Rejecting a Rejection Letter

A few weeks ago, 17-year old Siobhan O’Dell became known online for her bold and unusual rejection of Duke University’s rejection of her college application.  She wrote:

“Thank you for your rejection letter of March 26, 2015.  After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the Fall 2015 freshman class at Duke.  This year I have been fortunate enough to receive rejection letters from the best and brightest universities in the country.  With a pool of letters so diverse and accomplished I was unable to accept reject letters I would have been able to only several years ago.”

Alas, applying for college does not work like that.  Accordingly, Duke’s response was simply that Ms. O’Dell’s only option is to appeal the decision, but that her chances of a reversal are not good: “If you choose to appeal, we welcome your request, but I do not wish to raise unreasonable expectations on your part,” the university representative writes.

Nice try, though!  It sounds like Ms. O’Dell would do well in a Contracts Law class.