When one door closes.....

Pre-College Topics Summer Programs
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<p>Another always opens.</p>

<p>For nostalgia's sake, I decided to come here and look at the summer program threads. I remember when I was a junior, day-dreaming of getting into prestigious programs like MITES, TASP, and SAMS. I applied to all three.I felt that getting into a prestigious summer program would open doors for me. One girl told me she had submitted a rec. from a TASP person to Columbia and that TASP opened doors for her. I wrote/rewrote essays for MITES. I obsessed about TASP essays. I searched for the best way to present myself to SAMS. I wanted the experience of a summer away from home with some of the best students in the country. I craved the intellectual experience. I dreamed of sitting on Cornell's lawn with fellow Tasp students intellectually tackling all the problems of our era. I wanted long discussions or challenging math and science classes. I could see myself carrying a suitcase on my arm as I entered my parent's car going to the summer program of my choice. When Tasp picked me for an interview, I was ecstatic. The world opened up. I didn't apply to any more summer programs. I was set. My Mites rejection came around April 19th; I was sad, but I believed that TASP would come through. Then in one of the most excruciating moments ever, three days before my birthday, I was rejected from TASP. On my birthday, I got the official rejection letter. I cried for hours on my birthday, heartbroken. I was miserable for the rest of the school year. The sams rejection came and I tore it into little pieces that fluttered down into my neighbor's lawn. I felt that I , an unremarkable applicant had nothing to offer colleges and universities. I was sure the rejections I received would mirror those that I would receive from colleges. I was angry and bitter and posted so on CC. People tried to comfort me. I did not believe them. I spent all summer in a cocoon of misery.</p>

<p>But by the next school year, all the misery had faded. I realized that I had to start applying to college. I took and retook the Sats and polished my essays. I knew that there were better applicants than me, but I decided to keep on trying. In march, I received likelies from Columbia and Cornell and JHU. Into total, I got into three ivies. I was accepted by nine of the 11 schools I applied to. I say this not to gloat, but to say this.</p>

<p>This April, there will be some very happy people. Some will be accepted by Tasp or Mites or SAMS. Some,like me, will be rejected from all three. I want those rejected people to know that YOU WILL STILL EXCEL AND SUCCEED IN LIFE. You can still get into elite colleges without an expensive/prestigious summer program. As long as you work hard, you can and will achieve your dreams. Maybe not now, but someday. </p>

<p>I want the rejected people to know that they should make other plans and do things like get a job or study a new language instead of moping. </p>

<p>I want the rejected people to know that this acceptance doesn't matter. Yes, now, it seems that the world rests on MITES. But in three months, in five months, you won't even care that you were rejected. When you get that small envelope in the mail, you become that much stronger. </p>

<p>Summer programs are nothing. No one will ever ask you what summer program you went to. People will ask you what college you got into, what grad. school you went, to, what you do for a living, whether you have a family. This one rejection is absolutely insignificant. Yes, maybe TASP,MITES, SAMS was fun/amazing the year I was rejected. Maybe I would have been miserable. Maybe I would have been happy. I don't know. And by now, I really don't care.</p>

<p>Glassesarechic, another poster was rejected from TASP, she's deciding between Princeton University and University of Chicago.
I have another friend who didn't bother APPLYING to summer programs and is deciding between Stanford and Princeton.
I am deciding between Columbia and UPENN.
Millancad was rejected everywhere she applied for summer programs and got into Cambridge, Harvard and Princeton.</p>

<p>Now, I look back at my tearful sobs on April 29th and laugh.</p>

<p>Those rejections are not a measure of you, your beauty you bring to the universe, your hard work your perseverance, your strength. They don't mean much.</p>

<p>When one door closes, another opens.</p>

<p>I just want you to know that.
Love.
Nilly.</p>

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<p>Amen to that!!
Awww that’s so sweet Nil! I can relate entirely, when I was rejected from prestigous Summer programs I thought that it was essentially foreshadowing my college outcome But now I’m going to Brown University, very good advice :)</p>

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<p><3 u Nilly.</p>

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<p>Nil is amazing. Great post!</p>

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<p>Aww, this is awesome!!! Nil, you really cheered me up from some rejection blues :D</p>

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<p>Rejected to RSI, MITES, and TASP. Reading this was very helpful. Thanks for the words of wisdom.</p>

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<p>Nil, i don’t think most people take it as hard as you did, but then again some, obviously do. good post. but why stop this good advice to just summer programs?</p>

<p>the same can be said of people obsessing about college admission decisions. rejection from your top-choice school (or even from top three choices) do not spell doom. there are too many who have made it from lowly locals and community colleges. remember Obama didn’t start at Columbia.
furthermore, top colleges are not a direct ticket to stardom of life of fame and riches. there are too many Harvard/Ivy graduates eking out normal lives, believe me.</p>

<p>life is what you make out of it. do your best, and make the best of what life hands. good attitude, hardwork, and occasional good breaks here and there will make all the difference.</p>

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<p>Those were some very comforting words. :')</p>

<p>@itsme123: You’re absolutely right as well. I wish more people around me had the same refreshing perspective as the people in this thread!</p>

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<p>nil–</p>

<p>I remember how you had your heart set on TASP, and were so broken when you were not accepted. I am glad that the passage of time has allowed you to get the bigger perspective on where our momentary disappointments fit into our bigger successes, and how neither define who we are.</p>

<p>Good on ya, and best of luck at Columbia.</p>

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<p>this gives me hope :slight_smile:
rejected from TASP, MITES, and WTP.
i’ll work on my essays.</p>

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<p>YES. I love it when CCers say sensible stuff.</p>

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<p>Wow! Thanks for such an encouraging post!</p>

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<p>awesome post. Thank you so much. :slight_smile:
I’ve had a pretty hard time with summer programs this year, and I’ve lost so many nights of sleep obsessing over them. I think that the summer program application experience is really going to aid me when college admissions time roll around. Hopefully next year I’ll realize that there’s no point in stressing over something that’s out of my hands, and that the most important thing is that I tried.</p>

<p>Sometimes I really love this forum.</p>

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<p>This is awesome. Thank you!</p>

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<p>Nil: Thanks for posting here- from the bottom of my heart. There are plenty of brilliant people on CC who really needed that. Very thoughtful of you.</p>

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<p>I need it this time, the most. I hope next year I could write these things like you. Thanks nil</p>

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<p>That was amazing. I only wish I had gotten that last year when I was rejected from 2/2 of the programs I applied to. I went to one of my teachers after I was rejected and she actually told me this exact same line. Either that or “things happen for a reason.” Either way it was true. In the end I had a better summer than those programs could have ever given me but that wasn’t until after I moped around for a month.</p>

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<p>Wow.</p>

<p>I’ve never seen institutional racism inspire such praise. But whatever - flame away.</p>

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<p>God bless you.</p>

<p>This really cheered me up! (: I was also rejected from TASP (didn’t even get an interview, haha) and Clark Scholars; but now I will work my butt off. Shoot for the moon, right?</p>

<p><3 I needed to hear (read? lol) this. Thank you.</p>

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<p>For what it’s worth, I was just denied from Clark Scholars but have been admitted to Caltech, Harvey Mudd, UChicago and others. Don’t worry about denials! :D</p>