So you picked a school. It had everything you could ever want. It was perfect. It was your number one choice, and you knew that if you got accepted, you were going there. No ifs, ands or buts about it. That was the school for you.
But then, the day you had anxiously been waiting for arrived. It was decision day. The letter that held what you knew in your heart was going to be your magical acceptance letter was in the mailbox.
You ran home and immediately checked the mail. You were pretty sure your heart was going to explode from the anticipation.
And then...you saw the letter...and you couldn't believe your eyes when you read the words "We regret to inform you..."
It felt like your life had ended. What were you supposed to do now? That was it, it was your dream. You were meant to go to that school. Weren't you?
BUT
Eventually, you had to pick somewhere else. You had to pick another school and choose somewhere else to be your new dream. You convinced yourself that this school was never going to add up to the visions you had in your mind of that first choice school. You even made plans to reapply and transfer to your dream school after a year.
Slowly but surely you adjusted to this second choice school. You made friends. You even began to kind of really like it.
By the end of your freshman year, you are convinced that everything really does happen for a reason and you believe that you ended up exactly where you were meant to be.
There is always that "what if?" about your first choice. You'll never know what experience you might have had if you had ended up there, but it doesn't really matter anymore.
You wouldn't change the friends you made, the clubs you joined, the parties you went to, the teams you became a part of, or the memories you created at your "#2" school.
By the time you graduate your first choice school is barely even a thought anymore. The college you ended up at made you who you are. The memories you made are ones you will hold with you forever. The experience you had is one in a million and you wouldn't change it for the world.
Despite all the hours you spent devastated over your rejection- through all the days spent pouring over pro/con lists trying to decide where you should go instead. You made it through it all and eventually made a decision. You picked a second choice. And that second choice just so happened to be the best choice you could have made.
You've finally realized that maybe getting rejected from that magical first choice school wasn't so bad after-all... In fact, maybe that rejection letter was the greatest thing to ever happen to you.
