Hey everyone. I’m an incoming Freshman to the University of Michigan-Dearborn. As much as college seems to be an interesting and opportunity-filled couple of years, the one thing I still cannot quite put behind myself is my deferral, waitlist, and final rejection from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor College of Engineering.
In high school, I undertook the IB program, and I was also awarded my diploma last July. I was a 4.2105 cumulative student with a 33 on his ACT scored the first time and a 32 the second time. A list of the activities I did in high school include Key Club (Kiwanis organization for service). 1 year of JV tennis, 2 years of NHS, 3 years of tennis…
I guess it’s pointless to list off my high school achievements now, but from face value, I appeared to be the Ann Arbor student.
I remember spending a lot of time cranking in hard work among doing extracurriculars and simply performing at 100% for my years in high school. But then, I feel the place I messed up was college applications. My essays were indecent because I had low self-confidence and was insecure about myself. Not only is writing one of my worst subjects, but I don’t feel I strongly answered the questions or even reached out for the support I needed.
And it was hard dealing with all of this seeing my fellow IB students making it into Duke, into UChicago, into Case Western, Vanderbilt, and of course into Umich Ann Arbor.
I was thoroughly stressed, and I wanted someone to see how I felt. I never applied out of state, and I consistently felt I had wasted my own potential as a student, if that does not sound egotistic. So last March, I entered a speech contest for our Graduation Ceremony at my High School. This is where I discovered that I had the talent of humility and self-honesty as well as a unique ability to inspire.
I talked about my rejection from the college I wanted and I turned it into a positive story. Here is about a minute of the six minute long speech:
“Especially throughout this senior year, it seemed everyone around me was getting into the top universities, receiving great offers, and doing great works for the community. And on one side I felt great for them, but on the other, I constantly compared myself, wondering if I had done anything comparable or achieved anything comparable. It seemed crazy that one person’s acceptance into UChicago would make me overlook all the individual achievements I had, but that’s exactly what happened. As amazing as it was that someone very close to me achieved so highly, when I didn’t get into the college I wanted to, I automatically placed myself below the people who had, and I almost refused to see what was unique about myself because my ego limited me.
But I can tell you, throughout my four years of high school, I have learned that the strongest people aren’t those who show off their victories. They are the ones that win battles we know nothing about. Some of the most humble, thoughtful, and caring individuals I’ve met in high school weren’t necessarily those who were the smartest or most popular. This really taught me that we all have qualities inside us that we should value, and we should embrace what makes us different. Those qualities are what will let us make this world different.When I had submitted my speech and presented in front of the teachers.”
The teachers had told me this was the speech they were looking for and that the second I had left that room, they knew that I had the quality of the speaker they wanted at graduation. This is the monumental event I hold so dearly to myself and the one large thing I am proud of from my Senior Year. Not a college acceptance, but a redemption in a way. I have had many people come up and congratulate me and genuinely say they enjoyed the speech I had given.
I don’t know where that self confidence and inspiration came to me when I wrote that speech, but I wish I had this confidence during college application season for my essays.
As much as I would love to say I really did get over rejection, I never truly have, and to this day I struggle with my inability to sell myself when it was required the most. To work the hardest when it was needed during College Apps, but I slacked and wasted my 3 years of hard work that seemed like perfection.
My countless friends who got into UMich express sorrow at me not getting in, but it seems their care goes no further than that. I consistently waver between some form of jealousy for them and self-pity for myself for not being competent enough. It seems to me that the lazy people in school get into Umich, and the hard work that I did has not paid off in the direction I wanted it to go.
So now that I’m going to Dearborn with things like AP Credit form receiving a 5 on the AP Calc BC Exam or so much tuition already paid off by scholarship money (one positive of Dearborn), I can’t help but seem to notice all my great friends taking their potential somewhere stronger. I feel isolated and, as self centered as it sounds, I feel that I did not deserve this rejection from Umich.
Especially now that college comes closer, I know I will feel more put downs when other students I know get into Umich ann arbor or other great colleges in the coming years. I dislike competition so much, yet I find unnecessary standards to compare myself to.
I always feel that when talking to other people about colleges, people will judge me for less than my worth when I say I was rejected from Ann Arbor. I feel like telling them I’m going to a less prestigious campus takes away all the credit and hardworking nature that I developed throughout high school.
I’m sorry that this thread is almost all about me and makes me look very egotistic, but I just wanted everyone’s advice and support on perhaps the benefits of what has occurred to me. Does this undergraduate degree really matter based on which school you go to? What would you tell someone like me? Are my beliefs unrealistic? I think this could support any individual who has been rejected or deferred from colleges of choice.