Rejection. The dreaded letter you get from the college of your dreams. The email letting you know that you weren’t right for the job. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Rejection is your friend.

Rejection builds character. An old expression has stayed with me ever since I heard it, “A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.” How am I supposed to look at the situation? Do I look at the glass half full, or half empty? Do I look at the word "no" as an answer, or a challenge? I have always believed that ones state of mind is in his or her very own control. If I am sad, its a choice. If I'm happy, it's a choice. Getting deferred from my dream school wasn't the conclusion to my story, it was the rising action. I had seen my best friends get deferred and rejected from schools that they were more than qualified for. I had seen my brilliant peers cry until there was no more water left in their glistening eyes. From this, I have learned the greatest lesson. Rejection can only make the skin thicker. Ironically, my 18 years on this earth has been filled with rejection and answers that differed from the ones I wanted to hear. In the 6th grade, I didn’t get past the interview round for a scholarship program. From 6th through 12th grade I ran for president of my class, and I had lost time and time again.

The University of Michigan became my dream school the day I visited in the sixth grade while my cousin was studying at Ross Business School. Growing up, I always overheard my aunts and uncles discussing college with my cousins who were older than me and preparing for that stage in their life. My family glamorized the school, dressing it up in my head as the Magic Kingdom of Universities. Austin was a Freshman at U of M the year he took my sister and I on a tour of the campus. All I knew was that Ann Arbor was beautiful and my cousin who I looked up to loved it there, so I inevitably loved it, too. Fast forward to summer of 2013, my father and I visited the University of Michigan once again to see if I still felt the same way about it as I did four years earlier. I of course did, and I was set on doing everything possible to getting admitted. After making visits to Boston University, UW-Madison, the University of Maryland, and several other colleges, I eventually realized that there were other schools that I could see myself being happy in.

Even though I worked hard through out high school, I was well aware that the University of Michigan was a long shot. I didn't care. U of M is the "it" school, and it's become one of the most competitive state schools in the country. I applied and I had low expectations. Nevertheless, I was deferred and I didn't even feel a bone in my body flinch from disappointment or relief. I got the decision and I immediately moved on with my life. When I told people that I didn't cry when I was deferred from my dream school, they asked "How are you so good about these things?" My answer for them was simple. Life is too short to dwell on what could have been or what wasn't. Time is too precious to waste sweating the small things. It's all about perspective. Sometimes my perspective is so broad that I don't let myself get upset over things worth being frustrated about. Me not getting into the college of my dreams was not going to bring me down.

It is important to look at rejection as a blessing in disguise, rather than a defeat. I know it’s hard to do, but if you dwell on things that have been denied from you, you spend less time appreciating the things that you're lucky enough to have. After getting deferred and later on rejected from the University of Michigan, I tried my best to see past the negative result. I tried to not let the rejection be an obstacle, and instead tried seeing it as a stepping stool to the great things that are supposed to come from it. I’ve always been a believer in the idea that “everything happens for a reason”, and seriously, six months later, I can attest to the fact that my rejection lead me to being the happy college kid I am today. I wasn't mean to go to the University of Michigan, and I'm lucky that I realized that early on.

Even though it is acceptable to get emotional over a loss at times, I have grown up appreciating the blessings life has given me and I have learned to find the silver lining in the things that have unfortunately not been granted to me. This is life, and it is what we make of it that leads us to happiness and success or misery coupled with failure. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. I know it is difficult to always hold your head up high and smile through repudiation, but ultimately the rewards that come out of a healthy outlook when challenged are boundless.