Aspirations, rejections, and resetting it all...

AussieExchange
Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:43:24 +0000

Yes, that’s true. Graduate programs are diverse and so even if one doesn’t get into his or her competitive school, it’s not as if the future no longer exists. Sure, said student’d have to compensate for going to a lesser school by working ridiculously hard and being in the top 5-10-whatever% required for their ideal graduate school. Of course, nothing comes free.

In regards to extra-curriculars, I’m not sure how it’s effected others, but during college admissions my extra-curriculars weren’t even looked at during the decision and I had this told to me by an application representative that looked at my application upon my mom’s request and told me what I had done ‘wrong’. It’s different for everyone, of course, but the whole piece is just one instance if disappointment; it’s not universal.

Also the ‘it didn’t matter at all’ did not refer to me, but to the colleges. I’d done all those activities prior to any thought on college and I continue to do them regardless of any acceptance letter, but I suppose it was poor wording on my part, sorry.

And I’m not advocating an existence sans aspirations simply because certain dreams are out of reach, but I am saying that if someone convinces himself that he wants to go to this-or-that school and is capable of doing so but ultimately fails by getting rejected, he tends to feel worse than if he got rejected from a school for which he really didn’t have strong feelings. But that’s a generalization, I know, and I suppose that kind of thought stems from the fact that I tend to be more emotional. In the end, though, this piece is about emotional repair and continuing with life.