In Taylor Swift's song "Fifteen," she sings about falling for a guy and getting her heartbroken ( the usual,) but there is a very big connection to her heartbreak and your first college rejection.
"'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen
Feeling like there's nothing to figure out
Well, count to ten, take it in
This is life before you know who you're gonna be
Fifteen"
By the time your senior year starts you probably already have a stack of college letters, if you don't then brace yourself! I remember getting so many college letters saying just how badly they wanted ME. I guess you could say it really pumped up my ego, just like it does to so many seniors. Looking at the stack of college letters before me I couldn't believe just how special I must be, I mean I was so important that I received letters from top tier schools like Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc.
Just like Taylor I actually believed that these schools loved me and that I was priceless to them.
"You sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail
And soon enough you're best friends
Laughing at the other girls who think they're so cool
We'll be out of here as soon as we can"
The entire beginning of your senior year will be spent talking to all of your friends about how excited you are to get out of your high school. You'll start to think of how great your dream school is, the one that even sent you a letter saying how badly they wanted you to apply. Soon all the kids who you hated throughout school will become nothing but a memory and other's opinions won't matter because you just can't stop day dreaming about how much freedom you will have at your new school.
"And then you're on your very first date and he's got a car
And you're feeling like flying
And your mamma's waiting up and you're thinking he's the one
And you're dancing 'round your room when the night ends
When the night ends"
The first time you visit the college that you've been dreaming about it will be THE MOST surreal feeling, so surreal that I can't even effectively put it into words. You will feel consumed with happiness, hope, fear, and excitement all at the same time. You'll think that the smallest most unimportant things are suddenly your deciding factor; I remember on one of my college visits I literally thought that this schools street lamps were the coolest thing I had ever seen and I couldn't imagine walking underneath any other street lamp every night at any other school.
When you get home you will repeatedly tell your parents, siblings, and friends just how great this school was. You'll talk their ear off with details about the dining hall, the rec center, and don' forget those amazing dorms with the full kitchenette! Most likely, you will actually be "dancing 'round your room when the night ends."There is no greater feeling than being on the campus of a school that you want to spend the next four years of your life.
"'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
When you're fifteen
And your first kiss makes your head spin round
But in your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team
But I didn't know it at fifteen"
After sending in your application to your dream school you will have the most gut wrenching feeling. You will begin to think, "what if my ACT/SAT scores aren't high enough," " what if I didn't do enough extracurriculars," " Oh no, I forgot to capitalize that word in my essay." After you have your stressful moment you'll continue to remind yourself that everything is fine and that you don't care if you get in ( even though you feel as though you might literally have convulsions if you don't.) Your family tells you that even if you don't get in your still going to do great things in your life (which is true by the way, a school doesn't make the student... the student makes the school,) and that right now it might feel like it'll be the end of the world if you don't get in, but by the time your freshman year of college is over you won't even remember why you wanted to go to that school anyways.
"Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
But I realized some bigger dreams of mine
And Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind
And we both cried"
You'll eventually hear back from the schools you have applied to and one of them likely said no. You will feel broken inside because of how badly you wanted to get accepted and how badly they said they wanted you. You'll feel disbelief, sadness, and maybe even regret. You could have sworn you were going to this school, it was perfect and you can't see yourself going anywhere else. You'll cry to yourself, your family, and your friends. You gave everything to this school: your time, your heart, your hope and just like that they crushed them all three at the same time.
" 'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love youYou're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen
Don't forget to look before you fall
I've found time can heal most anything
And you just might find who you're supposed to be
I didn't know who I was supposed to be at fifteen"
This is the MOST important part!
Time will heal everything, seriously I promise you, it will all be okay. Getting rejected from Yale was the best thing that ever happened to me! My dream school since junior year had accepted me already, but I was so attracted to the Ivy League name that I applied anyways. Had I been accepted I would have, without a doubt, went to Yale. This would have been the biggest mistake of my life. I had no desire to go to Yale for anything other than the name. I would have given up my dream school, the school where I felt accepted, the school I knew I would thrive in just for the honor of saying, " I'm a Yalie." At the school I've chosen I know for a fact I will become who I am meant to be. Sure, I was heartbroken for a day or two that I didn't get into Yale, but the again I was just reaching for something I thought I wanted. "I didn't know who I was supposed to be at [application time]," and honestly I still don't completely know, but I do know I am one step closer and with time it will all work out!
Okay, yes this was kind of silly, BUT ask any person you know how their first rejection to college felt and I assure you they will say most of the things I've said are true. The moral of the story is that REJECTION SUCKS, but honestly it isn't the end of the world. Keep your head up and remember that you will never be special to a school and that is FINE! Your not supposed to be special to schools, because they are just a company focused on making sure that they get money, it is YOUR job to make the SCHOOL special!
Think of it this way, every school is the same (for the most part.)
- They all have academics
- They all have a dining hall
- They all cost money
- They all have a rec center
What they don't ALL have is YOU! The only thing unique about a school is it's students. SO use your uniqueness to make whatever school you attend,whether its your first choice school or not, what you want out of a school.
