EPTEvery year on April Fool's day these sick sick admissions officers send out ego-popping death letters and chuckle darkly as they vaguely hear students from thousands of miles away screaming in utter despair.
Admission rates at top American private schools are down to an all-time low (potentially because of shitty funding for a lot of otherwise excellent public schools) with schools like Harvard and Stanford already reporting acceptance rates < 7%.
To all those out there spamming f5 on your first choice's decision page, I urge you to look on the bright side (especially considering there is basically no sunshine out in the northeast for 3 months out of the year) whichever way the decision goes to remember who you are and why you're great.
Just because a super-selective school can't find a place to put you in its heavily quota-driven system shouldn't be a reason to doubt your intelligence, your passion, your personality...
On the other hand, just because Yale or Princeton hands you good news shouldn't be an invitation to take it as a validation of self-worth.
If you got anything out of the college application process, it was the opportunity to look at yourself in a critical light and realize just how wonderful you really are. If you love yourself, continue loving yourself! Whether you take a year off or immediately accept Harvard's hand in matriculation... Whether you end up enrolling in community college for semester or end up "settling" for your second choice, you'll be just as awesome as you are now!
So smile and be happy! You, my friend, are going places. <3
