LOS ANGELES — After months of suspense over their college acceptance decisions, the seniors at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles were much in need of a cathartic event: a college rejection party.
Holding court in the library, clad in cheery pink, stood Lynda McGee, the school's longtime college counselor who has helped thousands of students at her low-income, high-performing high school get into college. Only seniors with letters of denial could attend the rejection party — and they must ritually destroy the bad news in a shredder. The student with the most rejections would be honored with a paper crown and $50 bookstore gift card for having the gumption to try so many times. And everyone would get ice cream sundaes.
First up: the "Caltech shred." Students loudly booed the Pasadena science and engineering institute as four classmates destroyed their rejection letters. "Caltech doesn't deserve you!" McGee said.
