My phone pinged with an email message: Check your WashU Pathway.
My heart fluttered and my anxiety kicked in. Admission decisions were out this early? What if I got rejected? Would everything that I worked so hard for in high school be a waste? I hurriedly called my brother over to open the WashU admission decision together. After several seconds of my hands shaking as I typed in my portal login and my mind blanking on the password, I finally got through what seemed to be the hardest barrier.
“We have reached a decision on your admission.”
Okay…okay…my eyes scanned the page for any sign of whether or not I had gotten in. I had come up on a screen with the iconic WashU Brookings Hall and nowhere in sight was a “Congratulations” or a “We regret to inform you” message. So what was my decision? In the midst of the flurry of excitement and nervousness, I had not realized that I needed to click a second link to open my admission decision.
In an instant of a click, my life changed. Confetti ran down my computer screen with a “Congratulations.” I had gotten into one of my top schools! My brother and I hugged and jumped from the excitement of getting into WashU.
Several days later, I sat down in the same spot that I opened my admission letter, pondering on the reality of the admission decisions, and most importantly, how I was going to finance attending such an expensive school. I knew that college would be pricey, but the cost of a private university was on the higher end of tuition. It is unfair for my parents to pay $80,000 a year for me to attend any university or for me to take out student loans and go deep into debt in four years. However, it is very realistic to be accepted into your top schools but not be able to afford the cost of attendance. Ever since I have been accepted into WashU, I have worked closely with the financial aid office to finance my way through college. In short: college can be affordable. Do not let money be the sole barrier to higher education as there are many resources out there for students like me and you. You are able to receive financial aid from the school, but there are also community and national scholarships that are excited about ambitious students.
Congratulations to all of your college acceptances and waitlists! I hope that you also had an exciting time revealing college decisions. And note that rejection is redirection – you will end up where you need to be at the end of the day. I promise that it will all work out.