When My Alma Mater Didn't Want My Daughter

By ERIKA J. WATERS

My daughter's rejection letter from New York University this spring was compassionate by any standard. It explained that out of 36,000 applicants, only 4,000 had been accepted — which means that a population the size of Fairbanks, Alaska, had received the same letter that day. I hoped that fact would comfort her.

But while she moved on to other letters, both positive and negative, I was not comforted; NYU was my alma mater, after all, where I had received both a B.A. and M.A. in English. As I held her rejection letter in my hand, I felt a seismic shift, as the warm and fuzzy feelings I had held toward the university for so many years underwent a profound realignment.