Handling Disappointment .

Last night my roommate called me, as he is back at our house in South Carolina to hang out for the remainder of break. He told me I got mail from Oregon (the package of materials, I would assume, after being accepted) and a letter from Colorado. Colorado has been my number one since I started applying, and so I told him to go ahead and open the letter from them as I assumed that it would be a decision regarding my application.

Unfortunately, as it turns out the decision was a "no". However, despite my initial disappointment, I am still very excited for graduate school. It just so happens that when applying to my undergraduate school, Clemson was my second choice behind Notre Dame, and it has turned out great. Last night I told myself that there must have been some sort of reason; and perhaps it's because I was an out-of-stater, and as such, many state schools give in-state students higher preference. That's totally okay!

I honestly thought I would be more upset if I didn't get in. But I trust that there is a plan for me that is larger than me, and more in-depth than I'm capable of understanding right now. As many of you know, I'm a pretty religious guy, and therefore I really believe that God had some reason that he didn't want me to go to school in Colorado. As it turns out, the school's stats are quite a bit less impressive than the two I did get into (UCLA and Oregon) and as I start doing research and working toward an educated decision of acceptance, I am really starting to like Oregon and all that it and the Northwest has to offer. I would even be able to transfer to Portland for half of my time there (and maybe even all of my time) which would help me learn to design with sustainability in mind, which Clemson has really fallen short on.

While no school is perfect, all a student can do is hope for the best and try their hardest. After all, it is not where you go that makes you who you are, it's what you do and how hard you work while you're there.