Senior government and politics and information systems major

Rejection can be a b—-.

Sometimes it seems like no matter how much you try or how hard you work, the results don’t match expectations. The months before summer break seem to be the most tense: What if I never get accepted to an internship because I’m so unqualified? What if I end up sitting on my ass all day playing The Sims 3 like last summer? What if I don’t get into graduate school and I actually have to enter the lousy job market?

We’ve all likely been rejected from some sort of summer opportunity and had to face the accompanying anxiety and fear. Take, for instance, this lovely email I received in my inbox Friday morning:

“Thank you for applying for a summer 2013 internship position with [insert Washington think tank]. However, we do not deem your application to be adequate at this time.”

Well, hell. Looks like I’m not even adequate.

Following the rejection, I kept asking myself, “What did I do wrong?” My application was thorough and precise; my interview went well, and my references were solid.

It made me worry for days. I considered all possibilities: Perhaps everyone else had connections; maybe I showed too much cleavage during my interview; maybe they saw my drunk tweet from last week about how much I hate Calypso Spiced Rum.

Truth be told, as much as it sucks getting rejected from your dream summer internship or being told you’re not “adequate” enough for an internship you thought you had sealed, there are plenty of upsides to getting rejected. Sometimes you have to consider them because, in all reality, rejection happens to the best of us. To put you at ease, here are some of the benefits of rejection:

1. Rejection can show you a company isn’t right for you in the first place. For instance, if job recruiters are really such squares that they’re not going to accept you because of your tweet about rum, then do you really want to work with people like that? I don’t know about you, but working with leftovers from the Stone Age doesn’t create the ideal work atmosphere for me.

2. Sometimes firms reject you not because you are unqualified but because they see your interests leading you to a different path. Companies don’t just consider your capabilities of working for them, but their capabilities of matching your interests.

3. Feeling like an outcast can actually bolster creativity. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, feeling rejected “stimulated creativity for people with an independent sense of self” and helped them reach “creative solutions.”

4. Rejection gives you time to find yourself. Rather than dwelling on your supposed flaws, maybe a free and open summer will let you explore options you never even considered during the school year. The best experiences aren’t always planned.

As much as we always want to beat ourselves up after reading a rejection letter, obsessing about the downside of things and focusing on our mistakes doesn’t really help us. There’s an immense difference between realizing you can improve certain characteristics of yourself and hating yourself for having those characteristics. And when we think about people we idolize in the workplace, there’s a huge distinction between saying, “I want to be like her one day” and asking, “Why am I not like her?”

Let’s face the facts: You are a student at a top public university. Opportunities abound, and Washington is at your doorstep. There’s plenty to brag about. You have everything to gain, so don’t let yourself be held captive.

Caroline Carlson is a sophomore government and politics and information systems major. She can be reached at caroline.crlsn@gmail.com.