<p>@adh843 and everyone else</p>
<p>Thank you for your kindly messages. Despite what you might think otherwise, reading these personal messages are really helpful and inspiring to me.
I mean it will take a while before I finally become settled, but I think I will be fine.</p>
<p>Here is what I thought about for the past few weeks:</p>
<p>I came up with this as sort of an argument to make myself feel better, but here it is.
Assuming that college admission process isn’t entirely unfair (some might believe it is unfair but I think it’s safe to assume it is for now), let say that it’s fair. By fair, I mean this: when it comes down to the admission oficers making the last choices, it is really up to chance, and lot of people would agree. It might be that one band instrument that you play that could tip you over, it could be that just somehow this year, more Ethiopians applied, maybe they had too many guys this year, etc etc…at that final level, it’s safe to assume it is based on chance, at least from our perspective since we never get to know what goes inside the office.</p>
<p>Now accepting that it is fair (might not be true but I think it’s fine), whether I get admitted is like a roll of die. Being disappointed about getting rejected is like getting disappointed about roling something other than a six on a roll - but why should I be disappointed about that? That wasn’t my fault. And that was more likely after all - 5/6.
Similarly, getting accepted is like roling a six by chance on a roll of die. </p>
<p>Thinking this way, it’s funny how some event of chance could have made me all much happier ("OMG I got into XXX! " and which probably would have kept me excited for months and beyond), when in fact… when we think about it… it’s actually kind of stupid. (I don’t mean to be negative to all those who got accepted. You all deserve it). Why should I be so excited about rolling a six on a die? When I really think about it, the belief that going to Harvard, Princeton, whatever will somehow necessarly be a wonderfully different expereince is a silly idea. </p>
<p>Like you said, it’s a committe after all. How dare does that committee judge who I am, and how well qualified I am? I’m not saying that I was the perfect candidate, nor that there is nothing I could have done better. I know perfectly well that I had a lot of holes to fill and that I may have done many things differently in highschool. But I have lived my life the way I have chosen (for the most parts), and if a college rejects me based on that, perhaps based on something other than myself, that is no grounds for me to feel disappointed.</p>
<p>Sorry for posting something not directly related to the Waitlist room, but hopefully my anaology above makes someone else who is waitlisted/rejected feel more relieved as well.</p>