lisafx,
Thanks for your reply and insight into the MS world.  I misspoke when I said I was taking classes (plural).  There is an (one) online class offered by Brian Peterson's PPSOP titled Maximum Profit from Microstock World that I am currently taking.  I have taken several photography classes, mostly at the college level, over the years, and I have taken two from PPSOP.  I frankly was impressed with the quality of instruction and decided to give this MS class a chance.  Let's hope it does not end up being a waste of money.  I am here on this forum at the urging of the instructor of this class and I have found it to be very useful and informative.  I find MS to be a photography challenge and continue looking forward to it.  Rejects frankly don't bother me that much as long as I can learn from each one.  Sorry to be so chatty....Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to reply to this newbee.  Any and all advice and comments continue to be very welcome.
~lsanford1939

Just a follow up.  It seems my post was interpreted as my being upset because my work was rejected.  I have only submitted the three initial images to iStock for getting approved by them to be able to submit my work.  As it turned out, they wanted additional samples, indicating the initial submission was not the quality wanted by them.  I am a Newbee.  I am working on developing a portfolio and currently doing research and taking a class in microstock before I jump too deeply into the water.  My question evolves from reading several forum posts and subsequent replies, where it seems to me that it is normal, and perhaps routine, to have work rejected when initially applying for a MS account prior to submitting images.  Does this seem to be the norm for those who are getting their feet wet in MS?