“You are the coolest kid on planet Earth. Every college is going to want you. They are going to slit throats just to have you attend their university because they can see your potential and know that you are definitely the one student that will forever post their framed logo in the College Hall of Fame. ”

Well, at least that’s what I told myself, right before I received my first rejection from a scholarship program.

Unfortunately, there is no fantasy world that works the way my mind hopes it would be. Regardless of who you are, you are probably going to be rejected from not just one, but several schools. And that is just a part of the college process.

But, you know what? Even though I was rejected, I’m not very sad. My family and friends kept asking me, “How are you doing? Are you okay?” And I was because I know that it isn’t the end of the world!

Even though I am not the perfect applicant and not every school is going to want me, I know that a bunch of them, in fact, will want me, and that this one rejection is not the end of the road. Everyone gets rejected, and it’s something you have to expect when taking the risk to apply for college. I know what will come soon after this: acceptance!

Part of what helped me today was following some sage advice from BlogDailyHerald, originally written for Brown Early Decision applicants:

  • Don’t post a live countdown to the decision on Facebook. It’s a double-edged sword: everyone knows you’re anxious, and the Internet’s a good place to vent your frustration. But if you don’t get in, odds are there will be one nosy person on your profile asking, “Well, what’s the verdict?”
  • Don’t go on College Confidential. I’m not even posting the link to the site here, because I know the temptation’s there as you read this. Going on this masochistic website is a rookie mistake. You’ll gain nothing from it except extreme self-awareness and a conviction that you have no future (spoiler alert: you do!)…
  • Look at pictures of cute animals. Who says animals falling asleep can’t fix everything?

Regardless of what happens, even if not every college is going to want you, you still are the coolest kid on planet Earth. So you’ve got that going for you.

And by all means, don’t let fear of rejection stop you from applying! As they say, “you can’t win if you don’t play.”

 

 

Good luck on getting those applications done for upcoming deadlines! Send any application questions you have to teagan@collegeadmissionsdreams.com.