<p>Taomom, thank you so so so very much for that post. That was precisely what I needed. And I sincerely hope you do not mind this-- I have shared it with my friends in a rather similar situation, and I have even printed it to keep as a friendly reminder that the world didn’t end because I am not in that 8.3% admitted to Yale for the class of 2012.</p>
<p>Thank you. You are wonderful.</p>
<p>Amen. Amen. Amen.</p>
<p>That was so very inspiring. Thank you taomom.</p>
<p>That was beautiful.</p>
<p>Great post…</p>
<p>Wow. I just want to say- yes. I am one of those many, many students this year to get rejected from many schools I dreamed about, and since that day (the day I received five rejection letters at once), I have secretly, shamefully felt inadequate. I stuck my chin out and pretended not to care, but I did, so much. Then I read this.</p>
<p>This post touched on everything I felt and said everything I needed to hear. I feel so much better now, and not so alone in the world. Thank you, taomom. It couldn’t have been said better. I think I will tape this to my wall, where I can see it every day until the day I finally pack up and go to my (unexpected, but still sure to be wonderful) college.</p>
<p>Thank you Taomom. You expressed yourself so beautifully. I just sent a copy of your post to a grandmother whose grandkid is feeling pain and shame for being rejected from her family’s legacy schools.</p>
<p>Spectacular</p>
<p>Thank You. Your post was eloquent and inspiring but more so comforting. Although i am not a member of the class of '08, I feel these lessons you so beautifully expressed will help me get through difficult times that lay ahead in my own admissions process next year.</p>
<p>You pretty much said what I was thinking. Taomom’s words were probably inspirational to a lot of high school seniors (and should be – it was well-written and said a lot of good things that seniors should take to heart – and it sort of gets at the whole process, which has gone from a pleasant road of self-discovery to a hellish nightmare for a lot of kids hanging their whole worlds upon a university, whether it be Harvard or Princeton or their local public university. It’s certainly a societal problem – this inherent belief in some sort of “meritocracy” and imbuing our kids with this idea that there are certain schools that will define their worth as a person. Taomom’s post addressed that idea and debunked it nicely –</p>
<p>– but one has to wonder, How did we get to this point where children are thinking if they don’t get into an Ivy or Big 10 or a UC or a whatever, their whole lives beforehand were essentially a waste and they have nothing to show for their hard work?</p>
<p>“We do have more protection from manipulation purchasing a car than purchasing a college education.”</p>
<p>The two are not even CLOSE, and I think this feeds the problem – this consumer mentality. No one can “purchase” an education – it’s not handed to us. We have to earn it ourselves. What we are paying for is the opportunity to earn that education, and the resources that it takes to get that.</p>
<p>(Also – I know that you were using Harvard as a metaphor, but it seemed to come across like students could only ‘trade bon mots’ at Harvard-type schools and if they went to anything less, they would be the enlightenment of their classes. I went to a tier-two school well below my average scores, and I am definitely in my element – I learn from my classmates and they learn from me. There’s very much reciprocity. But that’s beyond the point, this was an excellent post.)</p>
<p>juillet - poor choice of words, perhaps but at $52k/year, it is also a purchase and a financial commitment (more than my first mortgage). The only thing I ask for is honestly from the schools about the process. As I have said in other posts, after having sat through many admissions sessions with both sons, schools do not clearly define who has a reasonable hope of admission to their schools or how admission might be “earned” as you mention. In fact, they employ strategies to impact selectivity and yield that clearly have nothing to do with “earning” a seat - students can hardly be faulted for picturing themselves at these schools based on the information they are given. As many students are paying for college themselves, and will carry years of debt for these spots they “earn”, some protection from manipulation (marketing, algorithms that maximize yield, etc) seems appropriate to me. Shouldn’t a l7 or l8 year old have some rights in this process? We know that every l7 or l8 year old doesn’t have a CC parent looking out for their best interest.</p>
<p>terrific post taomom - definitely look to get it published. hope to read more from you soon</p>
<p>Outstanding…simply… Outstanding
Thank you Taomom you for sharing your thought with the CC community.</p>
<p>“reduce the worlds population” and “genocide”</p>
<p>I think you’ve answered your own question.</p>
<p>Trite Cliched></p>
<p>I do like Strawberries better. Very nice.</p>
<p>I have a friend who’s going through a very tough time right now.
I’ll send this to her, and probably to some of my other friends 
Hopefully, they will understand. </p>
<p>By posting this, I believe you’ve lifted many troubled, rejected seniors. </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>I was rejected from many schools, including my dream school of 2 years. What hurts the most is listening to my classmates brag about their countless acceptances, or complain they have to decide between Dartmouth and Rice. It angers me incredibly: they don’t know how lucky they are.</p>
<p>So many kids can’t afford their dream schools. So many kids can’t even get into their dream schools. Kids that are just as intelligent, hard-working and motivated as any other qualified applicant.</p>
<p>This year was horrendously rough. Safeties are no longer safe. Harvard aside: tons of A schools for B students are denying kids they want but can’t let in.</p>
<p>I liked your post. It was very well-written and insightful. I hope it comforts many of the posters here. I know that you’re right: in the end, it won’t matter where we got in, but what we did with our lives.</p>
<p>Taomom, pretty cool post. I wonder how long you agonized over it. I wouldn’t call it “trite” or “dribble” like some have responded, but I would say it was a bit melodramatic. I don’t think most kids this year are agonizing over where they didn’t get in. I think they are agonizing about the choice they have to make as to which school they should choose. Regardless of the competition from this year the fact that the kids applied to so many schools gives them so many choices.<br>
I think, also, that by and large teenagers yearn for normalcy and would not be very thrilled if they thought that what they have done for the last 4 years was not “hard” and that the “harder” work lays ahead. I get the drift though of the post and it has been said a million times before in a million different ways. At the very least you are saying the next 4 years should be fulfilling to them and to others around them and at the very most rewarding as well. Well, maybe or maybe not. I do believe that “everything matters” and if the class of 2008 will spend more time taking their studying more seriously they will have a pretty cool life and can write their own history. There really is enough pressure from their peer group.</p>
<p>I had some fun with my seniors last year when the rejections came in. We stirred up the pot a little at a few schools too. Here’s the link to how we handled th college admission’s season.
[Students</a> give prizes for worst college rejection letters - Examiner.com](<a href=“Examiner is back - Examiner.com”>Examiner is back - Examiner.com)</p>