Vision and Rationale Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vision and Rationale - Assignment Example They do not achieve the core objective of cleaning the teeth, which is performed by the tooth paste and the tooth brush. Therefore, due to the lack of substitute products for this purpose, it is eminent that the market for this product is existent and sustainable. Tooth brushes were first invented in China, where the Chinese used the soft pig hair on the neck to make tooth brush bristles (Segrave, 2010). In Europe, the use of tooth brush started in France in the early eighteenth century. However, tooth brush was first patented in America by H. N. Wadsworth in 1885, after which many American companies embarked on the production of tooth brushes (Jones, 2010). The bare facts is that, tooth brushing in America and many other countries was not a common phenomena, until the soldiers who had gone to fight in world war II came back having adapted this habit. The same happened with tooth paste, which was not used until the 1800s, although the Chinese and the Indians had different substance t hat they used as tooth paste (Segrave, 2010). Rationale for selecting the product Tooth paste and tooth brush have become a necessity for man since a century ago, owing to the health dangers posed by unclean teeth to an individual. Thus, this product comes in the market to serve a basic need that the society has had for decades, only that, it has become increasingly inconvenient for people to pack a box of tooth brush and another one for tooth paste whenever they want to travel. Therefore, the introduction of this new product, which seeks to function both as a tooth brush and a tooth paste dispenser, could not have come at a better time. It will solve the incontinences people have, through allowing them to travel with only one product, which will dispense tooth paste and brush their teeth too. On top of serving as a duo product, this new product will also ensure the maintenance of high health standards, through ensuring that an individual does not use more or less tooth paste while brushing his/teeth. This is because; the product will be designed such that, through a single twist of the base of the brush, the recommended amount of tooth paste will be dispensed. Therefore, there is no way in which individuals will use more or less of the tooth paste, unless they twist the base of the brush more than once, since each single twist dispenses the recommended amount of the tooth paste. Company goals The goals of the company is to solve the problem that the society has, which is that of inconveniencies, associated with the use of tooth brush and tooth paste dispense as different products. Therefore, the company’s goals are: Meet the market need for a teeth cleaning product, which combines the functions of dispensing tooth paste and brushing the teeth. Provide the markets with a convenient product, which is packed singly, yet serving duo functions, for the ease of travel. Saving the people valuable time, through providing the market with an exclusive product th at saves the time used in using the tooth paste and the tooth brush as different products. Strategies to achieve the goals The strategies to achieve the goals will be to design the product such that it has a section that hold tooth paste, at the base of the brush, a lock which prevents the tooth brush from being dispensed accidentally and a dispensing tunnel, through which the tooth paste is dispensed from the base of

The Effects of Mouthwash on Pea Seeds Germination Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Mouthwash on Pea Seeds Germination Essay Purpose: The purpose of the pea seeds germination lab is to determine whether pea seeds will sprout with the absence of a complete water solution and replaced by Listerine Mouthwash. Water is the most basic and useful, natural resources for all living things. Water is extremely responsible for carrying all life functions within the cell. Life cannot exist on earth without the presence of water. In this lab we will investigate to see if seeds can germinate with a substance which its inactive ingredient is water. Since seeds require water in order for its embryo to rise up, one may conclude that mouthwash which contains a small regiment of water molecules can indeed provide for the environment of seed germination. One concept that will also be determined is whether a dormant seed can sprout under a fairly good temperature, the right amount of oxygen, and a mouthwash solution. In this lab, the experiment will distinguish whether a seed would sprout meeting only some of its requirements. Another purpose that will be examined is the mutual effects of germinating seeds in mouthwash. The seeds’ tendency to respond to their environment will also be put into account. The discovery of how seeds will react in a water solution and a mouthwash solution (shape and color) will definitely be seen throughout the experimental lab. To determine how the seed may change its shape or its color there must be thorough evaluations made upon the seed’s appearance. HYPOTHESIS: After examining some of the key aspects in which seeds must adhere to in order to go through the process of germination one can state a proposed idea that seeds will not sprout within a Listerine Mouthwash solution. After acknowledging the fact that pea seeds are very specific in their type of environment that they need to germinate, there is no way in which the seeds will sprout in abnormal conditions. The act of germinating seeds in mouthwash will cause the seeds to remain or become dormant, the seed’s resting stage. In a more detailed description of why mouthwash would not be the best solution for the seed to absorb during the process of seed germination, is that the chemicals found in mouthwash like menthol, methyl salicylate, and etc. can cause harmful effects on the seed’s ability to sprout. These harsh chemical reactants can produce havoc within the cell’s interior. Mouthwash may also cause the endosperm to remain inside the seed which will make the seed very resistant to germinate. METHODS/PROCEDURES: In the beginning of the experiment, pea seeds were used in order to perform the experiment. It was extremely important to acquire good, dry, and viable seeds so the process of germination could occur. A handful of these healthy seeds worked best in assisting the experiment. The seeds ability to germinate was a vital information needed to determine the outcome of the experiment. The second step of the experiment was to soak the seeds in water overnight. This action was made to prepare the seeds for germination and making them more softer and less rigid. The seeds were placed in a bowl and were covered by tin foil. It was set up on the refrigerator to minimize any outside interference that may come to it. After a full night of absorbing the water, the seeds were ready to start the next stage. The third step that was taken was germinating the seeds. Two sets of paper towels were used to germinate the batch of seeds. The handful of seeds were split into two groups, one being the controlled group and the other being the experimental group. One of the paper towels were soaked in 3 tablespoons of water and the other was soaked in 3 tablespoons of Listerine Mouthwash. The amount of each solution remained the same in order to have a controlled experiment in which any changes that occurred in the dependent variable could be traced by only the independent variable. Having different measurements of quantity can affect the outcome. To make sure that a group of seeds did not have a difference in the amount of solution added, measuring them was very vital. The seeds that were labeled as the control treatments were placed on the towel soaked in H2O. The second batch of seeds labeled as the experimental group was placed on the towel soaked in mouthwash. Then, after that, the two towels with the seeds in it were folded and placed in separate zip-lock bags. The two zip lock bags sat on the dresser of my room for weeks. Having the seeds in a nice and warm temperature is better than, having them in an extreme temperature range that would hurt the seeds tremendously (seeds are very particular in the kind of environment they are in). In the first six days, the number of seeds that sprouted was accounted for in each bag. Another problem I accounted was knowing if all the seeds remained in the â€Å"seed sandwich†. Perhaps one seed could have dropped to the floor. To overcome this problem, I had to count and make sure that the amount of seeds were still there from the previous day. This was the entire procedure conducted. OBSERVATIONS/DATA: Throughout the six days of experimentation, the two batches of seeds were showing extremely different outcomes. Their response toward the water solution was different from their response toward the mouthwash solution. The seeds that germinated with water responded positively. The seeds germinated in Listerine Mouthwash responded negatively. On day 1, the seeds in a water solution sprouted. Little hypocotyl structures emerged from the seed coat, which showed signs of germination. About a centimeter long, 21out of 27 seeds germinated with their little, tiny structures sticking out. At the edge of the hypocotyl was a thin leafy structure known as the radicle. The seeds germinated rather quickly in just a day. Unfortunately, the seeds found in the mouth wash solution did not sprout at all and still held its green, brownish color. On day 2, the seeds’ stems grew longer. Their radicles extended a little longer like over 1 cm. This time, 24 out of 27 seeds germinated. The seeds in the mouthwash solution did not sprout at all. None of the seeds showed any signs of germination. One thing was quite weird during my last trial. Signs of shedding appeared in the seeds found in the mouthwash solution. One seed seem to be stripping its coat off. This observation showed up in only one of the trials, therefore it probably happened by chance. Both groups of seeds received nearly the same amount of that specific solution, which showed that the controlled group did not get a greater advantage over the other group. On day 3,the stems grew longer in the controlled group and the same outcomes remained in the experimental group. On days 4, 5, and 6, the seed grew accordingly. Their radicles became even longer with their bright green appearance. The seeds were fully germinated and ready to be put in the soil to germinate.

History of Paper -- essays research papers

The first historical mention of paper is 104 A.D. in China. The Empress of China at that time loved books and wanted to have a lot of them made. At the time everything was written on silk scrolls which were extremely expensive and time consuming to make. She wanted something cheaper and easier to use and so she asked one of her servants, a gentleman by the name of Tsi Lun to come up with an alternative. He worked for over nine years experimenting with different things and finally came up with hemp, mulberry tree bark, silk and old fishing nets all ground up into a mushy pulp. I wonder how he ever thought of it; the history books don't say. The Empress was very pleased and Tsi Lun was elevated to a high rank in the court. Unfortunately for him, the Empress then asked Tsi Lun to spread malicious gossip about some of her enemies at court. When the Empress fell out of power, those people were extremely angry with Tsi Lun and he was either put to death or forced to commit suicide. Strange, isn't it, how things go in the world? And, of course, all of this that I am sharing with you is just one version of history. Others will perhaps be able to give a different rendering. I have read many. I like the story of Tsi Lun. Most people agree on that one. But, as for the spread of papermaking as an art, well, there are different stories told. To gather such accounts and compare them falls within the discipline of "Historiography", the history of the writing of history. (If you ever want to scamble your brains and loose all concept of the solidity of reality, just study the hisotry writing of history.) The following, I believe, is most likely closest to the truth. Papemmaking remained a secret Chinese art until around the year 700 A.D. when, during a war with China the Arab nations captured an entire town of papermakers and took them back to the middle east as prisoners where they were forced into labor making paper. The craft was learned a couple hundred years later by Westem Europeans during the Crusades. Curiously, the Church in Westem Europe initially banned the use of paper calling it a 'pagan art' believing that animal parchment was the only thing 'holy' enough to carry the Sacred Word. That strange prejudice lasted for more than 100 years, but they got over it. In the 17th century Europeans were making paper from cotton and linen rags. When paper is made ... ...which does not add to the pollution in the environment. Natural fiber paper makers have told me that they neutralize their caustic solutions with vinegar and baking soda. After the cooking process, once it is neutralized and checked with a litmus strip, the fiber cooking water can be disposed of down the drain without any fear of adding to the toxic waste in the environment, so there is hope.) The sad tale of our time period for the health of the eco system is that just as cotton and linen rags as sources for paper making were becoming scarce in the 17th century, trees in the 21st are also dissappearing. As an example, one single edition of the Sunday New York Times requires 30,000 acres of trees. And that's just the New York Times. What about the London Times? L.A. Times? And the millions of other papers printed around the world? Experiments have begun to find alternative sources of fiber and I have recently heard the European mills are turning toward hemp. Hemp yields 4 times the amount of cellulose fiber per acre than trees and is renewable within a year or two compared to 100 years for trees. As a lover of trees, I hope the rest of the world soon follows the European example.

Privilege: Race and White Supremacy

As a Latina that I am I was brought to the united states by the myth of the American Dream, hoping to find equality, freedom and opportunity. Becoming an American requires that immigrants like me take a new identity, to be able to be equally treated as members of the white community with all rights, responsibilities, and opportunities that American citizens have and when I mean American people I mean white people. The myth of the American Dream then falls flat on my face because it lies when it says that Americans are â€Å"equally created. Once I came into this country I came across the reality that in fact we are created equal but yet we are not the same because our skin color is not â€Å"white† and we have distinct physical characteristics. Life experiences made me ask, What does it mean to be white? , What is white privilege? , and what is white supremacy? And I came to a conclusion that white privilege and white supremacy can be described as a right or protection grante d essay writer needed, advantage or favor to whites and the ability to take advantage of people that belong to minorities.White privilege means more opportunities to whites rather than to people that actually need it; white privilege is also invisible to whites but not to minorities that have been oppressed throughout the years. The article â€Å"Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege† by Pem Davidson Buck explains on the ideas behind white privilege and how it is created perfectly. It begins with the idea behind constructing race and keeping racial categories separate. It then gets into the privileges white people have such as the right to bear arms, own livestock, and even the right to beat any blacks.Buick writes, â€Å"More pain could be inflected on blacks than on whites. Whites alone could bear arms; Whites alone had the right to self-defense† (34). Meaning that if a white person hits you for no reason then you were not allowed to defend yourself just becaus e you were â€Å"black,† but what if the white men was beating you to death, could you defend yourself? , no, because you were black. Nothing has change even today white still think they have the right to humiliate you because they think they are better than you.I work at a grocery store and I always have to take the humiliation specially from white customers, because people personally ask me if I speak English or they let me know that I shouldn’t be working there because this is a white people store, I am not allowed to defend myself because I will get fire, just like African Americans were not allowed to defend themselves because otherwise they will get bit up by their owner. This article ends with psychological wage and how whites are treated differently in places of business. This sense of superiority allowed struggling northern whites to look down their noses at free blacks and at recent immigrants particularly the Irish. This version of whiteness was supposed to make up for their otherwise difficult situation providing them with a ‘psychological wage’ instead of cash- a bit like being employee of the month and given a special parking place instead of a raise†(Buck. Pg. 35). This also meant that the poor whites helped by supporting the unfair system and made it easier for the rich whites to have control over the labor force and economy.Therefore, the psychological wage â€Å"paid† the poor whites because it made them feel as if being white was a privilege; it was a reward to be white and it made them look down on blacks, Indians and other minorities. On the other hand minorities were not paid because white people did not want to pay them instead they would just give them something such as ‘employee of the month’ to make them think that they were important. I believe this country is one of the riches because oppressors were always living off African Americans and other minorities’ hard work instea d of giving them what they deserve.This reading hits great points on the differences seen between whites and blacks and the differences on how they are treated. Not enough with mistreating them and not giving them the right to get a wage they also take advantage by passing laws that will make minorities sink , stay uneducated and do not let them progress. There is a stereotypical view that underprivileged minorities are sometimes considered uneducated. This lack of minorities’ education is not our fault, but the fault of unlikely outside powers such as white supremacy.Consequently there is some truth to this specific label, but the minorities are not to blame for lack of education we did not choose to be poor we were forced to be poor and stay at the bottom of the ladder. Few opportunities are given to us, starting with housing then leading to schools which would then affect our education. This all started with our Federal Housing Agency or the FHA. In the reading The Possess ive Investment in Whiteness the author George Lipsitz puts extensive research into how the FHA started and how its agency ties into minorities receiving loans or the lack of.In 1934 the FHA was provided from the government who then gave the agency’s power to private home lenders, and this is when racial biasness came into place through selective home loans. Lipsitz says, â€Å"the Federal Housing Agency’s confidential surveys and appraiser’s manuals channeled almost all of the loan money toward whites and away from communities of color† (pg. 74). These surveys were conducted by the private lenders who had free supremacy to prove the loans to whomever they want.Because the minorities did not get a chance to receive the FHA loans that they needed, they are then forced to live in urban areas. This is one of the reasons why people stay segregated because on one side of town you have the minorities living in the poorest side and on the other side you have the wealthiest, which are mainly white people. If we take a look at global segregation, the third world countries are mainly non-white ethnicity for example Haiti is a third world country that does not progress because the United States (one of the riches country) does not let that country progress.White supremacy is lead by the tought that white people do not think of themselves as a race because that would bring them down and think that they are ‘inferior’. In the article â€Å"Failing to See† by Harlon Dalton, he suggests that most white people tend to see themselves in racial terms. Dalton writes â€Å" The emergence in the 1980smof the term ‘African American’ was meant to supply a label for our ethnicity that is distinct from the one used for race. Most people, however, continue to use the term ‘black’ to refer to both. White’ on the other hand refers only to race. It has no particular content† (pg. 17). In my opinion Dalt on is referring to the circumstance that white people don't see themselves as a race because their race has never been an issue in their lives. For example a white person has to go through the pain of not getting a job because of their racial identity on the other hand a person who belongs to a minority race that of African American or Latino decent they do get rejected from jobs just because they either look â€Å"black† or â€Å"brown†.Most white people never associate whiteness as race because they were taught to label others and not themselves cause if they label others as raced they themselves cannot be a part of that group. Teaching with people to not label themselves is one of the lessons thought by their ancestors in addition to the lessons of hating other people outside their with circle. In the book Killers of the Dream by Lillian Smith the author writes about the way she was brought up, the lessons she was thought. The book starts off with the author remembe ring a childhood incident with her parents that made her onder about the hypocrisy she has been raised by in the Southern way of life. â€Å" A little white girl was found in the colored section of our town, living with a Negro family in a broken-down shack† (Smith pg. 34-35). Her mother’s friend believed that the girl was kidnapped and the little girl ends up living at the Smith’s house for a few weeks. The author quickly becomes friends with this girl-Janie, until her mother tells Lillian that Janie is in fact a black girl and cannot live in their home anymore. Moreover, her mother informs Lillian that she is too young to understand why, and she should not ever ask about this subject again.Lillian now had to explain to Janie that colored children should not live with white children. This was one of the lessons her parents thought Lillian; Smith also explains the parents’ mentality towards their children and how they are raised. Those parents enforce the ir children into believing that sexual desires, and all the parts of their bodies that cause these sexual desires, are shameful and should be feared; including their fear for black people. In the reading The Lessons, Smith writes, â€Å"Our first lesson about God made the deepest impression on us.We were told that He loved us, and then we were told that He would burn us in everlasting flames of hell if we displeased Him. We were told we should love Him for He gives us everything good that we have, and then we were told that we should fear Him because He has the power to do evil to us whenever He cares to. We learned from this part of the lesson another: that â€Å"people,† like God and parents, can love you and hate you at the same time; and though they may love you, if you displease them they may do you great injury† (pg. 5). Smith is trying to explain the confusion that society creates because in one hand society teaches us that we should be treated the same because we are all humans, but on the other hand whites are better than any other person because their color is better and they are better overall. There is a contradiction in what our society teaches us. The ironic part of all is that not only white parents thought that being around black people was bad; black people also knew that being around white people was a bad social behavior.In â€Å"The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch† a reading by Richard Wright, is a chapter about his life growing up in the segregated south. He remembers what his mother tells him about the differences between whites and blacks. His mother teaches her son not to fight the white man and beat her son when a broken milk bottle, thrown by a white kid, hits him. She taught him that blacks belonged in their place and whites had their own, informing him that he did not mix with the whites. Just like how Lillian was tought to not mix with black people.From here on out Richard Wright lived in fear of the whites and he would soon learn why his mother wished him to feel this way. When Richard went to get a job he remembered his mother’s word and talked to his white boss with the utmost respect using â€Å"yessirs† and â€Å"nosirs†. Despite his respectfulness to the white man, his boss penalized him for wanting to learn and asked him if he thought he was ‘white’. Richard witnesses countless â€Å"Jim Crow† racism throughout his life all so the white man could feel superior to him and his race.At one point he witnesses his boss and twelve year old son beat a black woman and when she ran to a white cop he accused her of being drunk. Richard was searched for being in a white neighborhood, cursed for looking at an attractive white woman, and was forced to falsify a white man’s signature to receive books from the library. In my opinion the white man treated this boy in a bad way because his white privilege gave him the authority t o do so his whiteness served the men as a protection. Going back to what Richards mother was telling him that he was unequal to whites probably saved his life.Before he knew this he would partake in fights with white kids throwing black cinders as they returned fire with bottles. When he got hit with one of these bottles and told his mother of the happened she beat him for fighting with whites. Though terrible this was an important lesson for young Richard who would encounter racism for the rest of his life, racism that if he didn’t listen to his mother could have got him killed. Nowadays if someone’s mother tells him or her at an early age that they are unequal to others because you look different could scar that person for life.Those words could lower someone’s self-esteem and mental state that they would be in and out psychologist’s offices for a very long time. But What if more black mothers taught their sons and daughters to fight back against oppres sion? Could they have made a difference? Possibly, but southern whites would do all they could in order to keep blacks as inferiors. Though eventually blacks did take this stand it took them along time to end segregation and receive more rights.Maybe if boys like Richard were taught to fight they could have changed things earlier, but this would not come without consequences. Groups like the KKK would murder many blacks and without the significance of media to open the eyes of many white in the north it would be an extreme struggle. Believing in equality maintains inequality. If we let people brainwash us by letting us think that we are all equal we are contributing to white supremacy. Instead of contributing to white supremacy let’s contribute to end it.I know that white supremacy will not end from one day to another but we as a society should be able to start changing this dilemma. Works Cited Smith, Lillian. â€Å"When I Was a Child. † Killers of The Dream. Margaret Rose Gladney. W. W. Norton ;Company. New York: 1994. 34-35. Smith, Lillian. â€Å"The Lessons. † Killers of The Dream. Margaret Rose Gladney. W. W. Norton ;Company. New York: 1994. 85. Buck, Davidson Buck. â€Å"Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege†. Race, Class, and Gender In The United States. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by

Lld Cover Letter

To Whom It May Concern: During this semester our class had to write three major essays, which are: Rhetorical Analysis (RA), Discipline Investigation (DI), and Critical Reading Reflection (CRR). The Rhetorical Analysis paper is based on how â€Å"to develop your understanding of rhetoric by investigating how a writer constructed a professional document or text in your major field. † It is also â€Å"to practice analytical thinking and clear writing. Basically, I had to research a professional document that is in the field that I want to succeed in my future career.I had to analysis what the rhetorical strategies and appeals are and explain it. The Discipline Investigation paper is based on â€Å"to investigate a discourse community you hope to join and to learn about the kinds of text that community uses. † Before I started this paper, I researched about the job position I would be interested in the future and set up interviews with general managers from hotels. I aske d questions to get more outside knowledge and get to know how the job works personally.The Critical Reading Reflection is based on the book we read which is, The Mind at Work and personal experiences with work. My first best essay is the Discipline Investigation, then the second best is Rhetorical Analysis, then the third best is Critical Reading Reflection. My best essay out of the three is the Discipline Investigation. I started out researching for my career choice and then I interviewed a professional to get the inside scoop of the job and daily routines. As I was developing my paper, I thought the hardest part was not being so technical my ideas but to explain and describe the details.For example, writing about the daily routine part I had started writing periodically what he did each day instead of writing explanation of the skills and knowledge he used in his job. The resources I used to write this paper are book, Internet, and personal interview. I find it helpful to research in all the areas, so you can see the different kinds of information you get from each types of source. There were different ways how I improved on my Discipline Investigation essay from the Rhetorical Analysis essay.First, I would read my paper out loud to see if I have any grammatical errors. Second, I would have friends and classmates peer-edit my paper to see if it is grammatically correct, clear and simple organizations, and make sure all my ideas and requirements are there. Third, I definitely paid more attention writing my paper more concisely since I had the idea of how my instructor was going to grade my essay. Fourth, before even starting on the paper I check to make sure I will address the prompt correctly in my essay.Fifth, I realized that free writing and jotting ideas down and creating an outline for brainstorming helps a lot in order to get the flow of writing consistently. In conclusion, I believe there are some improvements as a writer after taking LLD100A course. I learned to be more precise and focus more while I write my papers. My best paper was Discipline Investigation. Writing my best paper, I feel that I have benefited a lot from the methods of my writing improvements. As I take everything step-by-step I believe that I will process as a writer. Sincerely, xxxx

William Shakespeares †The Rape of Lucrece †Essay

William Shakespeares – The Rape of Lucrece – Essay Free Online Research Papers William Shakespeares The Rape of Lucrece Essay General introduction: On May 9, 1594, ‘a booke intituled The Ravyshement of Lucrece’ was registered in the Hall Book of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, the English governments pre-publication registry. The poem printed in Quarto by Richard Field for John Harrison was published the same year under a new title: Lucrece. Therefore we have to mention that the name ‘William Shakespeare’ only appeared within the dedication. The Rape of Lucrece became the final and official title in 1616, the year Shakespeare died. The first Quarto edition is well-known for its accuracy. As regards the four following editions -Q2 in 1598, Q3 and Q4 in 1600 and Q5 in 1607– the editors took too much liberty with the original work. Furthermore Roger Jackson printed what he claimed to be a ‘Newly Revised’ edition in 1616. The fact is that there is no evidence at all that what was added or removed would have been approved by Shakespeare himself. The Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis –registered one year before, on May 18 (1593)– were both dedicated to Shakespeare’s patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. As these two poems were something on which Shakespeare was intending to base his reputation with the public and to establish himself with his patron, they were meant to be displays of his virtuosity. Both poems demonstrated great technical skill. What is more they were certainly the most popular of his writings with the reading public and impressed everybody with his poetic genius. On the one hand, Venus and Adonis was licentiously erotic (though its sensuality was often rather comic); on the other hand, The Rape of Lucrece might seem to be tragic enough; the treatment of the poem is yet somewhat cold and distant. In both cases however the poet seemed to be displaying incredible dexterity rather than being ‘sincere’. The Rape of Lucrece is composed of three different parts: a dedication, an argument and the poem itself. The argument aims not just at giving the plot of the poem, as John Milton did for instance in Paradise Lost. The plot is present, of course, but the argument resemble more a summary of the Roman sources. As to the poem, it is a narrative one. It is made of 1,855 lines and written in rhyme royal, that is to say each stanza is seven lines long and the rhyme scheme is ababbcc. Geoffrey Chaucer, the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and author of The Canterbury Tales, pioneered this rhyme scheme in England in his works Troilus and Criseyde and The Parlement of Foules. Rhyme royal was going out of fashion when Shakespeare wrote The Rape of Lucrece in spite of later poets including Milton in the 17th century. The first stanza of the poem, for instance, aptly displays the rhyming pattern and even epitomizes Shakespeare’s systematic use of pentameters: ..aFrom the besieged Ardea all in post, ..bBorne by the trustless wings of false desire, ..aLust-breathà ¨d Tarquin leaves the Roman host, ..bAnd to Collatium bears the lightless fire ..bWhich, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire ..c And girdle with embracing flames the waist ..c Of Collatines fair love, Lucrece the chaste.’ The argument introduces the reader to a pseudo-historical background. Indeed Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was, in legend, the son or grandson of Tarquinius Priscus and son-in-law of Servius Tullius. He supposedly murdered Tullius, became afterwards the seventh and last king of Rome and established an absolute despotism- hence his name Superbus, meaning â€Å"the proud†. In the reign of terror that followed, many senators were put to death. Eventually a group of senators led by Lucius Junius Brutus raised a revolt, the immediate cause of which was the rape of a noblewoman, Lucretia, by Lucius Tarquinius son Sextus. As a result the Tarquin family was expelled from Rome, and the monarchy at Rome was abolished (traditionally in 509 BC). The argument takes all that story for granted. Furthermore Shakespeare sort of â€Å"rebaptized† his main characters within the poem. Actually he just shortened their names: Sextus Tarquinius would be simply called Tarquin, Lucretia Lucrece, and Collatinus Collatine. Nevertheless we may add that Shakespeare re-centered his work on the rape by Tarquin, on Lucrece’s committing suicide, too, but he also gave himself over to huge internal monologues. Indeed the fact is that there is no exordium and that the poem begins in medias res. For example Lucrece ushers Tarquin in on line 50: ‘When at Collatium this false lord arriv’d, Well was he welcom’d by the Roman dame’ The passage we have to deal with is situated approximately in the beginning of the second part of the poem, from line 1072 to line 1190. Lucrece has already been raped and, now, she is wondering what to do; could she possibly continue to live in infamy or should she stab herself in order to ‘clear this spot by death’ (l.1053)? Outline: In order to elucidate both the reasons of Lucrece’s decision and what Shakespeare may have intended to demonstrate our exposà © will centre on three different parts: Firstly, we will focus on the many primary sources and verify if, by any chance, our passage would not just have been some literary invention. Then, on making a close-reading of the excerpt, we will study it through the perspective of a complaint –be it a literary or musical genre- and see how sound-pattern and rhyming evoke the central themes of love, death and resurrection. Finally, in our third part, we will make a comparative study of our passage with Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VI which includes the story of Philomel; we will be able to draw a parallel between the two women and, at last, will understand how on using an ancient myth Shakespeare created a new one. I The Primary Sources: We will now tackle the different sources Shakespeare used. We have found at least three important texts. The original story of the rape of Lucrece was first mentioned in The History of Rome, written by Livy, in full Titus Livius. The man was born in 59 BC in Italy and died in AD 17. Titus Livius, with Sallust and Tacitus, was one of the three great Roman historians. His History of Rome became a classic in his own lifetime and exercised a profound influence on the style and philosophy of historical writing down to the 18th century. Livy began by composing and publishing in units of five books. His material becoming more and more complex, it finally reached a total of 142 books. Furthermore it approximately encompassed a period of four hundred years -from 386 BC, that is to say the foundation of Rome until the sack of the city by the Gauls, to 9 BC, thirty-five years after the Battle of Actium. To be precise the story of Sextus Tarquin and a woman named Lucretia is to be found in books 57, 58 and 59 and it is supposed to have occurred before the Social War of 91 BC. However Livy was not always reliable. On writing, he sometimes accepted undocumented accounts, more properly categorized as legend than as history. Such is, as we have just said, this story of the rape of Lucretia. The account is taken as fact by some, as fiction by others. Has Shakespeare based his work directly on the Latin version entitled Ab urbe condita or on William Painter’s translation in The Pallace of Pleasure published in 1566? We can logically assume he used both. The second important source of information is Ovid’s Fasti that is to say the Roman Calendar. Likewise, Shakespeare may have used an English translation of Fasti by Arthur Golding or just the original Latin text. Of course, he may also have paged through both texts while writing his poem. Fasti was a 12-volume account of the Roman Calendar that listed special events and festivals on a given day. Book II of Fasti tells the story of the rape of Lucretia because of its importance as a significant turning point in Roman history and because it used as evidence of the corruption of the reigning King of Rome; after all the incident led to the overthrow of the king and to the establishment of the Roman republic. The third major source is Geoffrey Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, from line 1680 to 1886. It was written in the 1380s and was Chaucer’s final dream-vision poem. The stories- concerning such women of Antiquity as Cleopatra and Lucrece- are brief and rather mechanical, with the betrayal of women by wicked men as a regular theme; consequently, the whole is often considered more as a legend of bad men than of good women. Let’s now focus more specifically on Livy’s History of Rome. As we have just said the original events are related in three books. On trying to compare them with Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece we noticed that the argument was a summarize of the whole story which started ‘at that time in possession of Ardea’ and ended up with a huge description of the rebellion of the Roman citizens and ‘a banishment against Tarquin with his wife and children’. Therefore our passage appears to be a creation. As a matter of fact it is a 200-line development of the phrase ‘Lucretia, overwhelmed with grief at such a frightful outrage’ found in the middle of Book 58. William Painter’s Second Novell, which is extracted from The Pallace of Pleasure, was the official translation of Livy’s three books. There is even less mentioning of Lucrece’s reaction in it. In fact there is none. ‘†¦[Tarquin] departed. Then Lucrece sent a post to Rome†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. As for Ovid’s Fasti we have only been able to work on John Gower’s translation published in 1640 but Shakespeare is likely to have used another English translation of it by Arthur Golding. Ovid seemed not to be interested in a political perspective. The end of the translation of his poem is four lines long and Shakespeare finished his work similarly. Indeed the last stanza encapsulates Livy’s original and very long description of the overthrow of the Tarquins. If we take a look at the required excerpt in John Gower’s translation we see that four lines –from number 91 to 94- are devoted to Lucrece’s moral and physical decay: ‘Why triumph’st thou? Thy conquest is thy fall: Ah, what a price bought’st thou that night withall! Now day appear’d: with scatter’d hairs she lies, As doth a mother when her deare sonne dies.’ The first two lines are actually the first occurrence of interior monologue and the first time we are allowed to share Lucrece’s sorrow. Then, thanks to a zero focalization, Ovid introduced elements such as the ‘scatter’d hairs’ and the mother-and-son relationship that Shakespeare will revisit. Geoffrey Chaucer’s version of the story –from line 1680 to 1885 in The Legende of Good Women- explicitly refers to the primary sources: line 1684 we can read ‘as sayth Ovyde, and Titus Lyvius’. Thus, Chaucer’s text already mixed both narratives and his own commentaries. Nonetheless there are once more no allusions to Lucrece’s mental suffering. Chaucer preferred to depict the heroin’s physical decline with details such as ‘dysshelvelee with hir heere clere’ (l.1829). As a conclusion we can therefore state that our passage in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece is nothing but an invention, a personal and exaggerated development –we could even say a magnifying- of Lucrece’s torment. Besides we can draw a parallel between Shakespeare’s poem and The Complaint of Rosamond written by Samuel Daniel in 1592. The latter text may have brought the complaints of afflicted women into fashion. Rosamond was Henry II’s mistress and was poisoned by the queen. The question of dishonour is at stake in both stories. If Rosamond’s purity was corrupted, her descendants would also be dishonoured. For example both poems sharpen the false idea that shame is reflected on their faces: in Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece, from line 1342 to 1344 ‘But they whose guilt within their bosoms lie, Imagine every eye beholds their blame, For Lucrece thought he blushed to see her shame’ in Daniel’s Complaint of Rosamond, from line 283 to 285 ‘Thou must not fondly thinke thy selfe transparent, That those who see thy face can judge the fact; Let her have shame that cannot closely act.’ II – A Complaint : Thus we will now try to analyse the poem through the perspective of a complaint as a literary and musical genre. We will have recourse to a close-reading of the lexical fields, of the musicality via rhythm, and also to the rhyming and sound pattern. By definition a complaint, also called plaint in literature, is a formerly popular variety of poem that laments or protests unrequited love or tells of personal misfortune, misery, or injustice. Though Philomel is said to be ‘lamenting’ (l.1079) The Rape of Lucrece cannot be called a lament -a lament being a nonnarrative poem expressing deep grief or sorrow over a personal loss. The form developed as part of the oral tradition along with heroic poetry. In short, our passage is composed of seventeen stanzas and as we have said in the introduction; each stanza is seven lines long in rhyme royal. Each line being at least a pentameter, that means that the rhythm and the unfolding of the text are based on excess. What is more the rhyming pattern is quite regular. Indeed except of a few false rhymes which are called eye rhyme or sight rhyme, Shakespeare remained extremely respectful of the musical pattern. In fact there are only four eye rhymes in our passage 1105-1106 Sometime her grief is dumb and hath no words; Sometime ‘tis mad and too much talk affords. 1117 – 1118 Great grief grieves most at that would do it good; Deep woes roll forward like a gentle flood, 1131-1132 So I at each sad strain will strain a tear, And with deep groans the diapason bear; 1180-1181 Revenge on him that made me stop my breath. My stainà ¨d blood to Tarquin I’ll bequeath, Those false rhymes are not haphazard since the speaker lays an extremely strong emphasis on metatextual elements –‘no words’ or ‘too much talk’- and overdoes in using alliteration -‘great grief grieves’- or diacope –‘sad strain will strain’. Those excesses foretell Shakespeare’s ridiculing his own work and his distancing from it. The speaker also plays on clichà ©s and conventions in our last eye rhyme, line 1181: ‘Revenge on him that made me stop my breath. My stainà ¨d blood to Tarquin I’ll bequeath Which by him tainted shall for him be spent, And as his due writ in my testament.’ The testament was a poetical convention well-known in England such as The Will or The Legacy written by John Donne. As far as clichà ©s are concerned the tear is another element which cannot be skipped out. On identifying herself with Philomel, on line 1076, Lucrece says or thinks: †¦Ã¢â‚¬Ëœmine eyes like sluices, As from a mountain-spring that feeds a dale, Shall gush pure streams to purge my impure tale.’ Throughout the whole passage tears seem to be a means to purify the outraged woman. They embody a fundamental mode of expression to convey the concept of inner suffering. Despite the ‘flood’ of tears and the expression of alienation Lucrece seems to find no remedy. There is nothing to soothe her. As a consequence we may say that it is the beginning of the end. The hyppalage ‘my impure tale’ which follows an alliteration in ‘p’ is all the more important since it deepens Lucrece’s distress. This conventional procedure is maybe so much emphasized that even the birds scoff at her (l.1121 – 1127): ‘â€Å"You mocking birds,† quoth she, â€Å"your tunes entomb Within your hollow-swelling feathered breasts, And in my hearing be you mute and dumb; My restless discord loves no stops nor rests; A woeful hostess brooks not merry guests. Relish your nimble notes to pleasing ears; Distress likes dumps when time is kept with tears.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This stanza hinges round musical terms and allusions. Surprisingly enough all these elements imply silence: ‘Hollow-swelling’ suggests hollow-sounding. ‘Discord’ relies, on the one hand, on a combination of musical sounds that strikes the ear harshly and, on the other hand, on a lack of harmony between two persons; ‘relish’ can be interpreted as another musical term, meaning â€Å"to appreciate with taste and discernment†. What is more the last two lines of the stanza have an asymmetrical stress pattern. The first one beginning with a trochee, the second one with an iamb. Hence the whole stanza displays a range of technical terms and gives a sheer contrast between what poetry could be all about –a literary contrivance meant to ‘abuse our ears’ (All’s Well that ends Well V.3.325)- and what the heroin is expecting. In short, Shakespeare debunks his own outstanding literary technique. Moreover line 1108 the poet introduces intertextual hints referring to his own work. Indeed ‘Make her moans mad with their sweet melody’ echoes with ‘This music mads me’ taken from the tragedy Richard II, V, 5,61. We may also point out the particular ending of lines 1140 and 1141: ‘These means, as frets upon an instrument, Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment’ We obviously remark that both ‘instrument’ and ‘languishment’ – which stand for metatextual elements are dactyls. This conjures up the characteristics of the tone of the complaint for those complaints were recited like incantations. Moreover the supernatural is present within the text. Line 1147, Shakespeare alludes to Orpheus’ magical powers: ‘To creatures stern sad tunes to change their kinds.’ Orpheus was an ancient Greek legendary hero endowed with superhuman musical skills. According to some legends, Apollo gave Orpheus his first lyre. Orpheus singing and playing were so beautiful that animals and even trees and rocks moved about him in dance. The second interesting aspect of Orpheus’ legend relies on his love towards Eurydice. The latter had been killed by a snakebite. Overcome with grief, Orpheus had ventured himself to the land of the dead to attempt to bring Eurydice back to life. His music and grief so moved Hades, king of the underworld, that Orpheus was allowed to take Eurydice with him back to the world of life and light. There was just one condition both Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back. On climbing up towards the opening into the land of the living, Orpheus, seeing the Sun again, turned back to share his delight with Eurydice. In that moment, she disappeared. This omnipresent and omnipotent watching over mortals is experienced as an ordeal by Lucrece. Nevertheless sexual innuendoes crop up and reveal Shakespeare’s constant irony: †¦.‘O eye of eyes! Why pry’st thou through my window? Leave thy peeping, Mock with thy tickling beams eyes that are sleeping’ (l.1088-1090) Irony is also present in the term chosen by the poet to foreshadow Lucrece’s death. The ‘merciless conclusion’ (l.1160) is reminiscent of Cleopatra’s suicide after she had ‘pursued conclusions infinite / Of easy ways to die.’ (Antony and Cleopatra V, 2, 353) Since The Rape of Lucrece had been written in the perspective of a complaint it had to end up with the protagonist’s death. Here again however the poet undermined the literary canon and conveyed the rebirth of his heroin at the very end of our passage: ‘For in my death I murder shameful scorn; My shame so dead, mine honour is new born’. Lucrece can be equated to the mythical phoenix which was a fabulous bird worshipped in ancient Egypt. It was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time. Furthermore the Egyptians associated the phoenix with immortality since it rose from its ashes. This idea of eternal regeneration will be developed in the following and last part via the process of rewriting. III Philomel’s myth undone and knitted again: First of all we will summarize the original myth of Philomela. In Greek mythology, more precisely in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VI, Tereus was the king of Thrace and had married Procne, daughter to Pandion, king of Athens. Procne asked him to go and bring her sister back to her because she had not seen her since their union. Tereus seduced by Philomela’s beauty decided to rape her. In order to hide his guilt, he cut out Philomelas tongue. But she revealed the crime to her sister by working the details in embroidery. Procne sought revenge by killing and serving up her son Itys for Tereus supper. On learning what Procne had done, Tereus pursued the two sisters with an axe. But the gods took pity and changed them all into birds, Tereus into a hoopoe, Procne into a nightingale (or swallow), and Philomela into a swallow (or nightingale). Let’s now focus on the elements of our passage that are taken from the original myth and used in different ways. We have been working on Arthur Golding’s translation. It seems that our passage in The Rape of Lucrece is a rewriting and a subversion of Philomela’s myth. Both stories are adopting the same point of view concerning the rape in itself and the rapist’s attitude. In both stories we can underline an isotope of war. In Book VI, line 578: ‘When (see the chaunce) came Philomele in raiment very rich, And yet in beautie farre more rich, even like the Fairies which Reported are the pleasant woods and water springs to haunt, So that the like apparel and attire to them you graunt. King Tereus at the sight of hir did burne in his desire’ This passage is the first encounter between Procne and Tereus. Right from the start lust is overwhelming Tereus. Philomel’s beauty is compared to the one of a fairy. All the senses are abnormally heightened. King Tereus burned in his desire and nothing could dissuade him from raping her. We have to mention that both Tarquin and Tereus resort to violence and more especially to the use of a sword to assuage their lust: ‘To take hir, and in maintenance thereof by sword to stand.’ (l.594) Both Philomel and Lucrece are referred to female enemies that are to be ‘vanquisht’. In Ovid’s Book VI, line 664, we see: ‘†¦ There waxing pale and trembling sore for feare, And dreading all things, and with teares demaunding sadly where Hir sister was, he shet hir up: and therewithall bewraide His wicked lust, and so by force bicause she was a Maide And all alone he vanquisht hir.’ In The Rape of Lucrece the lexical field of war and battle is echoing the original myth. The psychological reactions of Lucrece are described in terms of rebellion, and inner fights. ‘So with herself is she in mutiny’ (l.1153) Moreover this image of a besieged stronghold is reinforced from line 1170 to 1174: ‘Her house is sack’d, her quiet interrupted, Her mansion batter’d by the enemy; Her sacred temple spotted, spoil’d, corrupted, Grossly engirt with daring infamy:’ Lucrece suffers from a total invasion of privacy, which is reinforced by the anaphora on ‘Her’. Those few lines prove that, in Lucrece’s view, it is a personal, physical and spiritual outrage but it also reveals a military dimension of the rape. Nonetheless the use of military words as a running metaphor pervading the two narratives is not the only link between them. Both stories turn around silence, mutism and more generally around the voice of the victim. In the first stanza of our passage, line 1076, Lucrece declares ‘My tongue shall utter all’ which is a reaction similar to the one of Philomela following her rape. In the original myth we can read line 697: ‘As prisoner in these woods, my voice the verie woods shall fill, And make the stones to understand’ It seems that for the victim there is a necessity to reveal the outrage and explain their own attitude not to be morally condemned. But the main difference between those two stories is that while Lucrece can speak and will discuss with her husband and father, Philomel is savagely reduced to silence by Tereus. ‘But as she yirnde and called upon hir fathers name, And strived to have spoken still, the cruell tyrant came And with a paire of pinsons fast did catch hir by the tung, And with his sword did cut it off.’ (l. 707 to 710) On one hand we have Philomel who is kept prisoner on the woods by the rapist, who cannot escape and is weighted down by worries. On the other hand, Lucrece does not want to be alive at sunrise and chooses to withdraw into total silence. ‘But cloudy Lucrece shames herself to see, And therefore still in night would cloister’d be.’ (ll. 1084-1085) Let’s now focus on the presence or non-presence of tears. What is particular to The Rape of Lucrece is the Lucrece’s attitude and the mourning of her integrity. In the original myth, line 746, we can read: ‘And weepe she could not’. It seems that tears have taken a new dimension in Shakespeare’s poem. As if they were in themselves a way to communicate, to express one’s feeling. Tears can be as important as monologue or direct speech. Throughout the whole poem and especially in our passage Lucrece is described as an outraged woman who cannot help weeping. Shakespeare mixed up several elements to reinsert them in a different way. Moreover, in the original myth Philomela is described with scattered hair, on line 674: ‘Anon when that this mazednesse was somewhat overpast, She rent hir haire, and beate hir brest.’ Shakespeare re-uses some elements on line 1128. Lucrece interprets in her own way Philomel’s myth. We must underline that, to some extent, Lucrece will also ‘beate hir brest’ using a knife. She identifies herself with that outraged woman and at the same time changes Philomel’s story into her own. ‘Come, Philomel, that sing’st of ravishment, Make thy sad grove in my dishevelled hair.’ We can draw another parallel between those two stories concerning colour and the meaning of red and white. In the original myth Philomel cannot talk since she had her tongue cut but she succeeds to inform her sister of what had happened to her by weaving a message in red letters on a white cloth, line 736: ‘A warpe of white upon a frame of Thracia she did pin, And weaved purple letters in betweene it.’ Those two colours are extremely significant in Shakespeare’s poem since they represent Lucrece’s feelings. Lucrece often blushes and many allusions are linked to the colour of her face, as if we could read her thoughts, as if we could see her impurity. Moreover there are references to children, childhood, and mother-and-son relationship. As we have said earlier Procne killed her own child in the original myth in order to revenge her sister. We can maybe draw another parallel between Itys’ death and this passage: ‘That mother tries a merciless conclusion, Who having two sweet babes, when death takes one, Will slay the other and be nurse to none.’ (l.1160-1163) We could say that Procne felt responsible of the outrage made to her sister and having lost her sister’s confidence, she decided to kill her son. One can object that the sisters’ relationship is still very strong but something has happened that will change their relationship into a mutual suffering. In that way we can say that their sisterhood is spoiled. Procne becomes Philomel’s fellow sufferer such as Philomel becomes Lucrece’s. All those incessant coming and going eventually illustrate the second meaning of Lucrece’s craft. Indeed she was an expert weaver and would have been capable of remodelling the old to create something new. Conclusion: As a conclusion we may say that this remodelling could also have been Shakespeare’s deepest purpose on writing The Rape of Lucrece. Actually the study of this passage enabled us to dig out the tremendous mythological, historical and literary background the poet used. And what we have been attending came to be the creation of a new myth. Research Papers on William Shakespeare's - The Rape of Lucrece - EssayHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionMind TravelCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionCapital PunishmentQuebec and CanadaBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XBringing Democracy to AfricaMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductStandardized TestingRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and

The character of Cleopatra Essay Example

The character of Cleopatra Essay Example The character of Cleopatra Paper The character of Cleopatra Paper How Cleopatra acts when Antony is away reveals a lot about her character and how she feels about herself and Antony. The scene starts off with Cleopatra asking Charmian for a narcotic so that she can sleep out this great gap of time that her Antony is away. She is thinking about Antonys every move Stands he, or sits he? and speaks jealously of the horse that he may be sitting on. Horse back riding is associated with sexual intercourse, and she speaks of how the horse should be proud to hold Antony. She talks of how the horse would not know who it is taking, that Antony is the demi-atlas of the world meaning he holds half the world, and is the ultimate soldier equipped only with his arm and a light helmet. She then starts talking about herself and Antony, she is very complimenting to herself, but explains that she is feeding herself most delicious poison when she has the thought that Antony is thinking of her. She carries on to say this self-flattery is, although nice, not good. She talks vividly of how she feels love pinches and bruises, showing her violent side but also an erotic side. She then starts to be hard on herself, asking why Antony would ever think of her, she calls her self black, which is unattractive to the Romans. This is confirmed before hand where Philo describes her as tawny referring to the colours of gypsies and gypsy ways (magic and witchcraft). However to console herself almost, she speaks of her former lovers, Caesar and Pompey and how they saw her and treated her. These sudden changes in the subjects she chooses to speak about shows her ever-changing personality. First she speaks of how Antony must be thinking about her, then that he isnt, then how he must see her in a bad way, and then how her former lovers adored her. Shes a very confusing character, who even Antony will probably never figure out. Alexas interrupts here, a messenger from Antony, to present an orient pearl to Cleopatra. Cleopatra seems happy with Alexas message from Antony but continues to question him about Antony. What, was he sad, or merry? Alexas explains to Cleopatra that he was neither sad nor merry. Cleopatras response to this is interesting as she justifies this information in favour of herself and Antony. She says that he cannot be sad as people look up to him, but he also cannot be merry as it shows people he wants to be in Egypt. He shall have every day a several greeting, Or Ill unpeople Egypt, this extravagant, expression is her response to Alexas when he questions why she sends so many messengers, (twenty several messengers per day). It means that she loves Antony beyond all other concerns. Cleopatras language is serious yet exaggerating, it could be seen in a preposterous way, for example Or Ill be damned. However it is still a very violent expression, revealing Cleopatras unethical ways of dealing with certain situations. Her violent response to Alexas would scare most men off a woman, but not Cleopatra, she is explained by Enobarbus that she makes hungry where she most satisfies later on in the play.

What to Do If You Get Rejected From Your Dream College

What to Do If You Get Rejected From Your Dream College SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You’ve sent out your applications and can't stop envisioning yourself at your top-choice school. But then the unthinkable happens: you get a college rejection letter.You start to wonder: what went wrong? What do I do now? Is it still possible to attend my top-choice school? The truth is that I've been in this exactsame situation. In 2008, I got rejected from my top-choice school, Stanford.Though the rejection letter hurt, on the plus side, it taught me a lot about what I did wrong, both in my application and my overall high school career. In this article, I use my own rejection experience as a guide to explain how likely a college rejection is for you, how to avoid getting rejected from college, and the steps to take in case your top-choice school just isn’t that into you. How Likely Is It That You’ll Get a College Rejection Letter? First things first, how likely is it that you’ll actually get rejected from college- more importantly, from your top-choice school? The answer to this question varies depending on two main factors: How competitive your top-choice college is How strong your college application is How Competitive Is Your Top-Choice School? As you might've guessed, your chances of getting rejected from college depend a lot on how hard your top-choice school is to get into. Many students’ top choices are Ivy League institutions, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, or other prestigious, top 25 schools, such as Stanford, Rice, and the University of Chicago. Now, what do many of these schools have in common? That's right:extremely low acceptance rates.These rates dramatically affect your likelihood of getting accepted (or getting rejected). Below are the acceptance rates for the top 25 universities, as determined by the most recent US News rankings for 2018. All schools are listed in order of ranking. (Pro tip: click the school name to learn more about its admission requirements!) School US News Ranking Acceptance Rate Princeton 1 7% Harvard 2 5% University of Chicago 3 (tie) 8% Yale 3 (tie) 6% Columbia 5 (tie) 6% MIT 5 (tie) 8% Stanford 5 (tie) 5% University of Pennsylvania 8 9% Duke 9 11% Caltech 10 8% Dartmouth 11 (tie) 11% Johns Hopkins 11 (tie) 12% Northwestern 11 (tie) 11% Brown 14 (tie) 9% Cornell 14 (tie) 14% Rice 14 (tie) 15% Vanderbilt 14 (tie) 11% University of Notre Dame 18 (tie) 19% Washington University in St. Louis 18 (tie) 17% Georgetown 20 17% Emory 21 (tie) 25% UC Berkeley 21 (tie) 16% UCLA 21 (tie) 18% USC 21 (tie) 17% Carnegie Mellon 25 (tie) 22% UVA 25 (tie) 30% As you can see, your chance of acceptance to top-tier colleges ranges from just 5% to as much as 30%.Your chance of college rejection is highest for schools ranked in the top 10. At these colleges, the typical applicant has a whopping 90-95% chance of getting rejected. These are very, very general estimates, though.How high or low your chances of rejection are will ultimately depend on the overall strength of your application (we discuss this more below).To get a slightly more accurate idea of your admission chances to a particular school, use our college admissions calculator. Still, the point is clear: most applicants to highly selective schools get rejected.Your chance of getting a college rejection letter will be less likely if your top-choice school is ranked lower and has a higher admission rate. You have a lower chance of getting rejected from NYU than you do from Columbia. (jpellgen (@1179_jp)/Flickr) How Strong Is Your College Application? The other major factor that affects your chances of getting rejected from college is the strength of your application. A strong college applicationusually has the following features: A high GPA and rigorous, challenging course load High test scores on theSAT/ACT,SAT Subject Tests, AP exams, etc. A compelling personal statement Cogent letters of recommendation An impressive resume/CV- particularly one that showcases your ongoing commitment to a particular field A highclass rank (if your high school calculates rank) For the Ivy League and other highly competitive schools, you’ll definitely need to stand out from other applicants.And the best way to do this is tocreate a big spike in your application. A spike is essentially something you’re passionate about and have continuously striven to master. It could be anything from a love of writing short stories to a passion for chemistry. Most importantly, your spike should be a field you’re truly committed toand for which you have sufficient evidence to prove your commitment. If you have a spike as well as high test scores, a high GPA, etc., you’ll have a much better chance of being a top-choice candidate for your school. All of this also means that you should avoid aiming for a well-rounded application. This can put you right in the crapshoot of college applications, significantly reducing your chance of acceptance (and thereby increasing your chance of rejection). For more tips on how to put together a strong application, look at a real Harvard application and acceptance letter, supplied by our resident perfect SAT/ACT scorer. My Experience: I Got Rejected From Stanford Some of you reading this might be wondering why I’m writing this article. Well, let me start with some facts. Rejection is nothing new to me. I applied to college in 2008 (yeesh, I’m getting old!). At the time, Stanford was my top choice, so I applied restrictive early action, meaning that my application was due earlier (by November 1) and that Stanford was my #1 pick for college. A little while later, I received a rejection by email. It was the first university I heard back from in the application process, and its letter was by far the most painful.I remember bursting into tears as soon as I finished reading it and then running to my parents for comfort. So many questions ran through my head: how come they didn’t like me? What did I do wrong? Did I mess up my application somehow? Was I simply not good enough? Months later, I got accepted to USC and decided to attend that school instead. And I had a blast: I joined a couple of clubs, wrote for the school newspaper, worked on-campus, made good friends, and had an overall fun and eclectic experience I’d never trade for anything. Sometimes, though, I think back to that initial college rejection and wonder: how did I manage to get through such a difficult, stressful time in my life?And how can I use what I know now to help other students in the same position I was once in? Here’s why I’m telling you all of this: I want you to know that I’m speaking from experience:This is not an article coming from one of those top students who got into every Ivy League school and has never dealt with the crushing pain of rejection. Trust me, I’ve been there- and I know exactly how it feels! It’s important to know that you’re not alone:Lots of students get rejected from college- honestly, more than you might think!- and it’s a totally normal part of the college admission process. Yes, some lucky people will get accepted to all the schools they apply to, but the fact is that most students will get rejected from at least one school, especially if they're applying to highly competitive ones. Rejection is part of life:It sucks to admit this, but it's the truth. The better you can learn to handle rejection, the easier it'll be to move on and look for new (and better) ways to achieve your goals. (As a bonus, I’ve also gotten rejected from grad schools, so once again I’m pretty experienced at this rejection thing!) Now that you know my story, let’s start with the positives: how to avoid getting rejected from college in the first place. If this doesn’t work out for you, no worries- I’ll also give you advice on what to do if you do get rejected. Unfortunately, my tips for avoiding rejection don't apply to asking people out on dates. How to Avoid Getting a College Rejection: 6 Tips Since getting my first college rejection from Stanford, I can tell you this: I’ve learned a lot about what I did wrong in my application. For one, my application wasn't unique enough.I didn’t have a "spike" that made me stand apart from other applicants; instead, I naively believed in the misconception that well rounded was what all top schools wanted the most. (Hint: it’s not!) In addition, my SAT score wasn’t up to par. At the time I thought I'd done fairly well on the test, but I didn’t realize that pretty good isn’t usually good enough for top schools like Stanford. These days,you'd need to score around 1520 (or in the top 1%) just to meet the average at Stanford! Finally, I didn’t take advantage of the AP/honors classes available at my high schools (I moved and attended two schools). I remember thinking that two or three AP classes and a couple of high AP scores would be good enough. Again, though, this isn’t that impressive to top-ranked schools. So what can you do to ensure that you have a better chance of getting into your top-choice school? Here are my top six tips: #1: Maintain a High GPA While Also Challenging Yourself Most students probably know this, but you’ll need a pretty high GPA to keep from getting rejected. Why? Well,a high GPA proves that you’re not only responsible and studious but also capable of performing consistently well in a variety of disciplines. By excelling in several classes, you’re providing direct evidence of your deep commitment to learning and academic success. So what constitutes a high GPA? The answer to this will depend on the school you’re applying to.If you’re aiming for a top 25 school such as Stanford, aim for a 4.0 (unweighted) or pretty close to it.If you’re not sure how high of a GPA your school expects, try looking on the school's website for any information or data about the average GPA of admitted applicants. That being said, getting a high GPA alone isn’t as important as getting a good GPA and taking a challenging course load. Here’s what I mean by this: when applying to top colleges, a 4.0 unweighted GPA is no doubt great. However, you’ll be a much more competitive applicant if you have, say, a slightly lower 3.8 GPA and have also taken loads of challenging AP/honors courses. This means that you could get mostly As and a couple of Bs in challenging AP courses and still have a higher chance of getting accepted over someone who got all As but took only easy classes. This is because colleges like to see that you’re continuously challenging yourself. For me, this was a critical point I didn’t get at all in high school. I took a few AP and honors courses, but I didn’t take nearly as many as I should have.Instead, I stuck mostly to classes I knew I’d get As in and refrained from truly challenging myself by taking harder ones. This is probably part of the reason Stanford rejected me. #2: Get a High SAT/ACT Score Like the tip above, this is kind of a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how little I thought of it when I applied to college back in 2008. While colleges understand that the SAT/ACT is just one part of your application, it’s still pretty important to get a high score on one of the two tests- especially a score that sets you apart from other applicants. A good SAT/ACT scorewill vary depending on the schools you're applying to.For example, if you were applying to Harvard, you'd want to aim for a perfect 1600 on the SAT or a 35 on the ACT. These are the 75th percentile SAT/ACT scores for admitted applicants to Harvard. In other words, get this score level and you’ll have a higher score than 75% of applicants. Even if you got slightly lower than this- such as a 1570 on the SAT or a 34 on the ACT- you'd still be in relatively good shape. The point, however, is that you want to shoot as high as possibleso you can give yourself the best chance of admission. On the other hand, if you were applying to a less selective school like the University of Houston, you'd only needan SAT score around 1320 or an ACT score around 28. Again, you could still get accepted with slightly lower scores than these, but aiming high ensures you'll have a great shot. As you can see, what’s considered a high SAT/ACT score will depend greatly on where you’re applying.If you can hit (or almost hit) your top-choice school’s 75th percentile score, you’ll stand out and lower your chances of rejection. To find your school’s test score information, search for â€Å"[School Name] PrepScholar" on Google. Click our link to the school’s Admission Requirements page to see the school's average SAT/ACT scores and its 25th/75th percentiles. Here’s an example of our Admission Requirements page for Stanford: #3: Work On Developing Your Spike This piece of advice is essential for those applying to theIvy League or Ivy League-level institutions (and it’s definitely something I wish I’d known back when I applied to Stanford). And here's what it is: part of crafting an incredible college application is working on developing a spike. I briefly introduced this concept earlier, but now let's look at in detail. Your spike is what makes you stand out from other applicants.This is typically an ongoing passion for and commitment to some kind of academic and/or personal interest. For instance, perhaps you're a lover of writing who's published his own self-help ebook and tutors elementary school students in creative writing on weekends. Or maybe you’re a science whiz who's conducted numerous experiments and submitted her results to conventions. Get the picture here?Think of this spike as the opposite of being well rounded. When I applied to Stanford, I assumed that well rounded = automatic acceptance. I was a member of my school's honor society, ran on the cross country team for two years, and played the piano in my spare time. All of this, I thought, made me an eclectic, ideal candidate. Boy, was I wrong. In truth, colleges- particularly selective ones like Stanford- see tons of applicants like this. This is likely a big reason I got rejected: I wasn't unique enough! Instead, I should have spent more time developing the hobbies I enjoyed most and participating in activities more strongly tied to my most passionate interests. That's what I did wrong. Now, here's what you can do right.Below, I list some options you can try to help you further develop your spike: Take classes related to your passion:Into writing? Take extra writing-oriented classes such as newspaper, yearbook, or journalism. Also, if possible, opt for the hardest versions of these classes (e.g., take AP English instead of regular English). Join a relevant club:If you’re a lover of geometry or calculus, join the math club. Putting in extra time shows that you’re interested in this field outside of school as well. Enter fairs, contests, and conventions:This tip is especially relevant to those in the science field. Say you’ve got an invention, made a discovery, or created a piece of art that you want to show off. Don't just keep it for yourself- submit your project somewhere in order to highlight your commitment to making a change in the world. Teach younger students:Becoming a volunteer tutor/teacher demonstrates your devotion to helping others develop their passions in a field you enjoy. If you're an artist, volunteer to teach drawing or painting classes to students at a local Boys Girls Club, for instance. Get a relevant part-time job:Not all students have the time or opportunity to secure a part-time job in a field relevant to their interests, but if you can, I highly recommend doing so, as it can stress both your commitment to your field and your responsibility as an employee. All in all, don’t rely on the trap of being well rounded, particularly if you’re trying to get accepted to highly selective schools. The only thing you want to be well rounded is the bubble you're blowing. #4: Write a Compelling Personal Statement and Consider Context Even if you’ve got both stellar grades and a high SAT/ACT score, schools want to see that you’re an interesting, passionate person who is committed to learning. This is why it’s important to spend a lot of time crafting animpactful personal statementfor your application. In general,a good personal statementwill accomplish the following: Introduce who you are as a person (not just as a student!) and why you’re applying Provide context for your academic accomplishments, passions, and future goals Focus on your spike and what makes you unique Answer the prompt clearly and fully (if given one) Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation Be thecorrect lengthandfile format(e.g., PDF, .docx, etc.) Make the collegewantto admit you! The statement is a great opportunity to explain what your spike is, how you got interested in it, and what kind of role you see it playing in your future. For a detailed look at what makes for a powerful personal statement, check outour analysis of more than 100 college essays. In addition, the personal statement lets youexplain the context of your academic situation. For example, does your high schoolnotoffer any AP or honors courses? Or are you the first person in your family to attend college? It's important to answer questions like these in your essay so that the school can take into account your personal circumstancesas well as how these might have influenced the quality of your application.This way, you won’t get rejected simply because you didn’t take any AP courses (even though none might have been available to you!). Many schools stress the importance of considering each applicant's circumstances. For example, here's what Stanford says on its website: â€Å"We take into account family background, educational differences, employment and life experiences. By focusing on your achievements within context, we evaluate how you have excelled within your unique school environment and how you have taken advantage of what was available to you in your school and community.† Andhere's how Duke considers contextin applications for admission: â€Å"We think about what a student has accomplished within the context of the opportunities and challenges he or she has faced.† Evidently, the personal statement isn’t just an opportunity to showcase your spike and strengths- it's also a chance toexplain your personal situation. Do all of this, and you’ll be far less likely to get rejected for something like a slightly lower SAT score. #5: Apply Early Action/Early Decision, If Possible If your top-choice school offers an early action or early decisionplan, definitely do it (but only do the latter if you’re 100% sure this is the school you want to attend). Most early action/early decision deadlines are November 1 or November 15.These deadlines are about a month or two earlier than most regular decision deadlines. So how does applying early action/early decision affect your admission chances? Data shows that those who apply early action or early decisiontypically have higher acceptance rates than those who apply regular decision. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get accepted.I applied early action to Stanford and still got rejected. Nevertheless, an early applicationmight give you a slight edge over other applicants, as it shows the school you’re committed to it and really want to continue your education there. The only drawback to applying early action/early decision is that the early deadline gives you less time to put together a strong application. Ifyou’re struggling to prepare an effective application for an early action plan, consider applying regular decision instead to give yourself more time. This leads me to my next point ... #6: Take Your Time- Don’t Rush the Application Process! Whether you’re applying early action/early decision or regular decision, it can be tempting to rush through the application process, especially since most students are extremely busy at the start of senior year. Even though this is a stressful time, try your bestnot to rush through your application to your top-choice school.Simply put, don’t write your personal statement the day before the deadline, and don’t ask for letters of recommendation from teachers at the last minute. Why is this so important? If you spend too little time working on your application, you run a much higher risk of doing the following: Misreading application instructions Forgetting to submit a required (or very important) document/application component Turning in subpar materials, such as a poorly written essay I advise spending at least a few months on your college applications. And while all applications are equally important, it's OK tospend a little extra time on the application for your top choice, if only because it's the school you’re most interested in. Also, don'tbe afraid to ask questions by emailing or calling the school.For example, confused about application instructions? Send an email. Not sure what a "supplementary document" is? Call the admissions department. Better to make sure you’re following the rules than to risk getting your application disqualified because you made a huge (but entirely preventable) mistake. When I applied to Stanford, I thought I’d taken my time to do the application, but I really hadn’t. It was only after I submitted it that I realized I’d made some dire mistakes. Here’s my most memorable: at the time, Stanford allowed applicants to attach supplementary files. So I attached a sample chapter from a novel I was writing to prove my passion for writing.But after submitting my application, I reread the application instructions and realized that chapters of fiction was something Stanford specifically requested applicants to not send in.Oops! Got rejected? It's OK to get a little dramatic. How to Deal With College Rejection: 5 Essential Tips Unfortunately, even if you heed all the tips above, you could still wind up with a college rejection letter.I’ll be honest: getting rejected sucks.But it certainly doesn't mean your academic career (or life, if you're dramatic like me) is over. Here are some ways to cope with a college rejection, as well as options on what to do after you get rejected from college: #1: Give Yourself Time to Process the Rejection This is really, really important. Once you get the dreaded college rejection letter from your top-choice school, it can feel as though the whole world is crashing down around you. I'm here to tell you that this feeling is totally normal.After all, you’re essentially grieving- sounds cheesy, I know. But it's the truth. And when something bad happens, it’s important to take time to let yourself feel sad about it. In this case, even though you likely worked really hard in school, you lost the opportunity to attend the college of your dreams. All of your future plans must change, which sucks.It's OK (and even expected) to be upset about this. Here are some healthy options for coping with a college rejection: Cry (hey, it worked for me!) Spend some time alone to help you get used to the fact that you got rejected Talk it out with close friends and/or family members Distract yourself in positive ways with activities such as video games, homework, hanging out with friends, etc. Commiserate with other rejectees, either in person or on college forums such as College Confidential and Reddit Rip up, shred, or burn your rejection letter (let's be honest: dramatic expressions can make us feel great) Although grieving is important, don’t let yourself get wrapped up in your sorrows for too long. Once you've given yourself ample time to cope, get off the ground and focus on the other options you've got in your life. Also,try not tolet the rejection negatively impact your grades, extracurriculars, and other college applications (if you haven't finished all of them yet). #2: Get Excited About Other Schools While your top-choice school might've rejected you, remember that this is just one school, and you (hopefully) have several others you're applying to or already applied to. These are the schools it’s time to get excited about, regardless of whether you’ve heard back from them. There is a reason you applied to each school you applied to. As you go through the schools you've been accepted to, concentrate on the specific features and opportunities you liked about each school.For example, what inspired you to apply there? Can you envision yourself feeling at home on-campus? What kinds of classes and majors does it offer? Do you like its emphasis on Greek life? What about its awesome football team? If possible, talk to current students at the schoolsso you can start to imagine yourself attending them. Doing this will not only make you excited about your other options but will also prevent you from daydreaming about what might've happened had you been accepted to your top choice. Finally, remember that you will likely be able to study what you want to at these other schools as well. Just because your top-choice school rejected you, that doesn’t mean you still can’t get a BA in Psychology or a BS in Computer Science. Apparently, you can even make your own Disney degree at UC Berkeley! #3: Take a Gap Year and Reapply Later If you didn’t get accepted to your top-choice school, a gap year can help you figure out what kind of education you want in life while also providing you with some interesting experiences (which could potentially strengthen future college applications!). After your gap year, you can thenreapply to your top-choice school, with a fresh perspective and a slightly better understanding of where your application might’ve gone wrong before. While there's nothing wrong with taking a year off before college, be sure you’re actually making your gap year worthwhile.Neither colleges nor your parents will be impressed if all you do is sit at home and play video games all day.Make your gap year an adventure: work a new job, travel abroad, intern at a company, join a community club, learn a foreign language, etc. Hopefully, you’llget experiences out of your gap year that'll help you in the field you want to major in.For example, if you’re thinking about majoring in English, taking a year off to write a novel and submit stories you've written to literary magazines would be an excellent use of your time (assuming your parents are OK with it, of course!). Later, when you begin the process of reapplying to your top-choice school, you can explain in your application what you did during your gap year and why you chose to take a year off before starting college. If you decide to reapply, it's a good idea to use your old application as a reference. Think about where you might’ve gone wrong and how you can improve on it this time (ideally, by incorporating some of your gap-year experiences into it). A word of caution, though: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, don’t expect to get admitted simply because you applied before and now deserve to get in. Admissions is often a brutal process, and nobody (except those on the admissions committee) knows what a college is looking for in terms of applicants. So as you reapply to your top-choice school, make sure you’re applying to other schools as well- ideally, a combination of reach schools and safety schools. #4: Remember That Transferring Is an Option If you decide to attend a different school you got into (which most people do, including myself!), know thatit might be possible to transfer to your top-choice school in a couple of years. While I wouldn’t attend a different college with this exact plan in mind, knowing that transferring is an option in case you still really want to attend your top-choice school should make you feel a little more at ease with your decision to (temporarily) attend a different school. Note that to transfer to a school, you’ll usually need to submit an entirely new transfer application (meaning that it can't be the same one you submitted before when applying as a freshman). Moreover, transferring is not guaranteed.Many schools, particularly the Ivies, accept very few transfers each year. In 2012,Harvard admitted just 1% (15 out of 1,448) of transfer applicants. As you can see, here you actually have a lower chance of getting accepted as a transfer student than you do as a freshman applicant (the currentacceptance rate for which is 5%). If you’re curious about the transfer acceptance rate at your top-choice school, contact your school directly or check out CollegeTransfer.net, which contains tons of data on schools and their transfer rates. In the end, though, who knows what’ll happen? You might end up loving the school you attend and wouldn’t even consider transferring out of it. #5: Consider Challenging the Rejection There is one final option you have when it comes to college rejection, though it’s one I honestly don’t recommend doing:appealing, or challenging, your rejection. Challenging a college rejection is pretty much what it sounds like. When you get rejected, you have the option to tell the college you think they’re wrong and ask them to reconsider your application. So what's the problem? You can’t appeal your rejection simply because you’re upset that you didn’t get accepted. This is not a good enough reason to ask a college to look at your application again. Even if a schooldid agree to reevaluate your application, it's unlikely a second look-through would change their minds (particularly if your main complaint is that they failed to recognize how absolutely incredible you are). Instead, you can only appeal a college rejection if you have any new, significant information to add to your application, or if there was a major error or problem with your application. For example, did you win a big award or somehow dramatically improve your GPA? Then see whether you can appeal the rejection. (Not all schools will let you do this, though!) In terms of technical problems, did your SAT/ACT score get reported incorrectly to your college? Or did your transcript get messed up and show you got Ds when you actually got As? Then appeal the rejection; most likely the college will allow it in this case since the problem is not actually your fault. In some cases, colleges will not allow you to appeal your rejection at all(even if you won the Nobel Peace Prize).In fact, most top-ranked schools don’t allow appeals of admission decisions. If you disagree with their decision, you simply have to wait and reapply the following year. If you’re not sure whether your top-choice school allows appeals or not, look at the school’s official website or contact the school directly. While rare, it is possible to get into a college through an appeal (though it’s admittedly far less likely to get in this way). Here's an example ofa student who got accepted to UC Berkeley through an appeal. Seriously, first a Disney major and now a successful appeal? Starting to think I should've attended Berkeley ... Conclusion: How to Deal With College Rejection After getting my Stanford rejection letter, I cried a lot and talked to my parents. Eventually, I moved on and started to get excited about my other options. I ended up attending USC, where I had a fun, stimulating, and all-around memorable experience- something I wouldn’t trade for the world! Still, getting rejected isn’t fun. Unfortunately, it can be a likely consequence if you’re applying to highly selective universities and don’t have the grades or test scores your school expects. The easiest way to avoid getting rejected from college is to produce the best application you can. For top schools, this means you should typically have the following: A high GPA and a challenging course load Strong SAT/ACT test scores A pronounced spike in your extracurriculars and hobbies A well-written and impactful personal statement If possible,apply early action/early decision to your top-choice school. Applying early raises your chance of admission justslightly,as it highlights your commitment to the school. Finally, make sure to take your time with your application- don’t rush any part of it! Let’s say you do all of this, though, and still get rejected from your top-choice school. Bummer. At this point, you've essentially got five options (which you can mix and match, as desired): Take your time to process the rejection:Find a shoulder to cry on. Talk to family members and friends for support. Scream, "Rejection sucks!" while punching a pillow. Do whatever you need to do (in a healthy way) to make yourself feel better as you grieve. Get excited about your other schools: One rejection shouldn't the be-all and end-all of your academic dreams. Remember that you applied to other schools for a reason, so start to think about what those can offer you instead. Take a gap year and reapply later: For some people, taking a break from school is exactly what they need to feel better and figure out what they want to do with their lives. It can also help you put together a stronger, more versatile application the next time you apply. Just don't expect an automatic acceptance from your top-choice school- more than likely, it'll still be just as hard to get into as it was the first year you applied! Remember that you can transfer later: Though not guaranteed, transferring is an option you might have a couple of years down the road if you still want the chance to attend your top-choice school. Consider challenging your rejection: I don’t recommend this option, but it’s there if your school allows it. Though it’s rare to get in based on an appeal, it’s certainly not impossible! No matter what you choose to do, take care to remind yourself that getting rejected doesn't mean you're a bad student or that your application was horrendous. It just means that the school could only admit so many people, and you happened to not be one of them. Even though the college admissions process can feel like an uphill battle, just know that you're definitely not alone.As we say at my alma mater, "Fight on!" What’s Next? Want more tips for raising your chances of getting accepted to college?Check out our handy admissions calculatortolearn how to estimate your chances of acceptance based on your current GPA and test scores. Need help applying toHarvard and other top schools?This guide coverseverythingyou need to know about getting into the nation's best colleges and universities. Struggling with the application process?We're here to help! Our expert guides teach you how to build a versatile college application,and go over the application timelineto help you pace yourself. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: