For many hyper-ambitious Asian kids like me, getting into a top school is a major milestone. That is why I applied to elite, world-class schools, such as Stanford University in California, Princeton University in New Jersey, and Columbia University in New York.

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The notion of this dream is derived from the cultural belief that the school you get into will define who you are. In the past, getting into an Ivy League school would change the trajectory of your life, but as time has gone on through the twenty-first century, the value has degraded. Mr. Webber, my Princeton interviewer, said it best: “The value of an Ivy League degree degrades every year due to the elitism that is associated with one.” This did not deter me as I still saw the value in it and its potential for connections. I applied and waited anxiously.

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So then came the anticipated dates of March 27th and 28th; all three elite school decisions came out, and I was ready to open it with my family. In fact, I waited an entire two days until Saturday to open it so they could all watch.

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I started with Columbia. I opened the admission update email, then the portal. I plugged in my password, and then boom: Click here to view updated status. I clicked it. No fanfare, just a long text letter saying I was rejected. Alright, not a big problem, onto the next.

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I typed in Princeton in my email search bar, then opened the Princeton portal. I typed in my password with my heart beating at 130 BPM (yes, I measured it). Click here to view updated status. Another rejection letter.

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I then went to my dream school, Stanford. I typed in Stanford and then opened the portal. Click here to view updated status. With my heart beating, I clicked. Another rejection letter. I was devastated. 

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I worked hard for this and getting in meant a lot to me. I went to eat dinner and went on Instagram afterward. I saw a recommended post by Stanford Class of ‘29 with all these people who got into my dream school. In the post description, they stated their intended major: film studies. Damn, I thought, I could’ve used that spot. 

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Regardless, I trudged on. I started asking ChatGPT questions about schools to cope with my rejection. Then, I realized something. The aggregate of what I’d done—my achievements, my drive, my ambition, and my talent—was never to get into a school. It was for myself and my own success. I never wanted to define myself with a school; I wanted Stanford not for the education, but for the status, people, and network.

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I realize now that the school I attend doesn't matter. In fact, many of the people who attend these schools and dedicate their lives to getting into them don’t follow their passions and won’t be successful in the metrics that I measure.

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Many are mere credential crunchers. Instead of genuinely building something with their skills, they dedicate themselves to titles that depreciate over time. Instead of pursuing greatness, they go down the well-trodden path of consulting. They give pointless advice through PowerPoint presentations and waste their “Stanford” or “Harvard” potential. But the world needs builders, not brand names. The future won’t be built by logos. It’ll be built by outliers. There’s a reason why Zuckerberg, Gates, and the Colison brothers all dropped out.

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Builders don’t require any credentials to do great things. There’s beauty in founders who build something out of nothing. These elite institutions are now credential and status symbols, straying far from their path of providing a great launchpad for incredible people. Stanford has a 3.9% acceptance rate. Of each hundred highly talented seventeen-year-olds that apply, they reject ninety-six. These ninety-six seventeen-year-olds will now go on to build something great themselves outside of these institutions because of this selection process. The institution is defined by the success and drive of the students, not the other way around. 

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The future is no longer built by branded cogs in a machine. The future will be built by ambitious doers who break down doors that have been shut. Instead of focusing on the 3.9% chance of getting in, the greatest founders will focus on the 96.1% of problems which plague our civilization and have yet to be addressed.

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The game of life isn’t defined by your finishing hand but by how much you have won with what you have. I will not throw away my shot at greatness because of a few rejections. I may have lost one hand trying to get into an elite university, but I still have plenty of game left in me to win bigger and to win more.