Campus Conversations

rejection

April 7, 2011

undergraduate research 1. undergraduate research: students work side by side over the summer on campus with professors.  they live on campus and get a stipend.  impressive, fun, productive. 2. for-credit research: students can work along side a professor and help them with research and receive credit for it. prettyyyy sweet. 3. richter: students come up with a proposal to research whatever they want, almost wherever they want.  they come up with a topic, meticulous budget and day-to-day itinerary, and contacts.  its an 8-month application process, but if you are approved, you get to spend 6-8 weeks abroad and oxy pays for all of it. ding ding, winner i spent a large part of the last 8 months sweating over the richter: a grueling application to go to london this summer.  given the transparent title of this blog, i didnt get it.  i read the rejection letter and cried as my heart broke.  like most students here, i dont take rejection too well. BUT: despite my temporary depression, i got over it.  am i upset? um, duh.  but im young, and i can apply again.  not many people are in the position im in: i can try again.  i can take my rejection and grow from it.  maybe its the subtle remainder of my religiosity, but i really believe everything happens for a reason. oxy offers many many opportunities to go abroad, conduct research and a combination of both (thats the icing on my cake of tears and sorrow). swish and flick