My name is Will. I was that guy in high school--the ridiculously self-motivated kid who was captain of a sports team, got perfect grades and still had time for music and an array of other extracurriculars and hobbies. My dream was to go to Harvard. Statistically speaking, I had a pretty good chance. Did it work out? Not so much.
Having your dreams collapse before your eyes can hurt pretty bad. I found myself searching for support, someone who had gone through the same process, but I didn't find much. I thought that was inexcusable, since I know there are many others like me (as many as 28,000 each year, to be exact), so I took it upon myself to be the voice I was searching for, in hopes that I could help someone overcome the pain of just falling short.
That brings us to now. I'm here to put in my two cents as a bona fide Harvard Reject, a status which has changed my outlook on life. You'll notice I rarely even mention Harvard in any of my posts, and there's a perfectly good reason for that: I'm moving on. My job is to serve as living proof that life continues even when your dreams fall through instead of coming true. This doesn't just apply to Harvard, but life. When things go wrong, we can pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, each time getting a little older and a little wiser until one day we look back and say "hey, I'm doing all right!"
This is my message to you. We all struggle with different things, some with rejection, others with health issues, self esteem, depression or something else entirely. Whatever weighs you down, you don't have to let it stop you. That's why I end my post with the phrase Hic Manebimus Optime; the translation may vary depending on your source, but my favorite is "Here we'll stay, most excellently." It's a message of courage in the face of hardship, saying that you don't have to compromise. Push forward, and do it with style.
If there's only one more smile in the world at the end of the day, then I've done my job.
