Arizona State University was not my dream college. I didn’t spend hours dreaming up the perfect life in downtown Phoenix, nor did I spend my time dreaming about what I could do with an ASU degree. A year ago, I had different dreams about where I would end up and how I’d spend the next four years of my life. Yet, when those dreams were crushed by a college rejection letter, I had to reevaluate what I was planning to do with my future and where I wanted to go.
Dealing with rejection alone can be hard. However, being rejected from your dream school hits a lot harder than a normal rejection because you have to replan your collegiate future. Rejection is hard but it shouldn’t be something we fear. When dealt with in the right way, it’s really easy to redefine your dreams and plan out a new future.
When I got rejected from my dream school, I had to think about what it was I was entirely rejected from. I wasn’t rejected from a college-level education all-together because I had been accepted to other schools. I wasn’t rejected from a potential career in journalism because I had been accepted to the journalism programs at other schools. I wasn’t rejected from the city that the school was in because, if I had really wanted to, I could still visit that school or even choose to attend a smaller college there. The only thing I was rejected from was the specific university itself.
I started to think about what this school had in common with the other schools I had applied to in order to see what parts of my dream I could still make true. I dreamed of attending college in a capital city because I wanted opportunities for political internships. I dreamed of attending college somewhere warm because I wanted to get away from the frigid cold of Chicago. I dreamed of attending a school that ranked in the top 10 for journalism. The more that I thought about what it was I truly dreamed of, the more I saw how ASU fit the picture.
Had I not dealt with rejection, I would’ve viewed ASU as a mere back-up school, and not a dream destination. Now that I’m here, I really enjoy ASU and I’ve noticed that there are benefits here that have not been offered at other places. For example, ASU offers phenomenal scholarships, they have a great honors college, and they have real-world mentorship programs available to freshmen. Dealing with rejection was initially hard but it’s important to realize that your dreams are still valid and achievable. Thus, in the future, I’m going to try and create a dream that is defined not by prestigious names or specific places, but is instead characterized by how I dream of feeling and the opportunities I am seeking.