[Rick Lee]

I remember my own college tour very well. While I didn't know right away when I stepped foot on campus that I wanted to go there, I did usually know right away if that school wasn't for me. At that time I really, really had my heart set on American University and wanted to become a Foreign Service Officer after that. I went to a prep school, had decent grades and my college counselor told me to apply early. I didn't get deferred, I got flat out rejected. I was crushed. And I later got into NYU and Drexel. Go figure it out.

Years later when I moved to the DC area after college, I met a ton of people who went to AU and I don't recall one of them ever saying they liked the place. So I'm glad I didn't get accepted. It seems every huge disappointment in my life later turns out to be a huge blessing in disguise. Oh, and I passed the Foreign Service written exam a few weeks ago.