...Thanks Mom.
Hahaha.
But she's right. And you know what? It can be a learning experience. Call them! Ask to set up an appointment with your recruiter to talk about what you can do better for next time. Tell them you want to apply again, that you still haven't given up! That shows you're dedicated, and they like that.
Do they make a note on your record about that? I have no idea. But it's worth it to try, right? And this way, you learn for next time.
How many roles did you pick? Which ones? If they are highly competitive and you didn't put that many, that might play into it. I picked 3 or 4 my first time, and wasn't very receptive to adding any more, so that didn't help me at all. All of the ones I picked were reallyyyy competitive (like Photopass only takes about 30 CPs every year, so that's really slim, and I'm not a Hospitality major, so that didn't help me with my #1 role of Hospitality).
You are definitely not the only one to get rejected right out. It happened to me, it happens to other people, but a lot of them don't say it happened, so you don't know about it. Remember, about 15,000 - 20,000 people apply each year, and only 3,000 make it. A lot of them don't even make it past the web interview. And a lot of them aren't on the DISboards. That's probably what it is, in fact. You have a small centralized population of Disney-loving people, so we're an anomaly. The general population, who isn't in the Facebook group and aren't on here, makes up a huge amount of that 15-20,000.
It stinks. I know it does. I was upset for months. It took me a year (and 3 seasons) to finally get in. And I bet I could have gotten in my second season if I hadn't applied so late. In retrospect, thinking about my first interview, I realized a lot of my mistakes, and fixed them for the future ones.
If you really want to do this again, keep a watch out for when applications go up again. For Spring 2011, they'll go up around August/September. If you want to apply for Fall 2011, look around January 20th of next year.
Looking around, it does seem like you're in the minority. But you're really not, so try to keep your chin up. If it helps, take a break from the boards for a while. I know that I stayed on here after I didn't get in, and that didn't help. But then I took a break and came back a few months later, ready for another season of applying.
I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do, and hope you know that you're not alone in this - know there are other people there who are with you, or experienced the same thing in the past. If you want to talk about it more, send me a message. I'll listen.