和细致。

理查德在整个写作过程中建立并保持了一种自嘲和谦虚的声音。他愿意诚实地对待自己的缺点，这表明他对自己有信心，也告诉大学，他有一个健康的自我概念，不怕失败。通过不吹嘘自己的运动能力，理查德展示了大学所钦佩的自信的可贵品质。

集中

大学招生官阅读了许多关于体育的文章，尤其是那些对大学体育运动比接受教育更感兴趣的申请者。事实上，十大最糟糕的文章主题之一是英雄文章，在这篇文章中，申请者吹嘘自己的球队取得了冠军。自我陶醉的文章会让你远离成功大学生的真实品质，因此从来都不是一个好主意。

理查德的文章与英雄主义无关。他没有自称是明星，也没有过分夸大自己的能力，他的诚实令人耳目一新。他的文章完美地满足了《提示》的每一个方面，在不过分夸大他的成就的情况下，呈现了一个明显的失败时刻和一个重要的教训。他设法抓住了体育这一老生常谈的话题，把它抛到了脑后，招生官员更可能尊重这个话题。

观众

理查德的文章适用于大多数情况，但并非所有情况。如果他希望在大学里参加体育比赛，那么这篇文章就错了。这不会给NCAA球探留下深刻印象，也不会让他有可能被招募。这篇文章最适合对他的个性而不是棒球技术感兴趣的大学。任何一所寻找性格和蔼可亲的成熟、自我意识强的申请人的大学都会被理查德的失败故事所吸引。

最后一句话

永远记住，普通申请论文的目的是让大学了解你是谁。在考虑成绩和考试成绩的同时，招生办公室也将使用更多关于你个人的主观和全面信息。理查德成功地通过成为一个具有积极自我意识的强有力的、引人入胜的作家给人留下了良好的印象。大多数人都会同意，他似乎是那种对校园社区有益的学生。

虽然这篇文章很成功，但请记住，你自己的文章不需要与这个样本有任何共同之处，你不应该把它作为一个模型。面对挑战、挫折或失败的想法有无数种方法，你的文章需要真实地反映你自己的经历和个性。