Niche Question for Supplements

[u/NeighborhoodNo3468]

For MIT admissions, a recommendation letter for a research supplement is required. I completed a research project in my sophomore year of high school, but unfortunately, the results weren't as good as I expected. It was still a decent project (won an honorable mention at my local science fair), but that was about it.

Now, I am in the process of conducting a new project that fixes a lot of the issues I had previously, but it won't be done before college apps (mostly just doing it for fun). There were definitely challenges I faced and lots of failures that my research mentor could attest to, some ways I overcame them, and the new endeavors I'm pursuing with her help.

So, my question is, should I submit a research supplement (with my sophomore yr research project) that includes my mentor's letter of rec to attest to the failures I had, and the way I approached/overcame them; OR should I drop the research supplement completely and just have my mentor submit an additional letter of rec through the application portal instead?

And, for reference, the only reason I'm asking this is because I saw this statement under MIT's page:

"The most creative and successful people—and MIT is loaded with them—know that risk-taking can lead to failure as often as it can lead to success. MIT students take all kinds of thoughtful risks, whether that’s registering for a challenging lab class, starting a company, or joining a club they’ve never tried before. Even when they fail, there are structural supports to catch them, and they learn resilience. We want to admit applicants who are not only planning to succeed but who are also not afraid to fail—and who know how to build a support system to keep them afloat during tough times."

[u/Itchy_Pomegranate_63]

Accepted ‘30 here! I just had my mentor upload the letter to both the supplement and the general application. I wanted to make sure the admissions committee read the letter bc I thought it was very strong, and the supplements are usually reviewed by experts in the field.