A Rejection of Rejection Letters
Approximately 90% of all the rejection letters ever sent follow the same template:
“Dear [Applicant],
We regret to inform you that you have not been selected for [programme]. We receive a lot of applications from very talented individuals every [cycle], and we cannot accept all of them.
Yours sincerely,
etc.”
The nicer organisations and people will add encouragement, perhaps even asking you to apply again, and they do really mean it. But they are not, unfortunately, in the majority. (Trust me on this, I have a pile of rejection letters somewhere in my inbox.)
When I noticed this underlying pattern, I realised that rejection letters will not sting a different way each time. Most rejection letters don’t have the space to criticise every aspect of me that was found wanting. We can, and should, introspect ourselves about why we missed out on this opportunity or that; but rejection letters are not (usually) a personal indictment of us as individuals.
And there is also the fact that a lot of us underestimate ourselves. We go through lives bound by impostor’s syndrome – convinced that there is no way we could ever deserve this opportunity or that. But it’s not true. We can prove it isn’t true, but not if we refuse to try at all.
So apply for long shots. Work as hard as you can on your applications, of course, but it is better to apply and be rejected than to never apply at all. If you don’t apply, your chance of getting accepted is 0%. If you do apply, the probability of success may be higher than you think - 80% or 90%- or abysmally low – 2% or 1% or 0.005% - but it will be greater than 0. Just clicking “Submit” ensures that. Archive your rejection letters and keep trying, again and again and again. Life is short, the world is big, and the sky isn’t the limit anymore.