Enough with being rejected!

Good fucking Christ does this steady stream of rejections never end?

It was bad when Carleton College rejected my application for transfer admission. The fact that I’d been accepted the previous year when I’d applied as a senior in high school didn’t help to make things much easier to take. Carleton would have been the perfect place for me, I really believe. Excellent faculty, an incredibly well qualified student body, a superb program in my major. Applying for transfer admission there I thought I could make right the flawed and poor college decision process of my senior year. But sometimes a door only opens for you once, and then shuts forever. I think of what I could had there everytime I sit in a class with 300 borderline-retarded, disinteresteda students or hear roommates talk about “jew-stomping” and “niggers”. Carleton’s rejection of me has been like the sentence of a judge, requiring me to serve penance in a place I don’t want to be so that I don’t make bad decisions in the future. And slowly I am doing my time, and dealing with that rejection.

But it doesn’t stop there. I worked this summer as an orientation leader for my college, as did about 15 other students, including one girl, who seemed interested in me. I was interested in her. I move slowly, testing the waters here and there, seeing all signs to be good. This is a good news. Toward the end of the summer I went away to Chicago for a few days to go see Radiohead. I come back, go to a party held for the orientation leaders, and find her playing footsie with a different orientation leader. :eek: :mad: I don’t think I slept at all that night I felt that distressed. Do people not realize that other people also have feelings that can be hurt and hurt badly when they are so brutally attacked as mine were? Maybe some people do realize this, but this girl obviously does not.

And then, today. There were two open RA positions on campus. 9 people applied for them, including myself. The work I did this summer involved many of the same duties as that of an RA. I know the people involved in the hiring process. They’ve always liked me. I have a 4.0 GPA. I am involved in many activities. I am pretty god damned qualified for this position. But no. Who the fuck am I to think I’m deserving of anything? Who even thinks I deserve a personalized letter of rejection? I suppose it is easier to just open “Can not hire you right now.doc” and fill in the appropriate names, rather than actually giving a person the rejectors KNOW some consideration. These letters of rejection always seem to even further insult my plight beyond the mere rejection. “You have many great assets, and really there is not reason why we shouldn’t hire you, but we’re not going to.”

So that’s it. That’s the last fucking straw. Every attempt at trying I’ve made in the past year has resulted in failure and rejection and I simply don’t think I can stomach that much fucking more. So to everyone who’s turned me away recently I say FINE! FUCK IT! I’m going to give up entirely, because after all wasn’t that your tacit message all along?

This is the pit so I’m assuming you don’t want a hug.

That said re the RA application. You’re relying on credentials when you should be schmoozing. That’s sometimes the way life works. Better to learn this lesson early.

RE the young lady you’re being an over sensitive and whining drama queen. Neither is attactive to women. Life is not a soap opera, get over it. Fish.sea.more.

Re the college application if you pin your hopes on one star you are bound to be dissapointed. If you are maintaining a 4.0 GPA consistently there are plenty of colleges that will accept you. If you’re going to be like Goldilocks and insist on one that’s “just right” you’d better gird your loins for a life of continuous dissapointments.

It’s time for you to grow up. You’re not being rejected you’re being challenged. It’s all in your attitude and your current one is only going to drag you down further. If you’re pulling a 4.0 you are more than intelligent enough to realize this.

I was going to post some words of encouragement, but you’re just not worth the time.

Try to understand that Carleton College is not saying “no” to Red Menace the Person, they’re saying “no” to Red Menace the Abstract Concept on Paper. If they really knew you, they wouldn’t have rejected you. All they had to go on was what was on paper, and for whatever reasons, they said “no”.

So. BFD. Like, are they the ONLY college out there that has the courses you want? I mean, pardonnez moi if I offend by saying I never heard of–what was it again–Carleton College? :wink:

I mean, if you’d been handed your hat by Harvard or Yale, I could understand the max peevishness, but–Carleton? Who?

I seriously, seriously doubt that in 25 years you will still look back and say regretfully, “Yes, that Carleton College was the door that only opened once, but then it closed forever, and now here I am, mopping floors at NASA and dreaming of what might have been…”

Much more likely that in 25 years, you will be shuddering to think of what a close call you had. “Wow,” you’ll be thinking as you open your junk mail and see an alumni flyer from Carleton, “Hey, I remember them, they were the yutzes who turned me down, so I went to Tarleton College instead, where I met my wife, Miss America 2005…Man, they got some balls, asking me for money…” And then you toss it casually in the wastebasket and go out the door to meet your wife at 21 for dinner before going on to the opera…

Who, incidentally, 25 years previously would have been the type to have too much sense to be playing footsie with an Orientation Leader. Trust me, you are well out of it on that one, too.

And you will also be very glad you didn’t get stuck being an RA. Being an RA sucks. Why you wanna be an RA? Surrogate mom to a lot of pissant whiny college kids, “Hey, RA, my popcorn popper is broken…” Cleaning up after the drunks and the drug overdoses, arbitrating the microwave usage quarrels in the lounge.

Well, if you’re gonna give up on your life entirely, and you’ve got nothing better to do, I’ve got a suggestion. Go down to lower Manhattan, to 1 World Trade Center, and sign up to help move furniture for the City of New York.

Wow. Great post, DDG.

Forget it, Dude–you’re not allowed to give up 'til you’re over 35. You gotta go through the shit just like the rest of us.

Well hanging out with friends and playing some music and just getting away from things has helped put things back into perspective. Thanks for the help everyone here has provided; it is appreciated.

Regarding the whole Carleton thing, a lot of my anger about that is due to MY fuckup in having not chosen them to begin with. Misplaced rage I suppose.

This whole past week has been pretty shitty so the whole RA thing is kind of the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. I don’t know about any of you, but when things aren’t going very well for me I’ll start dwelling on ALL the things that have happened in the past few months. Oh well. Next week’s another week.

Hey! I got rejected from Carleton too!

We should have a reject party.

Is Fargo where you attend school now, or where you hail from? Are you close enough to St. Cloud (Foley actually) to come to the Mini-Mid-Minnesota Dope Fest next Sunday at Chique’s grampa’s place?

We won’t reject you!

----:)/ x o x o x
----///\\

Where are you going to school now? Are you close to us Minnesotans, and do you like the Vikings?

Yes, yes, and unfortunately not. I’ve made two trips to the cities in September (once to see Tool, the other to see Weezer) and that has about tapped me out for my Fall 2001 road trip quota.

It doesn’t help either that I’m taking 20 credits this semester + various musical groups I’m in. Maybe next time though; I’d certainly like to attend a Dope-Fest at some point.

Thank you, I appreciate it. Do you still want me to send a letter of application, just as a formality? :wink:

I’m game if you are! Just out of curiosity where did you wind up going to school?

Hey-
I went to Carleton…for two trimesters. Oops.
They still send me alumni mail, because I left on medical leave. I’m still concidered Class of '99. If you want to join me in my delusion, I’ll forward it on, and we both can be fake alumni. Deal?
Apricot

Oh God, that would easily be too painful for me to do that. I must look forward and not to the past. I’ve been dwelling on this Carleton thing since May when they waitlisted me and August when they rejected me and I never feel good when I think about it. I guess I’m a sadist for mental torture.

Naww, I’m down in Beloit now. We could have a Southern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois Dopefest, though.

About the R.A. thing: it’s possible that they didn’t give you the job because they knew you’d applied for a transfer to another college. If you were them, would you want your representative to the underclassmen to be someone who didn’t even want to be at your school? Or who knows, you might transfer somewhere else and not even be there the whole year. They may not have wanted to take the chance.

About the woman: I cannot think of a single situation in which it’s beneficial for you to dwell on what might have been in matters of romance. Of course, you will probably dwell. We all do, at various points. If you dwell, keep in mind that this situation is basically the stuff horrible doo-wop songs are made of. Summertime, boy (we’ll assume you’re a boy for the purpose of pronoun conservation) meets girl, they share whispers and furtive touches, boy fucks off to Chicago to see Radiohead, girl ends up with dickhead business major or something. Tale as old as time, my friend. Think of it as a bullet you dodged. Now you know her for the capricious strumpet she is, and you’re free to make googly eyes at the coffee shop girl. Eh? Eh? Hadn’t thought of the coffee shop girl, had you? Go give her the googly eyes.

For what it’s worth, if it’s still the way it was when I went there (late 80’s), Carleton is very reluctant to let anyone transfer in from elsewhere. So don’t take it personally.

One thought about rejection of any form - a quote from a movie; Don’t give the pricks the satisfaction! Most rejection is just oversight - some comes from morons who like seeing disappointment in others; don’t ever give those people the satisfaction of seeing that they got to you. Just give them the finger and a grin and carry on with what you were going to do anyways.

Carleton rejected me, too. Twice. I now go to Macalester (official motto: We’re in the same state as Carleton!).

For some reason, my mom wouldn’t even let me apply to Carleton. Said it “wasn’t the right kind of place”. So I wound up going to Oberlin. :rolleyes:

And Duck Duck Goose–does it really matter if you never heard of his first choice school? Are we all supposed to chose our colleges based on what will impress people the most on resumes and t-shirts?
And I think your plan backfired, in fact making him feel worse that you haven’t heard of the school he loves. Like when you’re in love with a boy, and all your friends are saying, “But he’s a jerk, Kristen! Such a loser–you can do better than him!” and you’re thinking, “He is not a jerk or a loser; he’s a nice boy. And do you really think so little of me to imagine that I would waste my time being in love with a jerk or loser?” As in, do you really think so little of me to imagine that I want to go to come crap college no one’s ever heard of?