Just how epic can this get?!

Getting called off the waiting list for professional school was VERY epic!

My story, "Made it by a hair":

My letters of recommendation had been sent out before the deadline to apply, but I didn't submit my application until the last day- the day it was due. Also, the deadline had been extended that year due to the city being flooded and what not. That was the only application that I had filled out, and my odds of getting accepted were 5 to 1 (~850 applicants for 165 seats). Actually, my odds were more unfavorable than that, because I did not go to that school for undergrad, and their students get accepted first due to an earlier deadline.

A few months after I had applied, the school sent a "sorry to inform you" letter with an additional clause about being placed on the waiting list. So... I thought to myself how much of a bummer it was not to be accepted and that I would try again next year. I still kept the wait-listed status in the back of my mind though.

While working that summer, I met several people who had been completely rejected, one person who was also wait-listed, and I knew of only one person who had been accepted. People at work were doubting that the school would call me off the list, which was soooo encouraging ... not!

After graduating with a BA in foreign language that summer (note the new loginID ), I was preparing to start school again that fall to take a few more pre-requisites for the same school (a few of the requirements had changed for the following year) and a different school across the state.

School started at the end of August. I was now a continuing education student, and my classes were full of undergrads. It felt strange to be back at the same school after graduating, but that was life.

Well... After going to class for a week, I got a phone call from the professional school on the Thursday before Labor Day. They gave me the good news- that I had been accepted- and now I had to scramble to get everything together, because school was starting again in five days.

The next day, Friday, just so happened to be the last day that I could drop the undergrad classes. I remember getting a 90% refund- by the grace of God- and being completely exhausted. I had to drop my classes, fill out paperwork all over a large, state school's campus, and drive 80 miles to attend orientation at the other school. I didn't even know that they were having orientation until my friend called that morning and told me about it. Note- the students who didn't attend orientation had to write a two paged paper explaining their absence and negligence.

After I had cleared out my presence at the first school, I had to make a mark for myself at the next school. They required health records with my vaccine history (thank goodness for fax machines), a new, $125 meningitis vaccination, a TB skin test that takes 48-72 hours to be read, a health insurance waiver, and financial aid or an out-of-pocket cost of $18,000 per year.

Somehow I got everything done without losing my sanity. I don't really know how, but I delivered.

*The other person (my co-worker) who was also wait-listed was never called.

Last week, a very good friend of mine migrated to Canada with his entire family.

Click to expand...

and they didn't take me?! I am so not happy. I wanted to go. I was ready - I want my own epic adventure!
Come on. Somebody must want to adopt me.

The epics I've already had are too scary to share. Maybe later.
(make sure the board dries out slowly so it doesn't warp)

Well, maybe not epic - but cool...

My very first job out of college was working on one of the computer board manufacturing lines at a local (big and blue) computer company. My first morning there, waiting for my manager to come and meet me, I sat in the (very nice) lobby watching the receptionist and thinking to myself that she must have had the coolest job in the entire company. It seemed like she knew everyone and everything that was going on, and it looked like - well, like a lot more fun that what I was about to be doing. Man. I wanted her job. I really, really wanted her job. Every time I had to run over to the main building for whatever reason, I really really wanted her job...

Fast forward three years and two jobs later, I'm out of work and looking. As I'm perusing the "Help Wanted" ads in the local paper, I come upon a small ad - a local security company looking for a receptionist. Okay, yeah, I can do that. I send in a resume and lo and behold, I get a phone call for an interview. On with the interview suit and up to their office for my interview. Interview goes well enough that they fill me in on the job, which isn't at their office after all, but at....

The big blue computer company's main lobby.

I'm called back for a second interview. I talk to the people from the big blue company. Everything seems good. I wait for an answer....

And they picked someone else.

The lady at the security company told me not to give up just then, because a lobby on another site might be opening up. I spent the next day and a hall mentally willing the person who'd been offered the job to turn it down, turn it down, turn it down....

Then I got another phone call. The person had turned it down. Was I still interested?

OH YEAH!

And guess what? That job turned out to be just as cool and interesting and fun as I thought ir would be. I was there for a year, until they switched vendors, and then my experience there led to me getting in with one of the other contract companies, and I was on my way up from there.

So yeah, sometimes getting what you asked for really is the best thing that can happen to you.

ETA - and no, the woman who had the job before me didn't get let go. She was transferred to the legal department. So it was a win for everyone.