<p>This is a poor article. It should be titled, “When Success Follows the Harvard Rejection Letter.” Why not talk about the student who applied to the state flagship and didn’t get in? Almost everyone chronicled in the article applied to Harvard. Didn’t any successful people apply anywhere else and not get in? </p>
<p>Really, does anyone expect to get into Harvard anyway?</p>
<p>Proud Mom can you find any examples of those public state schoolers</p>
<p>I think the point is that a rejection from a college, a hoped for college, doesn’t define you and you can be happy at another college and go on to do the things you hoped to do. It can apply to any kind of college. All hopes should not be put on any one particular college.</p>
<p>The point is that some kids get so devastated at a rejection to their “dream college” (this is relative to each student…any sort of tier college) and it really should not be all wrapped up in “must have X college.” Find many schools you like and apply and some rejections will be part of the process and you’ll go to a school and can be happy and successful where you land.</p>
<p>So as long as I make it into a top 20 school I’ll be successful. Good to know.</p>
<p>I get the point of the article, but as I was reading I was thinking, “So Brown instead of Harvard… that’s tragic.”</p>
<p>I think this articles proves that hard work and determination are better indicators of success than a prestigious college diploma, just ask Bill Gates</p>
<p>I wonder what newspaper reporter can dig up stories of young people who were offered admission at decent colleges, couldn’t afford to go, but still became as successful as the millionaires mentioned in this Wall Street Journal story?</p>
<p>proudmom - my husband went to a state school mostly because that is what his family could afford and today is incredibly successful by anyone’s definition. Started a business which now is international in scope with tens of thousands of employees and respected by all in his industry, plus he has me! Hard work, intelligence, and being ready when luck comes your way are more important than what college you went to.</p>
<p>Oh - and no MBA. His firm actually goes against most of what you learn in business school.</p>
<p>Is it just me or is it Harvard’s loss is Columbia’s gain in this article?</p>
<p>Wneckid99: Go to wikipedia and look up famous alumni of whatever public university you are interested in. You should fine many long lists of very successful individuals from many different schools.</p>
<p>amtc: Perfect example and congratulations on marrying an outstanding man, who didn’t have to go to Harvard to do something with his life!</p>
<p>I realize an Ivy education can open up extra doors early in a career, but if one can’t back up the prestige with smarts and hard work it doesn’t really matter. I really think there is way too much “stress” on high achieving young kids to get accepted and then attend an ridiculously priced Ivy league school. I hate it when I see a senior feel like they are the biggest loser in the world because they didn’t get into a big name school. I also hate seeing the pressure a high-achieving senior has put upon them because of other people’s expectations that they will get accepted to the big name schools when in reality so few of the many talented seniors will receive admission from one of the big names. Why are we doing this to our kids? Is it really for their best interests or our egos?</p>
<p>I have to agree with the posters who note that being rejected from Harvard and attending Columbia isn’t what most people think of when they think “success despite college rejections.” What puzzles me about individuals who attend Columbia after being rejeced by Harvard, their top choice, is why their initial top choice was the inferior school. 
But seriously, there are tons of students who succeed despite going to crappy undergraduate schools. The WSJ should have found them, not these Ivy alums.</p>
<p>Not every person in the article got rejected at Harvard and then went to Columbia (though they did go to nice colleges). One went to Notre Dame, one to Tufts, one to Carleton, one to WUSTL, and so on. Ted Turner had to drop out of college due to his parents pulling his funding. </p>
<p>The point was that they did not get into the school they wanted to go to and managed to get the most out of wherever they landed and it made no difference in their happiness or success. Viera even talks about how at Tufts, she was introduced to journalism which may not have happened if she had gone to Harvard. </p>
<p>The point is not WHERE they went. It is the person who makes it, not the school. But the point is to not dwell on a rejection because it is just one school and it is not as if other schools won’t be a great experience for you as well. This is true no matter what your “dream” school is. Too many kids focus on a “dream” school instead of applying to a range of schools where they could be happy and get a good education. Focusing on one highly selective school as a “dream” can be a recipe for disappointment.</p>
<p>Want to read about an amazing man who had NO college? Try Les Schwab:</p>
<p>[Les</a> Schwab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Schwab]Les”>Les Schwab - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>The company he built still has an excellent reputation.</p>
<p>I agree that being rejected is not the end of the world, but people would do well to keep in mind the difference between exceptions and the norm.</p>
<p>^^^So what’s the norm for a Harvard reject? Suicide? A life on the streets?</p>
<p>^^^^ha ha…yes, if not admitted to Harvard…you are doomed for life! :rolleyes: (except if you are an exception!)</p>
<p>Neither, but I can at least tell you that Harvard rejects don’t post paranoid nonsense in reply to stuff they don’t agree with.</p>
<p>sent a copy of this article to my mailbox…thanks for the link!</p>
<p>Let’s not forget that going to college was much less important in the 60s and even 80s (at least in my honest opinion)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>True, so true. But speaking of norms, let’s keep this fact in mind: most of the highly successful, happy people in the world (numerically speaking) did not go to Harvard, nor necessarily to an Ivy League school for their undergrad.</p>