<p>Hey guys--</p>
<p>Yep, I am among the rejects. I, too, braced myself for a deferral and got the rejection. Ouch. If you would have asked me two months ago what I thought about my chances at Yale, I would have told you there was no way in hell I'd get in. Of course, probably like most of you, I let people influence my hopes. As decision time approached, all I heard were comments like "I have a feeling you'll get in," "I would be absolutely shocked if you didn't get in," and "If you can't get in, I have no clue who can." I mean, you can't help but get your hopes up when you're constantly surrounded by comments like that. I tried to stay realistic, though, and I told myself over and over again that I wouldn't get rejected--I'd probably get deferred. I had seen what happened at Harvard EA...the latest I heard was 24 accepted, 50 deferred, and 1 rejected. So naturally, that's all I thought of as I read my rejection letter--"Oh no...I'm the one rejection." As I've been thinking though, I'm really beginning to believe in the whole fate aspect of it all--SOMETHING in my application caused the admissions officers to believe that Yale is not the right place for me. Honestly, I'm glad I got rejected now as opposed to a deferral--I'd rather not be dragged along with false hopes for 6 months before getting rejected. I think my Yale rejection was just kind of my wake up call that the ivy leagues aren't the schools where I'd be happiest. Sure, it'd be cool to tell everyone I got into an Ivy, but what about the 4 years I'm miserably and stressfully working SO hard to keep up? Just remember, fellow rejects, you didn't get rejected because you weren't qualified; I swear, Ivy League admissions are so political and so luck-of-the-draw. I know that we all are entirely qualified to attend such a school, and I'm sure the only reason we got rejected is because fate has something better in store for us.</p>