At the end of the Rose Cafe last night, Cynthia Hill posed an important question: what do you want to get out of college? Some answers to this we discussed, including figuring out who you are as a person and discovering interests and the ability to delve into and pursue such interests. For me, I think I would have answered this question in a slightly different way. For me, I think the most valuable lesson I have taken away from college so far, and will at the end of my experience here at Cornell is the ability to take criticism and failure and turn it into something positive. Before coming to Cornell, I had rarely experienced failure in my academics, and was rarely criticized while learning as many subjects came very naturally to me. Since coming here, I have had essays harshly criticized and failed tests, which I was not used to before coming. However, I think these failures were essential to both my future learning and building my character to prepare me to join the workforce. In the future, not everything will go the way I want it to, but by learning to accept failure and learn from it, I will be better prepared for anything that life throws at me. Failure on a test has taught me the proper way for me to learn material and obtain a concrete understanding of concepts and had enabled me to grow my critical thinking skills. Being able to accept failure in any situation and using it to better myself as a person is the key takeaway I have already taken away from my experience here, and I hope to learn as much about myself through both success and failure during the remainder of my time here at Cornell.