Reading List After Unfavorable Admission Decisions
I won’t say anything cliché because no one ever magically recovers from unfavorable decisions after hearing a lame greeting-card-esque quip. However, I do want you to take a moment to objectively evaluate your situation outside of the decisions you received. The books listed below will help you do just that. You should be able to find these books at your local library. If not, purchase the books through the links in this post to generate a commission that helps support the free content on this website.
Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania, by Frank Bruni, analyzes the college admissions craze and explains the flaws in the “my future depends on the college I attend” logic. Bruni argues that success comes from the students themselves, not the brand name colleges on their diplomas. He gives plenty of examples, with long lists of “non-Ivy school” graduates who reached the apex of success, becoming top CEOs or MacArthur Genius Grant recipients. Take Bruni’s advice and make the best of your college experience, instead of relying on the college to give you the best experience. (There was some serious griping about brand name schools, particularly the Ivy League, in Chapters 2 through 4, that’s safe to skip!)
Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, by Jia Jiang, tells the story of Jiang’s journey through “Rejection Therapy” to overcome his fear of rejection. But the book is more than a documentation of his experiences; it meticulously explains what Jiang discovered about rejection along the way: rejection often says more about the rejecter than the rejectee; rejection is an opinion that is subject to change; and how you react to the rejection can have profound effects on the outcome of the rejection. Jiang gives great advice, not only to help you look at your unfavorable admission decisions objectively, but to help you face rejections you may encounter in the future.
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