Rejected From Your Dream College: Things You Should Do

Being rejected is obviously stressful and upsetting. You might be so frustrated that you don’t really see the point of going to another college. You might even be disappointed in yourself. But wait! This blog post will definitely help you overcome stress and negative emotions as well as provide you with some tips on what you should do next.

Everything Happens for a Reason

You probably don’t feel like it right now but eventually, everything will be perfectly okay. And you should understand a few things about getting a rejection:

• Every downfall of yours teaches you a lesson and allows you to grow. Now you can critically look at yourself, your application, and the way you acted during the interview if you had one. This is your chance to learn from your mistakes and polish your skills for another chance.
• It might turn out to be for the best. There are so many examples of people going to another college, another job, finding another partner, and gaining much more than they could have imagined. You never know how it turns out in the end, so don’t be hard on yourself.
• The rejection often has nothing to do with you personally. It just happens so to be the college low acceptance rate or high competition, especially when you are applying to a top-tier college. Does it mean that you are not good enough? Absolutely not!
• You can still choose. Not going to your dream college might feel like now you have no choice or no opportunities. But it is actually completely opposite – you can take your time to choose from other options and maybe find even something better. You can also take a gap year or give yourself some time to think of what you really what to do with your life. It’s all up to you.
• You surely get an experience that makes it easier for you to navigate through life. Rejections are hard to take but they happen all the time. One might face it earlier in their life, while others quite later but eventually everyone does. So, just remind yourself that this experience made you stronger and it is completely tolerable.

So, if you got rejected, try to stay calm and follow our easy tips on what you should do in that case.

Don’t Just Blame Yourself 

Failing is not a big deal, but treating yourself like a failure is. Blaming yourself and self-pitying will not change the situation but will make it way harder to learn from it. 

Think of it this way – they don’t know you and their decision doesn’t define you. It also should not make your achievements seem worthless. You know what you are capable of and you know what you went through to be the person you are now. But they don’t know and they simply do their job – picking candidates from the long list of other people. 

Focus on working harder and doing your best instead of putting all the blame solely on yourself. Things like this happen to the best of us and it should not affect your aspirations and ambitions. 

Try distancing yourself from rejection, don’t take it too personally. Many other students were also rejected just like you and all of them are different, vibrant people no matter what. It doesn’t put you in any sort of category of people and it should not make you stop believing in yourself.

Tell Your Parents

Many students prefer to hide the fact that they were rejected by a college. It happens due to fear of disappointing someone or being punished. But hiding the truth isn’t the option – they still would know. Why hide this fact when it will only make the situation worse?

You can also talk to someone at school, for example, your academic advisor or career counselor. This might give you some optimism you need right now and some good advice on other options worth being considered. 

If you have an opportunity, talk to a psychology specialist at your school as it might help you calm down and cope with excessive stress as it is what you really need right now.

Decide What You Will Do

There are a few options in the case of rejection:

• Writing a letter of appeal. If you still want to fight for the spot in your dream college, you can appeal and hope for the best. It’s not always effective but if that is what you want, go do it. You can write a letter of appeal to highlight some of your strengths; add something that you might have not included in your application, like some sort of achievement or an extracurricular that you have forgotten of; show your interest in the school and your willingness to fight for it. Such letters might be a powerful tool, so it’s worth trying.
• Going to another college. If you feel like you can find another college that is fine enough for you to be studying at, just go for it. You can also consider transferring to your dream college later – you will probably have such an opportunity after a year or two of studying in another college.
• Taking a gap year. A gap year is a time that many people have fond memories of. It’s a year when you can try yourself in different careers, find a new hobby, travel, or make new friends. It all depends on your financial situation, so make sure you have some spare options in case you need to take care of yourself or get prepared for a future college loan.

Don’t make your final decision while you are still in the eye of an emotional storm. Take some time to get calm and have a clear head to weigh up all the pros and cons.

And that’s it! Keep calm, carry on and never stop believing in yourself while EssayTigers will make sure to help you with yours studies.