Jake sat, reclined in his computer chair, thinking, contemplating with all his might. Sighing, he got up from the chair and started to head down to the kitchen. “Maybe food will get this thing off my mind,” Jake said out loud as he entered the kitchen to no one in particular, seeing that he was the only one home. After grabbing his usual chips and a soda, he plopped down on his couch, flipped the television on, and began munching away on his snacks. To Jake’s despair though, he distracted his body with the pizza flavored deliciousness that was his chips, but his mind was still running full steam ahead. And unfortunately he wasn’t thinking about sunshine and puppies, no Jake’s thoughts were made of horribly crushing, depressing things.


He was a senior in high-school, captain of the swim team, and a mostly A, sometimes B+ student. None of this mattered though, because he still couldn’t find a college to accept him. It was getting quite ridiculous. Jake understood when Yale didn’t accept him, because you know, it’s Yale. Ivy school don’t have time to mess with kids from a second rate public high school in the middle of scenic nowhere. It didn’t exactly help that Jake would’ve needed financial help if he did manage to squeak into Yale somehow. And maybe, just maybe, Florida State didn’t want people from out of state. But Washington State, Jake’s home state university, didn’t want him? That’s ridiculous! They let anyone who isn’t a Neanderthal in, and the part about not letting Neanderthal’s in was questionable. But still, Jake was certainly good enough to get into the college, so why didn’t he?


Now Jake wasn’t paranoid about college just to be paranoid, he had a legitimate reason to be worried. Or at least he thought he did. Way back in the 1980’s, when his parents were both about to graduate high-school, they both decided college was useless. So instead of going to the very prestigious universities both got accepted to, they decided to go eloping then start a modeling business. The modeling business failed in less than a year, just like their music store and their “innovative” pillow remote business. After their last business idea failed seven years ago they both were forced to work two full-time jobs each to pay the bills and feed their now five kids, Jake being the oldest at 18.


Jake kept trying though, and kept on getting rejected. Soon he was only left with one school to apply to, MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it was his absolute dream school. It’s the place where everyone or mostly everyone anyway, is a nerd. His future where he was at least somewhat successful depended on him getting in, and that terrified him. If he failed, that would be it, Jake might as well write his McDonald’s application on the back of the rejection letter.

He couldn’t let that happen, not to him. He wasn’t going to be the one to make failure genetic. In fact, Jake decided that he was going to start his essay right now, no more excuses, no more feeling sorry for himself. His application was going to be so perfect, they’d just have to let him in. So with a renewed sense of optimism, he quickly ran upstairs to get started, deciding as he bounded up two stairs at a time with an intensity he never felt before that he was most certainly would succeed. No ifs ands or buts about it.


Fast forward two days. Jake’s watching as his mailman takes away his application. His last application was now out of his hands, now dependent upon whether his high school specs were good enough, his essay’s grammar, and other things that he may or may not have seriously messed up. Those four or five pages pretty much determined the rest of his life.

He couldn’t wait for it all to be over, acceptance or rejection, Jake just wanted to this emotional bull-ride to be done. To just be able to move on with his life was all he wanted, and after he was processed through MIT’s application center he could. Father time stood in his way as he waited, but seeing as you can’t bend time Jake had to wait. And wait he did for nearly six weeks.

One month and half later, as Jake was checking the mail for what must be the third time that day, he finally hit the jackpot, maybe. He found his MIT envelope, and surprisingly he found another envelope addressed to him from a college called Bloomsburg University. “That’s weird, I don’t remember applying to there,” Jake said as he shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever, I guess it can’t hurt my chances” as he looked at the two college logos, silently wishing he could go back in time just ten or fifteen minutes. All he wanted for the past month was to know, and now that he could know, he didn’t want to. Before today he could dream and hope that he will get in. Now there was no hoping, just the cold, hard truth he held in his hands.

Sitting down in the grass, Jake decided he should open the Bloomsburg letter first. So, shakily he ripped open the letter, revealing the logo and the first line, ‘Dear Mr. Jake Bolger,’. He pulled out the letter that would define his future. Jake yelled a, “NO!” that could be heard for miles. He didn’t get in. All his hard work was crushed. He ran inside, forgetting everything about MIT, thinking that if he couldn’t get into such a small, insignificant school that he forgot about, he probably couldn’t get into MIT anyway. So there the unopened MIT letter sat in the grass, long forgotten by Jake.

It sat there until it was time for school Monday morning when Jake was walking out to his car. Seeing it there brought back everything Jake felt . He felt the dread, the nerves, just pure fright. Jake dropped his books and picked up the envelope. It was a little wet from morning dew, but other than that it was fine. Holding his breath, he slowly opened the letter and pulled out the letter. “Mother of God,” Jake whispered to himself, “Simply amazing.” Although he had rough patches, he never let his dream die, and now he was going to college. And he wasn’t going to just any university, he was going to his dream college. He was going to be successful, he was going to have a good life, and he wasn’t going to be a nobody.

Jake went back inside, strutting like he owned the place. “Mom, I’m taking the day off, I got stuff to do,” he hollered as he ran upstairs and sat in the same chair he sat six weeks ago. Just a mere six weeks ago he sat in this very same place thinking horrible things about his future. Now he had no doubt in his mind, he was going to be just fine. Everything was going to work out, and even if it didn’t, he could handle it.