<p>When an artist is using a brush and palette to create an oil painting, has she “rejected” the paint that remained on the palette when the painting is finished? Of course not - she was merely executing an artistic vision that required her to select a particular mixture of pigments.</p>
<p>Likewise, a college admissions committee at a highly selective institution isn’t simply ranking applicants by their metaphysical merits, “accepting” all of those above the cut-off number, and “rejecting” all of those below it. It’s creating a residential community of lacrosse players, debaters, musicians, and actors (after class), and people who will sign up for classes in English, electrical engineering, history, Sanskrit, number theory, lab chemistry, and economics in proportions approximating the resources the school has available in the in those subjects.</p>
<p>So don’t take it personally if you were still on the palette when your dream school finished its painting. And by all means, don’t allow your happiness to depend on making it onto the canvas of the Mona Lisa. There are plenty of other masterpieces hanging in the Louvre.</p>