(Written by John Raftrey)

If you got rejected by Stanford on Friday or the University of Pennsylvania today, this blog’s for you. Nothing I can say will make it any easier, but from what I see from my students, they quickly move to the task at hand of getting into a different college. Parents seem to take longer to recover. So maybe today’s blog is really more for mom and dad!

Try to separate the feelings you have because you didn’t get picked, from the feelings you have for not being able to actually attend the school. There are similar schools which offer similar experiences that will love to have you. You just have to wait until March to find out who they are. And there is always grad school, and you may end up working in a great company with big offices, Desk Screens and all the perks of an office job.

Stanford Dean of Admissions, Richard Shaw wrote an article about rejection for the LA times in 2007 that is still relevant today. [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/30/opinion/oe-shaw30 Rejected by Stanford?You’ll Live]

Please remember that college is a means to on end. It is not the end. There are many paths to the top. Here is a list of well-known people, their accomplishment and where they attended college. I’ll bet Steven Spielberg had gotten over his rejection from USC by the time they made him a trustee!

Lee Bollinger – President, Columbia University, University of Oregon
Sergey Brin – Founder of Google, University of Maryland
Warren Buffett – Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, University of Nebraska
J Cole – Rap Artist, St. John’s University
Jack Dorsey – Co-Founder of Twitter, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Joan Ganz Cooney – Creator of Sesame Street, University of Arizona
Brian M. Krzanich – CEO of Intel, San Jose State
Sandy Lerner – Co-Founder of Cisco Systems, Chico State
Jenny Ming – Former President of Old Navy, San Jose State
Trey Parker – Co-creator of South Park, University of Colorado
Steven Spielberg – Director, Producer, Long Beach State
Biz Stone – Co-Founder of Twitter, Northeastern

17 days until the January 1st deadline for most schools. It’s time to find that campus where you’ll make your mark. Good Luck.