Kismet

We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted..

The rest of the heartbreakingly formal rejection blurs as the wave of anguish finally drags Christabel under. It’s not the distant words themself, but her realization that this was the last one. The final and tenth dream school she applied to. Swiping at her eyes, a quick click transports her back to her inbox, where eight other rejections sit, scoffing at her inadequacy. Not to mention the true knife in her side - the fact that her top choice didn’t even deign to send her a response.

As her quiet sobs echo through her study room, her deepest fear is finally confirmed: she simply isn’t enough. Her 98 average cannot compare to Evie’s 100; her measly piano accolades fade in the light of Janie’s music scholarship; and her national debater status diminishes under Lola’s golden plaque. The girl who chose textbooks over boba meet-ups, piano practice over family movies, and late nights over rest was foolishly naive. Too boring to get into her dream universities. Too incapable to make her family proud. Too lacking to achieve her dreams. The whispers of failure in her mind weren’t lies, but a truth she was too cowardly to accept, and now she was paying the price.

A few wracking sobs later, Christabel has poorly composed herself, and begins shutting the lid of her computer when her inbox dings with a new message. Faster than light, Christabel throws open her laptop, heart pounding with fragile, desperate hope. Did her top school finally respond? Did all her work pay off? Yet, to more soul-crushing disappointment, it’s an email from a Professor Jones at her local university, urgently seeking a volunteer lab assistant. Christabel skims the email and scoffs with disbelief, a sour smile gracing her lips. It’s an opportunity she would’ve jumped at a year ago, not because it would allow her to pursue her passion, but because of the way “university research volunteer” would’ve looked on her brag sheet. But now, it’s too little, too late. Especially since, as a quick glance at her clock reveals, it’s already 11:36, and the application is due at midnight.

Yet as Christabel lies in bed later that night, sleep doesn’t welcome as it should. Instead, she remembers her dad’s consoling words when she didn’t get the music scholarship: “You gave it your best shot kiddo. Besides, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The words seem to echo for hours before she finally falls asleep, an errant tear soaking her pillow.

Seven years later

A broken laugh spills out of Christabel’s mouth as she reads the forwarded email titled “You got in!” As Christabel Banks became a household name in biomedical engineering, she made some friends in high places, namely a former university dean who happened to come upon an unsent email. After discovering that it was addressed to his friend, he quickly sent it to her, exclaiming, “I knew we should’ve replaced that admissions officer”. Because, as you might have surmised, 16-year-old Christabel was not the failure she thought she was. In fact, she was one of the few to receive a massive scholarship to one of the top schools in the nation – and her dream school. Yet instead of this wondrous news reaching the talented young lady, it had sat in an admission officer’s drafts for almost a decade, collecting dust. It was not Christabel’s inadequacy that left her unanswered, but the inattentiveness of a young mother, who in her haste to get home, forgot to press “Send”. Yet after a moment, Christabel’s mingling anger and wistfulness fade, as with a laugh and a shake of her head, she realizes she’s grateful for that admission officer’s slip up. After all, if she hadn’t been rejected, she might’ve been able to sleep soundly that night. And if she had been able to sleep, her father’s words wouldn’t have replayed endlessly in her mind, and she might not have woken up, frustrated, and sent off that volunteer assistance application at 11:59.

The next day, a very dejected Christabel awoke to find an acceptance email in her inbox for the very first time, which detailed a surprisingly warm welcome from Professor John Jones. Christabel groans, tossing her head up to the sky. This is why I shouldn’t make impulsive decisions. But only a few days in, she’s fallen in love with science again. A few months later, and Christabel finds herself grudgingly accepting an offer from her local university to continue her work with Professor Jones as an undergraduate student. Then, during independent research a few years later, she finds that sleep evades her once again, this time in the form of a peculiar question. So, she returns to the lab. Over, and over, and over again. Unlike her sixteen-year-old self, this Christabel refuses to back down, not when she knows she’s close. And lo and behold, one morning she makes a discovery that gives her an answer.A discovery that not only sparks new questions, but improves the lives of thousands. A discovery made not in New Haven, Connecticut but in the quiet town of Monson, Maine. Months later, as she shares her research with the world at a renowned science conference, she stumbles into a fellow biomedical engineer – and avid Pokémon card collector – who is fascinated by her work. The sparks between them at a subsequent coffee meet-up soon grow into comfortable banter, and then introspective conversations. Two years (and one very tearful proposal) later, the newly promoted Professor Banks finds herself marrying her best friend – and the love of her life.

So, as Christabel chortles once more, typing “A little late, Harold” with a smirk, she realizes she never needed that university to become the woman she is today. Firmly pushing the “Send” button, Professor Banks stands up and moves to the door, ushering in late students. “Come on now,” she says with a teasing grin, “I thought Harvard students would be more punctual”.