A Failure Story: 5 Lessons that I learned when applying to Great Schools
This article isn’t about career advice. It’s about me. But at the end of it, it is about you. Please go through it for sure.
My name is Harsh, Harsh Kumar. Being born in a middle-class Indian family it was difficult for me to be rich. I completed my schooling at an Indian state board school. I knew the name of IVY League, Oxford, UBC Canada and many more. I decided to apply.
I applied to institutions worldwide with a low application fee because I could not afford them at that time. I wrote essays and invested a lot of days of mine in them. In the end, I applied to around 50 schools.
But the story ends up with the results. I got rejected by all of them. It was a significant failure. Failure always provides two paths in front of you. Either you start crawling or you stand up again to fight. But this time you are not alone. You are having an experience as a backbone. In life, failure can teach you what can’t be taught by success. It changes your view towards the failures and a bigger failure will be with a bigger impact. It can make you feel more sympathetic towards others.
A got many lessons from the failure-
- Failure is inevitable- I was a great and charming student of my school since childhood. So, when you are a bright student a tag game is played with you. You start to meet the expectations implemented by the society on you. It can help you to get better scores. But it will hurt you back deeply when you will be failed. That may lead to depression. That’s why never expect too much from any child. The child was very confident about getting into IVY League but after rejection, the jostle is so much hurting. A less expectation of a child is also very bad. It can make him/her inferior to others. In this way, they will not be able to improve. That isn’t good for the psychology of a child.
- Writing matters- I was being rejected from a lot of institutions after getting 96% grades in my board exams. Writing isn’t something the Indian society or education system cares about. Most of the exams are cramming based. They are completely irrelevant. It raises some questions about the education system- Who has provided the right to rejection right to an exam that is fully irrelevant to the job or course you are applying for.
- Two Choices- The failure provides you with two options- either to stay quiet, feel guilty, decease your moral value and finally become depressed or it provides you with something that a person without a failure can’t have. It is experience. I can say to you that experience and the connections are something that matters in the long run for you, me and all of us.
- Focus- I wasn’t serious about my admission when I applied to universities around the globe. This turned out to be my biggest mistake. I came to my comfort zone after I was offered admission to an Indian medical school. Due to that, I started to wander from my target goals. Focus is something that matters in life so much.
How to remain focused on your track?It is not easy in today's world. The thing you can do is very simple and very effective. You have just to maintain a book. BOOK OF GOALS.
Write down your daily, your seasonal and your long term goals. They can be either getting a promotion, being in a relationship, making a significant amount of money, or taking early retirement. This is highly powerful and effective. I would suggest trying it.
- Teacher Is Important- Having a guide or teacher in life is of utmost importance. You can move up to some limits without a guru but not till the last. I wasn’t having someone who can direct me in my application journey. I would always follow some people who have some experience in the path on which I am heading.
- Right to Choose- The feeling of getting an offer from multiple schools is like a dream. The thought of getting the right to choose can decrease your stress level. On the other side, it may also decrease your tendency to work for a long time. Human efficacy is directly proportional to the stress up to the limits of control. The best way to get over this problem is by the above-mentioned strategy.
It has been more than a year since I graduated from high school. I realised that getting into any school doesn’t matter at all. Here is an article that I would like to suggest-
Don’t read success stories, you will get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success.
— A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
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Even in ₿: 0x0c08c5DcC92905c090b3EBfFD0c5540b0aC2c12f
I am adding my Oxford rejection and UBC acceptance letter that I find at the end.
Your writer is not a lier. Hit claps👏🏻 to agree.
