<p>we should use a different word, like “not admitted”, or “passed over”</p>
<p>or something different</p>
<p>rejected is just too loaded</p>
<p>any ideas?</p>
<p>The word hardly matters once you have been rejected. Phraseology is not exactly your primary concern. :p</p>
<p>There’s no point in softening the word used if that’s all you’re gonna change. The facts remain set in stone, and besides, a euphemism would simply be insulting to the individual who receives it.</p>
<p>I’m a firm believer in semantics :)</p>
<p>but that’s just me</p>
<p>what’s in a word?</p>
<p>The fact still remains that it could be construed as insulting and condescending. I know that if I apply and I’m deemed not good enough or an ill-fit, that I’m told in a straight forward, direct manner. </p>
<p>I mean, let’s say you’re going to be executed by firing squad: would you rather die facing forwards or be shot in the back?</p>
<p>but sometimes if the decisions seem really arbitrary or random, is it even truly a rejection? or just a “not admitted” situation, rather than an out and out rejection?</p>
<p>the firing squad? is it really like a firing squad? but I guess I’d take just plain blindfolded…not to get morbid or anything here!</p>
<p>i think the new term should be gg’ed, as in good game. i want to start seeing some letters from colleges saying “We loved your application, but unfortunately, you’ve been gg’ed.”</p>
<p>or PWND !
or W.TFPWND if it was your safety</p>
<p>Most colleges use ‘Not Admitted’…</p>
<p>“We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted to the __________ class of 2011…”</p>
<p>Colleges tend to soften it as much as possible. It’s only those who go through the rejection that do not seem to fear the truth, we brave souls :)</p>
<p>Don’t a lot of colleges mention in their rejection letters that competition was even greater than before? “…admission for the class of 20XX was more competitive than it ever has been…” What if one year it wasn’t as competitive? “…incidentally, competition this year was not as intense as in previous years. However, we regret to inform you that, still, you were not good enough.”</p>
<p>“We regret to inform you that we have P////||||3dz y0u, n00b.”</p>
<p>Good one, Myarmin.</p>
<p>My MIT rejection letter was so sweet and personally addressed to me… it didn’t hurt, because heck, we all know what MIT is…</p>
<p>denied admission</p>
<p>“We regret to inform you that your application to ABC has been declined. In total N number of students applied for the X number of spots available to the class of 2011. We thank you for considering us and wish you the best in the future.”</p>
<p>I like “gged”…it’s like e for effort</p>
<p>and some of the others looked interesting if they could be translated, pls?</p>
<p>myarmin- i like it</p>
<p>To avoid the negative connotations of the word ‘rejected,’ we’d use a euphemism. But soon enough, that euphemism would be so common that it’d take on the connotations of ‘rejected’; euphemisms can only go so far. “Previously owned car,” for example, sounds nicer than “used car,” but if it were to be used often enough in a certain context, it’d take on the same negative connotation as “used car” (in that environment). Considering rejection is discussed pretty often here, I’m guessing that any said euphemisms would soon degenerate into that messy, mucky word “rejection.”</p>
<p>Semantics change with use.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but we regret to inform that we have decided to deny you admission. We really can’t believe you applied; your application was quite horrible. It is now hanging on our office wall as a reminder of the decline of civilization.”</p>
<p>Of course, you could always send colleges the rejection letter that appeared in the NYT several years ago…</p>
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