Cooper told graduates how he tried for months to get an entry-level job at ABC News after college and was rejected. At the time it was crushing, but in retrospect it was the best thing that could have happened. With no one willing to give him a chance, he decided to make his own opportunity — getting a fake press pass made on a Mac, borrowing a home video camera, and sneaking into Burma to cover students fighting the government. His willingness to go to dangerous places cheaply got him hired as a network correspondent far faster than any entry-level path would have.