When Duke University refused to accept Siobhan O’Dell, 17, by sending her a rejection letter, she refused to take it quietly.
The teenager, from North Carolina, had applied to the famous college in her home state, but in March she was sent a letter telling her she had failed. Mirroring the standard format of college rejection letters, she wrote back：“Dear Duke University, thank you for the rejection letter of March 26, 2015. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the fall 2015 freshman class at Duke.”
Her conclusion reads: "Therefore I will be attending Duke University’s 2015 freshmen class. I look forward to seeing you then."
Speaking to a newspaper about the letter, Siobhan said: “They sent me a typical college rejection letter saying this year they had an outstanding pool of applicants... blah, blah, blah. It made me realize how much power universities have over students. High School graduates labor over applications, stress over waiting, and sometimes cry over the answer. Then that’s it.”
“The college has all the power. But what if that wasn’t it? What if we got to treat the college like they treated us? I wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Officials at Duke were unmoved by the teenager’s courage and obvious intelligence. They did eventually respond to her letter, but didn’t appear to share the joke and her sense of humor, instead telling her that “We don’t simply reopen and review the file” and “It’s very rare that we learn something that leads us to change our decision.” While Miss O’Dell’s letter didn’t earn her a place there, it seems to have got the attention of students on campus, and is even set to feature in the college newspaper.
However, all’s well that ends well for Siobhan O’Dell, who has now been accepted by the University of South Carolina. “I’m going to major in biology and I look forward to going to USC this fall.”
35. Siobhan O’Dell wrote to Duke University officials to _________.
A. inform them she would attend Duke anyway
B. express her feelings in a humorous way
C. tease them for the mistake they made
D. demand them to change the decision
36. What was Duke University’s response to her letter?
A. They are moved by her courage and intelligence.
B. They wrote a letter turning her down again.
C. They ran a story about her in newspaper.
D. They promised her to review her file.
37. The underlined word in the second paragraph may be replaced by “_________”.
A. Reflecting B. Commenting C. Criticizing D. Imitating
38. We can infer from the passage that _________.
A. officials at Duke don’t know how to appreciate humor
B. high school graduates are under too much pressure
C. students have little power over admission decisions
D. universities should not reject students’ application