A few weeks ago, I was speaking with one of my students after class about school. We were discussing the unseasonably (at the time) cool weather, family life, the economy and other issues. He is an older nontraditional student who returned to school after dropping out decades earlier. One of the discussions we had was about how disappointed his youngest daughter was that she did not get into the college of her choice. I thought to myself, I have heard this story many times before.
Yes, yes, yes, this is the season of relief and despair as well as happiness and sadness. It is the time of year where colleges send out their acceptance and rejection letters to millions of students all across the nation. To those who were victorious in landing a spot to their first choice or institution, feelings of pride, content and an indescribable level of euphoria are probably still brimming within their veins. For a number of these students, there is no doubt that such emotions of elation are well deserved. While for others, it as a combination of pure luck, fate, pedigree, diversity, wealth, religious affiliation, geographic region and/or a combination of all these factors. Whatever the reason, congratulations! Continue the celebration!
For some (not all) who weren’t as fortunate, feelings of resentment and despair are probably commonplace. Indeed, for a demonstrably small percentage, suicidal feelings may be commonplace. For most individuals, such a level of dramatic emotion is usually short lived. Feelings of mild sorrow and, in some cases, sporadic degrees of brief and quickly fleeting depression are usually the norm.
While there is often a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction for students who manage to get into the institution of their first choice, the reality is that, for all those who do not succeed on this front, it does not mean that life’s all downhill from there. The fact is that:
n There is no one pathway to success.
n A student’s first-choice school may not necessarily be the best one for them.
n Many people who eventually are successful often fail along the journey.
