I received my first letter of rejection today. Remember what they’d told you in high school about the thin letters being the bad ones, and the thick ones being the good? So far that’s proven true. (When I applied to college eight years ago, I was accepted everywhere I wanted to go. This doesn’t bode well for my reactions to rejection.) A thin envelope appeared in the mail today politely informing me that my presence was not desired in the fall at this particular school. “Please keep in mind that the program at ___________ College is extremely selective,” said the letter in its prim Times New Roman.

How is it that the school with the latest deadline was the speediest in telling me that they didn’t want me?