'In failure, I find success' - Introduce yourself to Penn

Optional short essay (approximately 150 words): introduce yourself to Penn. Our aim is to better understand how your identity, talents, and background guide your day-to-day experiences.

I've never made the soccer team. Calculus is as mysterious to me as the meaning of life. I will perhaps never be able to play guitar while singing. I have failed more than I have succeeded. I have cried, stomped my feet, complained. It doesn't help. I wipe the dirt off my face. Grab a blank sheet of paper. Find a G chord. I try again. Perhaps my only success is my ability to persevere; I am not afraid to fail again. As long as I have a passion, an interest, a reason, I continue. I refuse to let myself be defined by my failures. Rather, I define myself by my success-my success in persevering, that is. My mother always reminds me, "Successful people are not those who've never fallen. They are those who have the courage to get back up each time they fall." In failure, I find success.

I think that what you have going here is concise and powerful. A UPenn applicant myself, I am familiar with the mere 150 words you're confined to in this response, and feel you made good use of your available words. I particularly like the introductory sentences: "I've never made the soccer team. Calculus is as mysterious to me as the meaning of life. I will perhaps never be able to play guitar while singing. I have failed more than I have succeeded. I have cried, stomped my feet, complained. It doesn't help. I wipe the dirt off my face. Grab a blank sheet of paper. Find a G chord. I try again." Countless admissions officers have told me that amidst reading the plethora of essays they receive, they enjoy an occasional laugh or two! I think through this answer you will appeal to an admissions officer in coming off as both relaxed and informative.