Just once, I'd love to hear a corporate spokesperson just answer the damn question. College applicants make this mistake sometimes, too. So here's a corporate example you don't want to follow when writing your essays, completing your applications or doing your interviews.
This is Target's vice president of communications on the Today Show talking about the launch of their new line that caused Target's website to crash this week (apologies for the ad at the beginning).
The question was whether Target anticipated this kind of response. But instead of answering it, Target congratulates themselves for having so much buzz ahead of time. They obviously didn't anticipate the demand or they (hopefully) would have been better prepared.
What would be wrong with admitting that? Target's spokesperson could have said something like,
"We knew there would be a lot of interest. But honestly, we never expected this. It was embarrassing for us to do such a good job getting the buzz going and then be unprepared when it worked so well. But we've learned our lesson now. If we're going to sell these items in our stores, we need to be ready to handle just how many people seem to want them. We blew it this time. But we won't make that mistake again."
Things didn't get much better when she was asked if more stock was on its way.
So, does Target know when the stock will be replenished or not? What about the viewers who want to buy this stuff? Is the best Target can do really to ask customers to keep coming back over and over again to check and see if the stock is back? It's frustrating to hear a company hem and haw like this. You had a chance to give people some helpful information and instead you gave them spin. Just answer the damn question.
Whether you're applying to college or running a business, it's never a good idea to duck a fair and reasonable question. When you instead just spin your answer to make yourself look good, nobody's going to listen to you.
But you have an advantage when applying to college that not every company or politician enjoys; nobody is out to get you. Colleges aren't trying to catch you looking stupid or guilty. Some of their questions might make you worry that an honest answer will hurt your chances of getting in. But colleges don't expect you to be perfect. They just want to know if you're mature enough to acknowledge your mistakes or failures and learn from them. People who know how to do that are much more likely to be successful during and after college.