After hours of researching schools, filling out applications, and dreaming of wearing a school’s colors, receiving a rejection letter is a bit of a blow. Why do schools get to reject you? What if you reject their rejection? That’s exactly what 17-year-old Siobhan O’Dell from North Carolina did. Instead of sitting back and throwing back Easter candy, the feisty little lady decided she had nothing to lose by firing back.
“Dear Duke University Admissions,
Thank you for your rejection letter of March 26, 2015. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the Fall 2015 freshman class at Duke.
This year I have been fortunate enough to receive rejection letters from the best and brightest universities in the country. With a pool of letters so diverse and accomplished I was unable to accept reject letters I would have been able to only several years ago.
Despite Duke’s outstanding success in rejecting previous applicants, you simply did not meet my qualifications. Therefore, I will be attending Duke University’s 2015 freshmen class.
I look forward to seeing you then.
Siobhan O’Dell”
Wow. Why didn’t I think of that? I would have gone to UPenn.
Duke, you need a sassy student like Siobhan who doesn’t take no for an answer. Not saying we should start a trend here, but the original rebel deserves your reconsideration. So what if she needed a few more extracurricular activities or barely passed physics? We’ll see you both on move-in day.
*Updated 4/3/2015*
Guess what? Siobhan’s letter got Duke’s attention, so much that they responded to her rejection rejection.
Okay, so they didn’t change their minds, but it is pretty cool that they took the time to respond to the potential student’s letter. Your loss, Duke.
