8. Get into university

Completed: May 8, 2010

The Application:
I submitted my university application on December 12, 2009. I was nervous. I had applied to Western, Huron, McMaster and Laurier. My number one school was Western, I wanted to live on the main campus but getting into Huron would have been nice too. I applied a month before the deadline so that I would have lots of time to get any extra-assignments done. It was a fool proof plan, and I was ready to leave high school forever. 

A facebook status update was obviously appropriate for such a momentous occasion!

The Waiting:
This part of the process was definitely the worst. It took me 4-5 months to hear ANYTHING from the universities I had applied to. There were days where I thought that they had not even considered me and that with the look of my name they put my application through the shredder. Other days where I believed that they were holding my acceptance letter from me to watch me squirm.

I went on this website every day... Nothing was different. Ever.

I was beginning to get impatient and antsy by March when other people had started to receive their acceptances. But I was sure I would get in... Somewhere. I was stressed out all the time, and I probably cried once a week. My poor family had to deal with my emotional roller coaster. They were so patient.
Now let me tell you the golden rule:

Grade Twelve + University Applications = Not For The Faint Hearted. 

The Acceptance:
I got accepted to Wilfrid Laurier University on May 8, 2010. I had just got home from a night out with some great, supportive friends. We had even talked about my university application that night. When I got home at about 1am, I did the usual nightly routine: checking my OUAC. I expected it to be the same as it had been for the last couple months. But next to Laurier's application there was a small word. Offer. I had been accepted. I screamed, danced and jumped in my room. It was a tad ridiculous.

I immediately ran into my parents room and shook them awake to tell them the great news. My mom was terrified. I think she may have thought she was being robbed. I have no idea. But I told her with a huge smile on my face, "I GOT ACCEPTED TO UNIVERSITY!" Her response was, "That's great, hunny..." She rolled over and went back to sleep. I ran back to my room, picked up my phone and called my best friend, Dan. He normally would not be awake, but he had been texting me about 2 minutes prior to my discovery. I screamed through the phone. He congratulated me and told me he was proud of me. Probably one of the best feelings ever. I hung up the phone with Dan and proceeded to text about 20 other people. One of my friends told me to come over to his house so we could write a song together... He was definitely a little drunk. It was also 2am at this point. So, I decided against it. I went to sleep that night with a huge smile on my face. I was sleeping on cloud nine that night.

This was after my orientation session in the summer.

I told everyone who would listen about my acceptance. Which made things even more complicated when life's next hurtle was placed before me...

The Rescinding:

I had received a letter in the mail from Wilfrid Laurier about my offer of admission possibly being rescinded because my average was not in fact 70%, as it had to be to meet the conditions of my offer. I later recalculated it to be sitting at a 69.8333333%. If I had had 1% more in any of my four second semester courses, I would have had 70%. The letter had made me nervous, but one of my teachers in high school assured the entire class that those letters didn't mean much, usually if you just called them, they would fix the issue without any delay. So, I procrastinated calling them until after I got home from my summer vacation. When I called them, the lady on the phone told me that the decision would be placed in the hands of my faculty. My heart was in the pit of my stomach. But there was nothing I could do at this point, summer school was over. I was working full time at Wonderland as a lifeguard.

About a week later, I received an e-mail from the university while I was on break at Wonderland. It was titled "Laurier Offer of Admission".

Dear Julie: 

Now that all final grades., including summer school grades, have been received, the Faculty of Arts has determined that there is no space available. As a result they have decided not to waive the minimum final requirement of 70%. Therefore we will be rescinding your Offer of Admission this week. Please respond confirming your receipt and understanding of this email.

Best wishes in your future endeavours,

Laurier Admissions

My offer had been rescinded. It gave me a phone number to call if I had any questions. A later email told me not to come on the move in day that I had been assigned. I didn't know what to do. Which really means, I cried. I called my dad's cell phone and he didn't answer. Brittany had just come home from China a few days before, so I called her. This was the moment that I was probably most grateful for our friendship. She told me everything would be okay, to stop crying because she knew that I was, to get through the rest of my shift and to call her later. I'm pretty sure everyone who walked by me thought I was insane. Crying at work.

After my break was over, I went back to guarding. Luckily, I was on one of the easiest positions because it took everything inside of me not to break down. Every couple of minutes, I could feel the tears coming up. I went home that night, extremely discouraged. My parents were waiting for me when I got home. I got big hugs and words of encouragement. They told me that I didn't need to tell anyone why I wasn't going to school in the fall, I could just say that I'm taking a year off. I decided that that was best. I then called my other best friend, Dan, who I had called when I got the acceptance. He was just as shocked as I was. He too was very supportive.

What Now?
People still ask me why I'm not in university, sometimes I say that I decided to take a year off and to others I tell them this story. I often reflect on all the things I could have done differently to be where I wanted to be right now. But I know that there is nothing I can do now, and I just have to live with the consequences of my actions (or lack thereof). 

Shannon and I at our high school graduation. 

I still count this as accomplishing my goal, because I did get in. I had even picked my courses! I ended up taking a night school course and upgrading my english mark to an 83%. Even though I haven't gone to university, I know that getting an education is the most important thing that anyone can do. So I still plan on going to university... But it's not going to be done at Wilfrid Laurier University.