Princess Tiana was a woman with a plan. She wasn’t born into royalty; she was just a regular person who wanted to open her own restaurant. Tiana knew that her dream wouldn’t come true overnight—following her father’s advice, she worked hard and it eventually paid off. Starting as a waitress, Tiana eventually owned the biggest restaurant in New Orleans. She became a princess simply by marrying a prince who loved her for her determination

But I digress. I’m not into the restaurant business and I’ve never kissed a frog (nor do I plan to); I’m just a twenty-year old college student who’s looking for an internship. And last week I got my first offer—and my first rejection.

I’ve always been a lover of all things Disney. From visiting their theme parks to donning their clothing line from Hot Topic, Disney has always been in my life in some way. So naturally I was intrigued when a friend suggested I look into the Disney College Program.

The Disney College Program seemed, to coin a phrase, like a dream come true: I would live in a dormitory within walking distance to the resort; I would take courses in college-style classrooms that would give me credit towards my school back home; and I would even be working within the park!

First thing’s first, I had to check and see if communication courses were being offered (I’m a journalist major, after all). Sure enough, there were three classes that specialized in communications being offered in both the California park and the Florida park. It wasn’t hard for me to choose California over Florida: I have family near Disneyland, which could help to reduce the inevitable homesickness factor. After talking things over with my parents, I set out to complete the application.

I’ll spare you the unnecessary details of the application process and jump right into the job offers that caught my eye. My top choice was to be a Vacation Planner. Being an organized writer who’s also big on Disney trivia, I felt this position was best suitable for someone who wanted to write for a magazine one day. Plus, the thought of helping families map out their Disney-themed vacation struck me as a rewarding experience.

The second job I liked was a ride operator. Pretty easy to explain: work behind a booth to control an attraction, tell riders to keep their arms and legs insider the car at all times, and remain calm in case of emergency. A roller coaster junkie’s dream. Check.

For good measure, I decided to put down hotel maid and retail sales clerk as jobs I wasn’t against having but expressed little interest. I figured they would see I was willing to do either positions only as necessary.

Miraculously, I received an email shortly after completing the online application inviting me to take an online interview to discuss the learning and living aspects of the program. I was a bit skeptical they got back to me so quickly, but I wasn’t about to question anything. I could be going to the Happiest Place on Earth!

With the online interview submitted, the next step in the procedure was the phone interview. This was going to be huge, as I had previously never had an interview over the phone. I had three weeks to prepare, and vowed to use any spare time I had to take notes on why I wanted to work with Disney and researched stories from other participants about their experiences with phone interviews.

The big day finally arrived, but of course, I had to have bronchitis on the day of the phone interview. Two cups of tea with honey and lemon juice later, I whipped out my jam-packed notebook and waited for my cell to ring. The interviewer called at the exact scheduled time (because they’re good like that), and asked all the questions I knew would be asked: Who are you? Why Disney? Where do you prefer—California or Florida? What job is your top choice? Last choice? When do you have the most energy? How do you deal with difficult people?

Twenty minutes later, I rested my sore throat and re-evaluated the answers I gave. They were not perfect, I knew, but they were honest. Now all I had to do was wait for the final decision.

Not even two full days after the interview, I got an email from the Disney College Program with the tagline, “Congratulations!” I calmed myself down and brought my computer out to the living room to read the message with my parents. We all held our breaths as we saw I had been admitted into the Fall 2016 Disney College Program in California. There were tears of joy and hugs. I clicked on the link at the end of the message, which took me to my job description. I was smiling from ear to ear as I read the beginning of my job offer, until I got to the second paragraph. You can imagine how I looked as I read the words, “You have been offered the position of dishwasher.”

As princess Anna of Frozen would say, Wait, what??

I was shocked! I hadn’t put down dishwasher as a job. Sure, I spoke about it briefly with my interviewer and told her I wouldn’t mind it, but I also told her my major in communications has led me to believe being a Vacation Planner would help me flourish in terms of interacting with people one-on-one. It would increase my chances of working for a magazine one day.

But a dishwasher?!

The thing is, I already have a job that’s pretty low-standard. I love my recovery position at Macy’s because the people I work with are great and folding clothes comes easy to me. I know this is not my forever job, but it’s a good place to start.

Yet somehow, there’s something a little backwards about moving from folding clothes to washing dishes. It’s like going from bad to worse, hypothetically speaking.

Moving on, I looked at my parents and they looked at me. My Dad was shaking his head, and my mom told me sweetly, “Honey, I love you, but I don’t want to spend $500 for you to go Anaheim and clean plates.”

She had a point. You do need to start somewhere, and I’ve got that covered by working in retail!

I wrote to Disney, saying thank you for the position and politely asking about the other positions available. They were able to get back to me within three days. Here’s what the message said: Time’s running out Jacquelyn! Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enhance your resume! Please fill out the application information as soon as possible!

I will say this: It’s no wonder they were able to offer me a position so quickly. I never filled out the forms, and I’m glad I did. If I really wanted to be a dishwasher, I could simply walk into the nearest restaurant and write up an application to start scrubbing.

Cliché as it sounds, I feel like I won in turning them down.

I’m no different from the thousands of other applicants who applied for Disney’s college program. I’ll bet there’s millions of students out there who, while they made it as far as the phone interview, were given a degrading employment offer. Maybe they took it, maybe they didn’t. I’m not saying I’m better than these others; I’m saying I know exactly how they felt. I’m sure these students also took the initiative of calling the company and asking for an alternative title, only to be answered by an automated voice system to kindly send the business an email with questions.

I knew in my heart this position was not for me. After all the work I put into this, to be given such a simple job came off as an insult. Of course, if you want to be a janitor, you be the best janitor you can be. But if you feel like you deserve better, you deserve better.