You Can't Always Get What You Want

At the gym, I was thumbing through a new issue of Time Magazine.  One of the articles was about college wait-listing.  According to Time, the high school class of 2008, 3.4 million strong, is the largest in American history.  As such, getting into a first choice college is a heck of a lot tougher if you had the misfortune of being born in 1990.

The article went on to offer some tips for wait-listed students, such as “don’t send information (or gifts) to the admissions officer that hasn’t been requested” and “With the exception of applying for financial aid, keep your parents out of the process.”

All the strategizing and rule-following in the world, though, won’t change the reality that 70% of wait-listed students won’t get a spot in the freshman class.  They will have to re-write their plans for the future, and make do with scenarios they might not consider ideal.  This will be a rude awakening for a lot of them, for members of the class of 2008 are also members of the empowered Millennial Generation.  They’ve been told their entire lives that they are special, and that success will come their way because they deserve it. 

In today’s workplace, boomers and Gen X-ers are up in arms over the Millennials’ sense of entitlement.  I happen to like working with these twenty-somethings in most instances, but the volume of SOS calls I get from hand-wringing HR execs doesn’t lie.  That’s why I think this wait-listing phenomena might be a blessing in disguise.  It’s good for kids to learn early that you can’t always get what you want…in business or in life.  But sometimes, you get what you need.

Comments

[Alexandra Levit]

Shirin, you are wise beyond your years. Jumping into something because you think it's what you SHOULD do is a huge mistake, and especially when it comes to something as costly and time consuming as graduate school. I really commend you for taking a step back to consider what you really want, and the best path to get there. Wishing you tons of success!

[Shirin]

I completely agree with your statement that the wait-listing may be a blessing in disguise. While I'm in the college c/o 2008, this past year has been a roller coaster ride trying to find a job. With many of my friends achieving success with the fall recruitment (IB firms, consulting firms, Microsoft, Apple, Google) or with graduate school (Harvard Law, Yale Law, Rush Medical), I chose not to apply for graduate schools nor have I successfully found a full-time position. As nerve-wracking as the ego-blow can get, it forced me to do a lot of introspection on what I *really* wanted to do in the short-term, the mid-term, and the long-term.

So now I have a plan for the short-term, goals for the mid-term, and dreams for the long-term. While it was a rude awakening, I feel like in the end game, not only have I learned that life never does go to plan I'll be a lot more flexible and up on my feet than one waiting for the silver spoon.