Hi everyone. I’m currently a freshman in college. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am now and how I got to be here, and it reminded me of how nervous and scared I was at this time last year. I know many of you are reaching the time when you will receive your RD decisions. This is a very emotional time, and you will probably be riding the emotional roller coaster for a little while. I thought I’d share my story with you guys and offer you a little perspective.
I went into March with three acceptances from safety schools, one early action acceptance from a selective college, and one early action deferral from a selective college. The selective school that accepted me early action was my mom’s favorite, but I had already decided that I was not going to that college unless I couldn’t get into any of the other selective colleges I applied to.
RD decisions brought a mixture of happiness, sadness, and surprise. Of the Ivies I applied to, I got one acceptance, a few waitlists, and a few rejections. I was disappointed because the Ivy that accepted me was my least favorite Ivy. Two of the schools that I thought I had the best chance at waitlisted me. The school that deferred me early action rejected me. But on the plus side, one of the schools that I thought I had a slim chance at accepted me, and one of the schools I thought I had no chance at waitlisted me. Perhaps the biggest surprise came from the school that was the #1 school in the country for my intended major. I had to apply to both the school and the major with the understanding that it was possible to be accepted into the university, but rejected from the major. I knew going in that I had no chance of getting accepted to the school, let alone the major, so I was absolutely floored when I got into both the school and the major. I knew when I got those emails that I was almost definitely going to be attending that university.
Fast forward to April when I visited four schools. My visit at the school that I thought I had a slim chance at ended up being not so awesome. I’m sure it’s a wonderful school, but all of my fellow admitted students spent the whole day having a bragging contest about who had higher test scores, more awards, and more acceptances to selective colleges. I decided that I really didn’t want to listen to people bragging about their intelligence for the next four years. While most of the students at that school are probably not like that at all, I couldn’t get the bad taste out of my mouth.
My visit to the Ivy that accepted me really surprised me. I liked it a lot. In fact, I found that I liked it a lot better than some of the Ivies that I thought were my favorites going into the process. In the end, I was very glad that it was that Ivy and not any of the others that had accepted me.
I did an overnight admitted student program at the school that was #1 in my major. When I went into the visit, I was extremely excited to get a better look at the school I would spend the next four years at. It ended up going a lot differently than I thought it would. When my parents picked me up at the end, I was crying and telling them how I couldn’t go to that school. It didn’t fit my personality at all.
When I visited the school that accepted me early action, I fell in love. It was everything I wanted. I spent four days there, and I was extremely sad to leave on the last day. It felt like home.
I am now finishing up my freshman year at the university that accepted me early action, my mom’s favorite, the one that I wasn’t going to go to if I could get accepted anywhere else. I am thrilled to say that I love it even more than I did when I visited. Some days I walk across campus and wonder how I got so lucky to be able to attend such an amazing university. I love my classes, I love my professors, I love my friends, I love the campus, I basically love everything about my school. Whenever I leave on break, I get really sad as I drive away from campus. My only regret is that I only have a little more than three years left at my home away from home.
The point of this post was to give you all a little perspective. Rejection is going to hurt. I’m not going to say that it doesn’t. But if you do happen to get rejected at a school that you loved, do all you can to put that school out of your mind. And when you visit the schools that accepted you, look at them with an open mind. Don’t tell yourself, “Well, it’s not University X, but it’s all I have, so I have to settle for this.” That kind of attitude deprives you of a lot of joy. And if you are fortunate enough to get accepted at a school that you love, it is still very important to be open-minded on your visit. Don’t try to tell yourself you like it if it’s obvious that you don’t. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind, and it’ll spare you some unhappiness if you can be honest with yourself.
Wherever you all end up next year, chances are you will all be extremely happy. However, a lot of the outcome depends on you and your attitude. Wherever you go, go into your freshman year with the mentality that you are going to the greatest university in the country, and that you are going to find a ton of wonderful things there. If you look for things you like, you will find them. If you look for reasons to be angry, you will find them. The next four years of your life could be awesome, or they could be unhappy. Either option is a possibility, regardless of where you end up. Please try to remember this as you experience the anxiety, joy, and disappointment of the next few weeks. I wish you all the best of luck.