How two uni rejections set me on a path of self-discovery

In my final year of school, I applied for my dream course at my dream university, just like many of my classmates. But as the deadline approached to hear back from our prospective institutions, my friends all got their places in Edinburgh doing medicine, languages, and geology - while I was left waiting to hear back from the English Literature department…

Finally, on the day of the deadline, I had an email from UCAS with a big red cross next to the University of Edinburgh. I hadn’t got in. And I was devastated.

But it’s okay - no need to panic, I told myself. I’m doing a gap year anyway and plan on working and travelling and gaining lots of new experience. I’ll apply again next year with lots of new things to put on my personal statement, I continued to tell myself.