I appreciate you taking the time to share that with me! It is always helpful to get an idea of what other people have experienced, and how you decided to do things a little different based on your past experience with applying.
That's awesome that you have that much experience, I think you will do awesome in the program.
I'm definitely feeling a little less bummed now about not getting an invite, if it's not meant to happen for me it's not the end of the world.