A graceful admission to university of choice

Rini Jain, December 2020
My mom got connected to Guruji in April 2014. After witnessing her devotion and faith, I got connected as well. Last year, in my senior year of high school, I had need of all that faith when I began applying to colleges and awaited their decision. The application process is difficult and time consuming, but harder than that is waiting for the results, which are released in March and April. The results rest around one vital score: the students' GPA or SAT numbers, for which they work extremely hard.

The college I ardently wanted to go to was California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), a great engineering school, where I wanted to major in computer engineering. After four months, I began hearing from the colleges I had applied to but not from this University. Checking the portal for updates, on Thursday, April 19, I saw that under the admissions category the site said "Waitlisted" against my name. I felt a mix of emotions. I was not rejected, but neither was I accepted and I still had to keep waiting.

Waitlisted students generally hear about a university's final decision towards the middle of May. Most who are selected straightaway decide which university they want to go to by the beginning of May. However, four days after I was waitlisted, on April 23, I was denied admission. I was shocked but confused. Cal Poly Pomona couldn't have released its decision just days after putting up a student on the waitlist.

I talked to my mom and we called the office of admissions. Their office double and triple checked their records, but said I had never been on the waiting list. The representative of the University's admissions office said that they had sent out emails of their decisions 15 days ago, but I told them that I never received an email and explained what had happened. We were told that we could still appeal to the office of admissions and the University would get back to us in two weeks.

Luckily, we were still in time to appeal, and I wrote quickly to the University about what had happened, how much even "Waitlisted" meant for me, and drove up to the school to submit the written appeal. I also went through my emails with a fine toothcomb. I found the rejection email the University had sent to me in my junk email folder. Every other college email that I received had gone to my inbox!

Guruji had intervened to save me from disappointment. Since the email declining admission had gone to the junk folder, I did not get upset. Instead seeing myself waitlisted in the University portal for just that one day emboldened me to ask the University to reconsider my case. And, a few weeks later, by His grace, I received an email admitting me to Cal Poly Pomona.

Guruji was there with me and watching over me the entire time. I believe this entire process portrays how Guruji has His own ways to take care of His devotees, and we just need to be patient and grateful for His grace. We do not realize it, but everything that happens or happened in our life is due to His grace, for which I am extremely thankful.

Rini Jain, a devotee

December 2020