When 17-year-old Siobhan O’Dell received a rejection letter from Duke University, she didn’t respond by wallowing or pouting. She took action — by responding to the letter with a rejection letter of her own.
O’Dell posted a screenshot of her email (subject line: Rejection of Your Letter) on her Tumblr, where it quickly picked up steam, earning more than 100,000 reblogs.
Behold the brilliant letter:
“I wanted to give colleges a taste of their own medicine,” O’Dell told CBS News. Her goal was simply to make her friends laugh — but then Duke actually ended up responding. She posted a screenshot of the university’s very earnest response.
In the end, O’Dell has one piece of advice to fellow high schoolers dealing with the college admissions process. “Don’t stress too much. It’s not worth it.”
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