But part of the whole "chosen one" meme is crypto-puberty. The ugly-duckling story is enduring because to some extant, we all go through it. Not every adult is demonstrably "special," but we are all unique and vastly changed since our childhood. For a story of a "non-chosen" one to resonate we would have to see them come out of the other side of the selection process changed. And not merely bitter about not being chosen, but noticeably more adult and improved.

Learning what is is that we're not good at is still learning, albiet of a fairly unpleasent kind. Somebody once said of their elite school experience that it was humbling to discover that one was in the bottom 20% of the top 2%. And yet that is still growth, and need not be an unrelenting depression-fest.