The Morning After
I don't feel very well today. I've come down with a mild fever of some sort with the added garnish of a wierd headache that seems to start at the corners of my eyes. Not a good day to be working.
My thanks to everyone who left me kind comments yesterday, I really appreciate your words of encouragement. I must say I was surprised at the result when I saw it. Have thought about it a bit and what I still don't understand is what went so wrong. In my feedback session last year Alex said that there were no specific comments on my app about areas for improvement, they thought that all the essays, scores, and recommendations were good, and it came down mainly to a timing issue. It was not stand-out-of-the-pack stuff that is needed to make the cut in R3. The reapplication requires only two essays - I rewrote the first one with updated career progress (in the 6-odd months since), reaffirmation of my goals, and why W. I also made it a point to make sure this stood on its own. The second essay was more of a personal one. I did get an interview invite so I figured I was in the ballpark.
So, was it the interview then? I definitely did have a very hard interview, almost making me wish I had gone on campus for a 30-minute chat with a student. I wrote a little note to my interviewer yesterday informing him about the bad news and thanking him again for his time. He wrote back this morning and his words of encouragement sounded really genuine. It was interesting to read his classification of the admissions process as an imperfect science, with sometimes the best qualified people getting rejected and the least qualified people getting through the cracks.
Ah well. What's done is done. Am I disappointed ? Yes. Am I down and out? Absolutely Not. There are other decisions to be awaited, and plan B's to be executed. For now, I am going to take a little break from blogging. My brother and sister are going to visit later this week and we are going to have some family time together and travel to meet relatives and other friends. On a related note, I am so looking forward to 2004 to be over. It has been pretty eventful, I must say, but very unsuccessful. In the spirit of new beginnings, I hope 2005 brings good things.
Before I sign off for the year, many congratulations to the admits - BritChick, Megami, Riter, GoDidiGo, Kalki (among the bloggers) and everyone else on the s2s and bw boards. An extra round of applause to BritChick for her fabulous day - K & W, that's something.
Best wishes to everyone else who had a dream denied yesterday. I am sure we'll all bounce back. Do you remember this very day a year ago - December 22, 2003? Brett Favre started for the Pack that monday night, with their playoff hopes hinging on a win, a day after his father unexpectedly died. He played the game of his life, somehow managing to channel his sorrow and grief to put on a display of impossible perfection and lead his team to victory. That has been the most inspiring performance on a sports field I have seen. Recently, I read a transcript of an interview where he was asked why he still shows up every single game at his age to take the knocks.
"When it counts, I still think I'm the best," he said. "And that keeps me kicking myself in the butt and being not quite ready to leave yet."
Happy Holidays everyone and here's looking forward to a great 2005 !
My thanks to everyone who left me kind comments yesterday, I really appreciate your words of encouragement. I must say I was surprised at the result when I saw it. Have thought about it a bit and what I still don't understand is what went so wrong. In my feedback session last year Alex said that there were no specific comments on my app about areas for improvement, they thought that all the essays, scores, and recommendations were good, and it came down mainly to a timing issue. It was not stand-out-of-the-pack stuff that is needed to make the cut in R3. The reapplication requires only two essays - I rewrote the first one with updated career progress (in the 6-odd months since), reaffirmation of my goals, and why W. I also made it a point to make sure this stood on its own. The second essay was more of a personal one. I did get an interview invite so I figured I was in the ballpark.
So, was it the interview then? I definitely did have a very hard interview, almost making me wish I had gone on campus for a 30-minute chat with a student. I wrote a little note to my interviewer yesterday informing him about the bad news and thanking him again for his time. He wrote back this morning and his words of encouragement sounded really genuine. It was interesting to read his classification of the admissions process as an imperfect science, with sometimes the best qualified people getting rejected and the least qualified people getting through the cracks.
Ah well. What's done is done. Am I disappointed ? Yes. Am I down and out? Absolutely Not. There are other decisions to be awaited, and plan B's to be executed. For now, I am going to take a little break from blogging. My brother and sister are going to visit later this week and we are going to have some family time together and travel to meet relatives and other friends. On a related note, I am so looking forward to 2004 to be over. It has been pretty eventful, I must say, but very unsuccessful. In the spirit of new beginnings, I hope 2005 brings good things.
Before I sign off for the year, many congratulations to the admits - BritChick, Megami, Riter, GoDidiGo, Kalki (among the bloggers) and everyone else on the s2s and bw boards. An extra round of applause to BritChick for her fabulous day - K & W, that's something.
Best wishes to everyone else who had a dream denied yesterday. I am sure we'll all bounce back. Do you remember this very day a year ago - December 22, 2003? Brett Favre started for the Pack that monday night, with their playoff hopes hinging on a win, a day after his father unexpectedly died. He played the game of his life, somehow managing to channel his sorrow and grief to put on a display of impossible perfection and lead his team to victory. That has been the most inspiring performance on a sports field I have seen. Recently, I read a transcript of an interview where he was asked why he still shows up every single game at his age to take the knocks.
"When it counts, I still think I'm the best," he said. "And that keeps me kicking myself in the butt and being not quite ready to leave yet."
Happy Holidays everyone and here's looking forward to a great 2005 !
posted by PowerYogi at 1:25 PM
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