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In today's Upworthiest, one Harvard applicant rejects their rejection, a wealthy maharaja saves 1,000 kids during World War II, seven things you've been told are required that absolutely are not, and the results of the poll question that got more of you to vote than anything we've ever asked.
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In 1981, A Harvard applicant was rejected. He responded with an epic letter rejecting their rejection. | ||
“…it is with great regret that I must inform you I am unable to accept your rejection at this time.” | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
It’s no shocker that it’s incredibly tough to get into Harvard. Currently, the school has a 3.6% admission rate, allowing around 2,000 new students in a year out of around 50,000 applicants. Competition is only getting harder with more international students challenging U.S. applicants, not to mention some students getting professional help to craft the perfect application. | ||
Getting rejected from your school of choice is hard, but back in 1981, one applicant didn’t take his failure lying down. Instead, Paul Devlin fired back at Harvard by rejecting their rejection letter. | ||
He came up with the idea after noticing there was a typo in the letter, and he wouldn’t let that stand. “When I was a senior in high school, I noticed that the rejection letter I received from Harvard had a grammatical error. So, I wrote a letter back, rejecting their rejection letter. Then I sent a version to all the colleges that had rejected me,” Devlin said, according to Snopes. | ||
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A rich maharaja took in 1,000 Polish kids during WWII, recreating their home on Indian soil | ||
Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja gave them not just food and shelter, but a chance to be kids while retaining their identity. | ||
By Mark Wales | ||
When hundreds of Polish children arrived in India’s Nawanagar state during World War II, they had already been driven from their homes, survived Soviet labor camps, and lived through years of uncertainty. The war had stripped away school, friends, and the everyday routines most children naturally build their lives around. | ||
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the children’s journey had begun years earlier. Following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland in 1939, thousands of Polish families were deported to labor camps scattered across Siberia and Central Asia. After the 1941 Sikorski-Mayski Agreement allowed many Polish civilians to leave the Soviet Union, some eventually made the long journey south to India. | ||
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Consider this your sign that it’s not too late.
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People reveal how much happier they are after ditching these 7 so-called ‘required’ things | ||
“I find such peace in not forming opinions about a lot of things.” | ||
By Mark Wales | ||
There can be a lot of pressure to do what our communities and peers expect of us. Some people find absolute bliss by letting go of peer pressure. Imagine the joy in doing less of what is “required” and more of what’s right for you. | ||
A question was posed in a recent r/AskReddit thread: “What’s something you didn’t realize was optional in life until you saw someone simply not doing it?” Comments ranged from common-sense opinions to valuable life lessons. It’s a curious thought about what things we might be engaging in that aren’t actually serving us. Perhaps you will remove a few of these from your behavioral patterns. | ||
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An Upworthiest Poll
Which so-called life requirement would you drop tomorrow?
Yesterday’s Results
In yesterday’s issue, we shared the story of a teacher who was fired for giving out zeros to kids who, well… earned zeros.
We asked you: A student turns in nothing. What should the gradebook say? Nearly 65% of you think a zero should earn a zero.
A zero. Nothing earns nothing (64.4%)
A 50, so one bad week can't sink the semester (0.9%)
Incomplete, until the work shows up (24.2%)
Depends entirely on the kid and the circumstances (10.5%)
The comments were nearly unanimous in this, our most popular poll ever. Upworthy reader Mason Tempus seemed to capture the mood. “Actions have consequences. Inaction can also have consequences. Would the same student, later in life, expect to be paid for work s/he’d not done?”
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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis admit they rarely bathe their kids, or themselves | ||
Like it or not, science may be on their side. | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
Celebrities: they’re just like us! Well, not always. Take Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, for example. Their wealth and fame aren’t the only things about them that have some people struggling to relate. | ||
Here’s why: The water bill at the Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis residence appears to be pretty low after revelations the couple made about their family’s bathing habits. | ||
In a 2021 appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, they admitted they’re not that into bathing themselves or their two children, Dimitri Portwood and Wyatt Isabelle, who are now 9 and 11. The conversation started when Shepard explained his ongoing disagreement with co-host Monica Padman. The two have dissenting views over whether people should use soap. “You should not be getting rid of all the natural oil on your skin with a bar of soap every day,” he said. “It’s insane.” | ||
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