The girl was born into an average family,
but grew up with extraordinary dreams.
3.99 GPA, captain of the debate team, and profound essays
About finding her voice through the theater department.
But with white skin, two parents, and 1.3 siblings,
she just wasn’t enough.

She should have spent her summers in Africa,
beating away disease-ridden mosquitos with her bare hands,
then writing an essay about gratitude.
She should have spent her Friday nights learning Mandarin;
She was too concerned with earning grades and a 35 on the ACT.
“Not well-rounded,” they said. “We regret to inform you...”

They viewed her application holistically,
after the enthusiastic tour guides, shiny pamphlets, and dazzling websites
all proclaimed “Be yourself!”
She must have not been herself enough.
She forgot to mention that time
she saved a packed school bus full of children from a cliff,
or when she discovered the 3rd Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

So she reads rejection after rejection,
and wonders where she went so wrong.
Why is she not part
of the 1.47% of accepted students?
It’s probably because
she just wasn’t extraordinary enough.