“I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to offer you a place in the class of 2017.”

I had never felt rejection as intensely as I did the moment I opened my very first college admissions letter and read that devastating sentence.

Appalachian State University had been my dream school since seventh grade. I had worked my butt off in high school, had taken on every extra-curricular opportunity I could handle, and I still wasn’t good enough.

At least, that’s what I spent the next one-and-a-half years thinking.

If you are a senior in high school, many of you have already made it through the stressful process of college applications, and now you’re anxiously awaiting the response from your own dream school. I hope you all get the answers you’re hoping for! However, I have some good news for the folks who find themselves in a similar crisis as I did almost five years ago— you’re going to be okay.

I promise that life as you know it will not end, nor does your worth, intelligence, or success hinge on the university you attend. That’s all up to you, babe.

I let that rejection letter sit in the back of my mind far too long. It made me feel like I had to work overtime, prove myself, make a 4.0, graduate with the highest honors, etc. if I ever wanted to achieve my idea of “success.” And let me tell you, that mindset made for an exhausting freshman year (with little-to-no social life I might add).

I’m writing this because I don’t want anyone else to make the same mistake I did by holding on to his or her disappointment for too long.

Thanks to a little thing called transferring, I got two more chances to perfect my freshman year experience, and the third time was most definitely the charm (Go Pack!).

I attended ECU my freshman year, was accepted to App. State my second go-round, only to realize it wasn’t such a great fit after all, and chose NC State for my junior, senior and, currently, super-senior year.

And you know what? If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Not only have these transitions made me a stronger, more adaptable and independent individual, most importantly, each school led me to some of my very best friends, whom I definitely wouldn’t have met had I not taken the tour of North Carolina’s public universities.

I guess the moral of my story is a bit of a cliché, but it’s so true. There really is a reason for everything, and, in the grand scheme of things, rejection makes us stronger individuals. Sometimes, a “no,” as painful as it may be in the moment, is simply setting us up for greater success in the future.

If you don’t receive the admissions letter(s) you hoped for, you have 24-hours to freak out. After those 24-hours are up, take a deep breath, make a self-empowering playlist, apply to a backup school or two if you haven’t already, and know that it’s going to be ok.

YOU are ultimately responsible for how far you get in life, and there isn’t a university that’s going to make or break your fabulous future.