<p>So I came upon this passage a friend of mine wrote about getting rejected from Princeton. It was her dream school.</p>
<p>You feel strangely calm, blank, as the moment youve dreamed of for years comes upon you. You navigate your mouse purposefully from page to page, your eyes following its trail across the screen. And then, with sudden finality, it opens up. You skim the first few lines, come upon the sentence you want, and read: The Admissions Committee is unable to offer . Thats enough. Everything else theyve written is useless. You close the letter, not bearing to look at it any more, and suddenly the purposeful calm you had shatters. Years of dreaming, years of imagining yourself sauntering through the gates, years of scanning your eyes over imaginary sentences of good news all come crashing down. It is suddenly too much to bear. You feel worthless, and though you have the faint impression itll get better, right now, at this very moment, its just you, a blank screen, and the weight of a million crushed hopes bearing down upon you.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? My top choice is Penn, and i'm not sure how i'll feel if i get rejected. Is this what really happens?</p>
<p>expecting rejection still gives me that feeling… because you (or maybe it’s just me) can’t get rid of all hope (why else would you have applied?) and when you see the rejection, it’s for real - and it hits you hard</p>
<p>Let me try to at least give you guys some hope from someone who was rejected at my first choice (Princeton).</p>
<p>You may not get into your top choice, but if you’re a great student, you’ll get in somewhere great (depending on how many schools you apply to. I hit up 15 or so). You’ll have a blast no matter where you go. I can tell you right now, as a graduate, there are people hitting up great jobs from all walks of life and education. All my peers had a great time in college even if it wasn’t their first choice.</p>
<p>It may be hard to accept now, but it’s something I wish I would have known more intimately back in the day. It’s harder to accept as truth if you haven’t experienced it yet, but I can assure you that a lot of the things you are worrying about losing out on due to rejection will actually still be there for you no matter where you go.</p>
<p>Yes, it sucks when you envision a certain life/experience for yourself and find that it won’t be a reality, but life’s a lot like that in general. Plans change all the time and it’s just part of growing up. Oftentimes things end up great even if you took a totally different path to get there. Focus on what really matters and you’ll feel a lot better.</p>
<p>I was rejected from my dream school last year (Stanford - EA). Here’s what I wrote about it last December trying to comfort those that were rejected this year. I know its a different situation, but the message still stands: There are plenty of places out there that will still make you happy. </p>
<p>Wow that was a beautifully written passage, and probably what I will be feeling if I get rejected. The only difference for me would be this first sentence: You feel strangely calm, blank, as the moment you’ve dreamed of for years comes upon you.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’m going to be calm when I’m about to check it, but hey, who knows. Aghh please Penn don’t make me feel this pain :(</p>
<p>Same here HonorsCentaur. It might just be me but even though Penn is my top/dream school, life goes on even it they don’t take me. I know I’ll have fun no matter where I go eventually.</p>
<p>That was extremely very well FightingQuaker!!! Back to the OP: I was rejected from my dream school in December and what your friend wrote is very true. Except for me my hands were shaking and my heart was beating extremely rapidly as I checked my account. As I read the email, I just felt the entire world collapsing around me. All the hard work, extra hours, and thought put into my 4 years of high school felt wasted because of that one line of rejection. I cried that entire night after I read the email and really couldn’t motivate myself to do anything for a couple of days. </p>
<p>However, after if you’ve already had a rejection, you’ll be much more prepared for the worst. The second time I was rejected, I was much more calm and I kept thinking what FightingQuaker discussed: what college I attended isn’t everything. Try and be optimistic but don’t get your hopes up and try to embrace your match school.</p>
<p>tompkins - that extract expertly encapsulates the unexplainable feeling of rejection. I was rejected ED from cornell, but I realized after that AEM was just too uber anyway. Aside from experiencing the passage above, I also savagely spifflicated the letter in a blind fit of irrational fury and vomited on my computer screen. Then I bichslapped myself back into reality. Oh wells i hope God works his miracles on April 1.</p>
Plans change all the time and it’s just part of growing up. Oftentimes things end up great even if you took a totally different path to get there. Focus on what really matters and you’ll feel a lot better.</p>
It might just be me but even though Penn is my top/dream school, life goes on even it they don’t take me. I know I’ll have fun no matter where I go eventually.</p>