How my Rejection Letter Became… the Best Decision of my Life?
I received a text today from a former student who said "It was a year ago today that I was rejected from ____ University. Thank God!" I told her to write me a blog about why she's thankful for the rejection. She. Is. Amazing. Read this and I think you will agree!
How my Rejection Letter Became… the Best Decision of my Life?
by Julia Beilis
A year ago today, my heart pounded a mile a minute, my hands shook, and my mind was racing. December 13, 2019: the day I was to hear from my dream college… my early decision school. I recall sitting at my kitchen table, with my best friends, parents, and twin sister crowding around my computer screen, as we braced ourselves for something that would define my life for the next four years. We were counting down the seconds until seven o’clock!
55… 56… 57… 58… 59… 00. I quickly refreshed the portal’s page and clicked “View Decision.”
I was immediately met with: “We regret to inform you…”
My heart instantly dropped. I slammed my computer screen shut and zoomed upstairs to my bedroom, hysterically sobbing, my worried parents in tow. I felt utterly worthless, like I was not meant to go to a top institution, or I was not good enough to even attend college in the first place. I spent the rest of the week moping around, crying to anyone who would listen, and obsessively rereading my rejection letter.
That is, until December 18 rolled around. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was to get accepted early action to the school I attend now: Case Western Reserve University. And as the college admissions season progressed, I was either accepted or waitlisted at colleges that were, indeed, better than my supposed “dream school!” At the end of the admissions season, I was waiting to hear from an Ivy League institution about my waitlist position, or I was to enroll at CWRU.
I ultimately decided to attend CWRU based on the incredible strength of its biochemistry and pre-med programs (I also eventually got rejected from the Ivy League school in June, but that is neither here nor there). Reflecting back on this day now, all I can say is: thank GOODNESS I got rejected! I truly cannot imagine myself anywhere else but at Case Western Reserve. Despite the current circumstances with COVID-19, I have an amazing group of friends—who are always willing to go on Mitchell’s Ice Cream or Eurowafel runs—and I am also perfectly challenged academically. I have a fantastic support system of professors and advisors who genuinely want to see their students thrive!
My advice to you anxious high school seniors, who are itching to attend their “dream college,” is to avoid the tunnel vision I fell victim to a year ago. Rather, realize that your number one school might actually be the one you least expect. Back in December, I never imagined myself attending Case Western. But now? I would never want to be anywhere else.