<p>I was looking at some of the forums for Columbia, NU, and Duke. There doesn't seem to be any way to predict admission for people... some who you would think would never get in were accepted, and others who seem to have had it tied up were flat out rejected. I know admissions is a careful process, but no system is perfect. I have had situations in the past where I have had to pick from a number of essays, candidates, etc. where all of them seemed nearly the same, and it is not easy. If things don't go our way tomorrow, I believe the sorrow is not in thinking that we were not personally underqualified (although this may be the opinion of some of our less enlightened classmates in HS, unfortunately). The sorrow of deferral and/or rejection is in losing a shot at Yale, which we love more dearly than any other college. Let's keep this in mind tomorrow, and stoically accept what comes. I wish you my heartfelt best, and I pray that we can all find what we are looking for tomorrow and in the future.</p>
<p>beautiful. hear, hear</p>
<p>:-) Bravo, dan... a truly fine post. And it did make me feel better, which is a rare thing indeed.</p>
<p>I've never been the stoic type, but I'm all about learning.</p>
<p>Just some thoughts:</p>
<p>Today I was all tense about what is to come, but suddenly I turned that fear away. </p>
<p>The course of events in every day brings us a multitude of challenges. People will adapt to these challenges, no matter how great. The human mind regresses toward the mean, rising from defeat and returning to average from bliss. People with paralysis and in poverty can adapt to their surroundings, often becoming just as happy as those without these misfortunes. Through all of these struggles, the events of life are assimilated, and thought, ideas, individuality, reign supreme. Let's look to this; let's shed our petty circumstances if they would seek to encumber us, and let's all move forward toward a calling that cannot be held back by any college's decision. Fight context. Live truth.</p>