From Three Rejections from Juilliard to becoming the FIRST African-American male to receive an MFA in Drama from The Juilliard School.

Lee Edward Colston, II

I went and I coached with [April] for... months and she kicked my butt. But, in all the right ways you know...she challenged me...the training was really specific, it was compassionate, it was informative, it was intelligent and I think she really helped me to pull of some of my best work.And as a result, I auditioned for 12 different grad programs and got into 11 of them and now I'm at Juilliard.I have no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be [at Juilliard] right now, if not for April.Lee Edward Colston II, Actor/Writer, 2016 Juilliard grad

Posted by Coaching With April Yvette Thompson on Wednesday, June 12, 2013

This is ONE of my rejection letters from Juilliard. My most recent one.

I applied to The Juilliard School 4 times. 3 times as an actor and once as a playwright. 

I was rejected and told 'No' 3 times. As a young actor, I made the mistake of attaching my value and my self-worth to rejection. 

It's not. 

I nearly gave up on one of the most important dreams in my life. My dream to create art and to use it to help people feel seen and understood. 

Sometimes, we let rejection define us. Rejection is not an adversary, it's a guide post. If a door does not open then it may not be your door YET. 

Keep going.

Climb in through the window. Break in through the roof. Sneak in through the basement if you have to. But DON'T QUIT. You're probably much closer than you think. 

Technically, you're only allowed to apply to Juilliard's acting program twice. I was rejected from that program twice. 

I applied again years later. As fate would have it, they created the MFA Acting program which gave me another shot. Now, I'm two months away from being the FIRST African-American male to receive an MFA in Drama from The Juilliard School. 

This lane didn't exist the first two times I applied. 

And as an ADDED bonus, the lovely woman who sent me my rejection letter ended up becoming my playwriting teacher ANYWAY. 

I say all this to say, what's for you IS FOR YOU. GO AFTER IT! Sometimes, we receive rejection because there is something better waiting for us. We just have to be patient and persistent. You can have anything you want in this life as long as you're willing to put in the work.

For everyone out there waiting for a sign to step out on faith and go after what you know in your heart you're meant to be doing. 

This is your sign. This is it. STOP WAITING AND GO DO IT!!!! 

-LC2

​