It Only Takes One

HEADS UP: I posted a pretty big announcement on YouTube. Go check out the channel if you want to hear about it.

This last week, EconTwitter was abuzz with economists sharing the schools they had been rejected from. I think the intent was to assure students ahead of PhD admissions decisions, which will be released over the next two months. My favorite response was from Khoa Vu.

Khoa Vu @KhoaVuUmn

It is nice to see so many economists got rejected at the top PhD programs like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and still got in really good programs like Yale, Stanford, Harvard and MIT.

I did not post my school rejections (I took a week off twitter and actually got things done, so I saw this after all of the tweets had been posted). But I am exactly what Khoa described. I was rejected from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Berkeley, and every other school I applied to. But I was accepted at Yale, which was one of my top choices anyway, so I was happy.

While I was receiving my rejections, I was reminded of a comment from Tim Tebow. He was an American football quarterback and an incredibly strong athlete in college. He was the first sophomore in history to win the Heisman award, the biggest accolade in college football. He set multiple records and led his team to a string of successful seasons.

Yet when he decided to become a professional football player in 2010, there were many who raised doubts. Many football analysts questioned whether Tebow's skillset could translate to the NFL. As the draft approached, it was clear that he was not a hot pick. None of first teams to pick were expressing interest. Surely, some team would take a risk on him, but he was not going to be the one everyone wanted.

And Tebow took it in stride. As all of this unraveled, the media asked him how he felt. His response was, "I want to be a professional football player. I don't need every team to want me. I just need one. As long as one team drafts me, I'm a pro."

That stuck with me. When I was getting rejected from schools, I adopted the Tebow philosophy. I didn't need every school to accept me. I just needed one, and I was on my way to getting a PhD. Then, when I applied for jobs as a professor, I was not getting many interviews. I applied to about 100 schools, and 99 turned me down. But I got a job from one. And that's all it took for me to become a professor. One school.

Maybe you're at a similar point in life. You're waiting for schools to get back to you, or you're thinking about applying. Maybe you're trying to get a job. Whatever it is, do not be focused on whether everyone wants you. There are too many random factors that influence whether you get that position. All it takes is one offer, and you're on the path.