<p>It’s odd. I know that I am an exceptional individual and that I have excelled far beyond most kids my age in school, business, and life in general. And so is nearly everyone on here. But at the same time, I know that if I don’t get into Penn, I’m going to be pretty darn freaking depressed and feel like some kind of abysmal failure. I’m pretty sure that nearly everyone on here feels the same way.</p>
<p>So, the question is, how can I deal with rejection, statistically the most likely outcome (well, or deferral), without feeling like a failure just because I didn’t get into one of the most selective institutions in the country?</p>
<p>Basically this question has no point other than to vent and relieve a very slight amount of stress.</p>
<p>life will go on, kid. i promise... think abt a few other times in ur life when u dint get exactly what u wanted. are u over it now? then you'll get over penn as well. </p>
<p>Um...the fact that both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet quit college after a year and still are doing fine.</p>
<p>The fact that you are already intelligent enough to apply to Penn.</p>
<p>The fact that you will be succesful no matter what.</p>
<p>The fact that institutions don't determine your success in the future, they are like the SAT's, the better they are, the more successful ur perceived to be. but we all know college board sucks.</p>
<p>In reality, how many CEO's went to Harvard....not many.</p>
<p>Why would you be depressed? If your applying to Penn that means your applying to plenty of other schools that are just as qualified. Make the most out of your opportunities; if your as exceptional as you say then you'll understand success is everywhere.</p>
<p>amazon3001, you're right. Dealing with the rejection is hard - for everybody! It wouldn't be human to be completely apathetic.
But even if you are rejected/deferred, you still know deep inside that you're NOT a failure and like ns347 said,"institutions don't determine your success in the future."</p>
<p>Yes I understand how ridiculous it is feel like a failure just because one doesn't get into an ivy league. That was the point of the whole post.</p>
<p>i know exactly how you are feeling. i have been seriously considering taking a gap year if i don't get in and travelling. But we have to realize that luck has a factor in admissions or else perfect students wouldn't have gotten rejected.
Believe in Luck!!!!!!
:(</p>
<p>life will go on. everyone ends up where they're supposed to be. im not sure how the process works but ultimately no matter what happens to you guys within the next week or so, no matter who gets in to what university and who doesn't, all of your lives will continue and you will all end up at some college or university that fits you. if a college denies you admissions it is because they feel that you don't totally fit with the other students at that school. the college wants you to be happy there as well.</p>
<p>Yeah, it's going to seriously suck if I get rejected. I've basically realized that even though I think I'm a strong applicant, I have a high probability of rejection just because that's how admissions is. </p>
<p>I've made my peace with that...I just don't want to do any other applications!</p>
<p>Exactly how I feel. It sucks that I will probably get deferred/rejected when my activities are comparable or potentially "better" than those of average Wharton juniors who are applying for jobs. I won't feel like a failure but I will feel pretty damn ****ed off (not to mention angry that I have to do all those RD essays haha). But that is the likely senario anyways....oh well.</p>
<p>Sorry to cut into this discussion, but I'll try to bring things into perspective...</p>
<p>Last year, I applied ED to Columbia. I had good SAT scores, GPA, and ECs. I pretty much freaked out on the day decisions were being emailed...I swear, I couldn't concentrate on anything in school, and my heart was racing the whole day. I had weighed two possible outcomes: acceptance or rejection. I didn't really think about the possibility of being deferred. I wanted a straightforward decision.</p>
<p>You can probably see where the story goes--I was deferred. I cried the rest of the night. Everyone tried to reassure me, saying that I'd get into Columbia or some other great college RD. But I was scared by the RD stats for the colleges I wanted to apply to. I knew that my chances weren't great.</p>
<p>Life went on. And RD decisions were even more nerve-wracking than the ED ones. I was waitlisted by Johns Hopkins, Wash U, and Northwestern...all before the Ivy decisions came out. So as you can imagine, my confidence wasn't too high.</p>
<p>But there's a happy ending. I was accepted to Cornell, and I left all my worries behind. My roommate had a situation kind of similar to mine; she was waitlisted/rejected almost everywhere she applied to except for Cornell and BC. We both absolutely love it here. Cornell is the perfect fit for me. Was Cornell my first choice? No. But I'm proof that you can be somewhere you love, even if it isn't your first choice initially.</p>
<p>I remember all to well what it was like being in your shoes. But relax. Seriously. No matter what happens tomorrow, you still have hope.</p>