<p>I really don't want to be another "Woe is me, life is so hard" whiny brats who complains about being rejected from colleges.</p>
<p>But at some point, after 5 rejections from top schools and expecting 4 more rejections, I have to wonder where on earth I went wrong.</p>
<p>I killed myself trying to get the top grades, made myself sick taking the SATs, forcing myself to recheck every answer for a section until the proctor said "time", forced myself to be involved in loads of extra-currics, community service, etc etc etc. </p>
<p>I wish I hadn't been so eager to apply to the 'known' schools - Stanford, Ivies, etc. I wish my couselor hadn't told me I could expect all the UCs as shoe-ins, and I wish I had the brains to know enough that that just couldn't be true.</p>
<p>As thousands of others have experienced, I was rejected, from a dream school. The school I'm most likely going to is a good, solid UC (Irvine). There's nothing wrong with it. But I feel like a total failure. So many of us worked so hard these past 4 years, only to be told we're not good enough. I entered my high school hating it, seeing it as a reject choice (everybody gets into it, and I mean everybody). I grew to love it, and I know I'll love Irvine after a while. I know transferring is an option, although I'd really rather not go through the process. </p>
<p>But how do you stop that ache in your chest knowing you just weren't good enough?</p>
<p>Aww, pamplemousse, I feel the same way, and I'm sure thousands of other high school seniors do too. You just have take on each day and live with the pain of rejection until it diminishes into nothingness (this took like 2 months after my EA deferral for me). I wish I had better advice D:.</p>
<p>pamplemousse25 I have been rejected by two colleges so far and each rejection feels like u r being punched in the stomach and then getting laughed at by the people at the particular college and it is a HORRIBLE feeling. You have to remember that maybe it is a sign that u will be happier somewhere else (in this case UC-Irvine). You have to remember that you contro0l your own destiny. Use your rejection letters as motivation to work exremely hard in college and to make all of your dreams come true. YOU CAN DO IT! Success is the best revenge! :)</p>
<p>Awww, it's okay, I promise. I know it's hard. I got a lot of bad news last night and I've been depressed.</p>
<p>All it takes is one bit of good news, though, I've found. If even one of the schools you're waiting on sees something in you and says yes, it will feel so good, especially after experiencing a fair amount of rejection. And even if it doesn't happen, you're going to a great school already. Work your ass off there. Do everything you can to get what you want and make yourself happy. Prove that you're every bit as good as those kids who got into the Ivies.</p>
<p>Thanks. I'm doing better now, at the "they must be pretty stupid for passing up on me, they don't see my potential, their loss" stage. But yeah, I can't wait to just enroll in my school and buy a bunch of their logo-clothing. That should help.</p>
<p>The worst feeling is when your best friend gets into a college you both mutually want to go to. You check your notification and find out you were rejected, they instant message you and ask if you got in. And you just sit there. Staring at your screen. Waiting for DENIED to morph into ACCEPTED. It never happens, and you slowly type "I...didn't...get...in."</p>
<p>You shouldn't feel like a failure. You sent in about five or six pieces of paper attempting to summarize who you are as a person. How can your whole being and self be contained within a college application? It can't. It's a flawed process, but we must live with it. All of us on CC are sure that you will bloom where ever you are planted.</p>
<p>I know someone who is really upset about not getting accepted at UCIrvine. I am so surprised, myself, about it. So it's all a matter of perspective. You, to this student I know, would look like you're sitting on top of the world right now.</p>
<p>Which is not to say you don't get to feel really bad about those non-acceptances. It is pretty awful news to get and that's a fact. But, you have a terrific school to go to next fall.</p>
<p>Don't wonder where you went wrong in high school. I'm sure it was nothing like that, but it is a good lesson you have to offer the other students and parents here about not getting too attached to a specific (probably over-hyped) outcome and feeling like a lot of what we do is to attain that outcome, rather than the intrinsic value in doing it just to do it.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, you did get good news in getting accepted to Irvine. And not meaning to suggest that isn't good enough news in and of itself... but you do still have applications out there you haven't heard back on yet. So be happy, and be ticked off, and be in the present... you have a great adventure ahead of you!</p>
<p>
[quote]
The worst feeling is when your best friend gets into a college you both mutually want to go to. You check your notification and find out you were rejected, they instant message you and ask if you got in. And you just sit there. Staring at your screen. Waiting for DENIED to morph into ACCEPTED. It never happens, and you slowly type "I...didn't...get...in."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I could not agree more. It's hard not to be envious...even if it was your best friend.</p>
<p>I feel like crap considering I just got three rejection letters all today. I've been rejected from five so far, the other four are coming to kill me soon I bet. I just wish I realized about all this college and school stuff before. I didn't realize it was important until junior year and I even started looking at schools a little bit into senior year... I was goofing around every year until junior year and it obviously didn't help. And I fooled myself by saying "hey why not apply to 'known' schools, I would get into one right?" (same as you pample) Just a great day for me.</p>
<p>About the friend thing - none of my friends applied to anything other than UCs (to be sure, they're all good). So when I tell them I didn't get in, it's sort of like...’oh. ok. Did you watch that great tv show?!’</p>
<p>But I feel for you all. The whole process is so demeaning. Ranks and hype and everything push aside all the wonderful, less known schools, and, as it did for me, make it seem like the end of the world not to get in. I have a hard time doing it, but we have to trust that we're going to go somewhere where we'll meet great friends, teachers, and learn amazing things.</p>
<p>"Shakespeare is still Shakespeare, whether it's at Oxford or a CSU"</p>
<p>Not exactly the quote I remembered, but it's true. Thank you all for your kind words; I was really expecting a bunch of gloating, or being told I should've known better.</p>
<p>And yeah, wonderboy, it seems like such a great idea. Plus, on television, people seem to get accepted into them fictitiously so easily! Gilmore Girls with Yale...well all the references I have are for girly shows, but yeah, I feel like it really tricks students into knowing what's real and not.</p>
<p>I wish someone had told me not to get too attached to a school, because when you get that letter in the mail and you're not in, it feels like you've been hit with a sack of bricks.</p>
<p>On one hand, it does work. I was able to laugh at UCLA because I refused to tour the campus. The first time I was just being immature and threw a hissy fit because I wanted to visit Disneyland, and the second time I was doing my best to protect myself.</p>
<p>But either way, a rejection feels like a stab in the arm every time. I got rejected from a top school that I knew I didn't even want to go to, and I was still upset about it. It brings down your self moral to hear that someone in the world thinks you're not good enough, even though it isn't the case. </p>
<p>It's probably now that parents are realizing how fragile their kids truly are. I know my dad does.</p>
<p>I got three rejections from NYU, Boston College, and UCB all yesterday. I got into three of my safties, SUNY Bing, CUNY Baruch honors, and Indiana University Bloomington. I worked hard to keep a decent average, and i felt like a failure, for being rejected. I want to major in business, and my mom wants me to go to CUNY baruch honors because it's in the city, so i would be able to intern. I don't really want to go to a cuny though, although they offer free tuition and a laptop. I felt all those nights that I stayed up late in order to keep a good record of homework is not really worth it. All those times that I worked hard to earn my grade is really pointless. If I am to go to those schools, then I could have just slack off and still get into those schools. I'm just really irritated that I worked for nothing.
Still waiting for UMich, UMD, Cornell, CMU, UVA, and Notre Dame. Judging from how NYU and Boston college rejected me, i most likely won't get in. As for Umich, I handed in the application so late that I'm probably not getting in either.</p>
<p>I feel the same way. I worked so hard but I've only been accepted at safe matches (and one reach, yesterday, which I'm excited about) but other than that, I feel like a failure for being rejected @ so many places.</p>
<p>Hey, everyone, don't let this lousy system define you. You are not failures! You are smart and talented and have lots to offer this world. Where you go means much less than what you, personally, bring to the school. The schools that accepted you are very lucky to have you and one day, in the not so near future, you will look back and realize it was for the best. I know it's easy for me to say, (it was much easier when i was your age) but trust me, the older you get, the more you will realize that things happen for a reason and it will all work out in the end.
Keep your chin up and be proud!
Know that you are not alone. Many parents, not just your own, are cheering you on. Do something fun this weekend! You deserve it.</p>
<p>no joke, I was rejected from my top choice, which I braced myself for because it is known to deny steller applicants.</p>
<p>What stings was the waitlist at a school which I felt I (alongside my overly paranoid counselor) could get into. THAT, feels bad, especially when you are double alumni you ask yourself "What's wrong with me? Am I that bad of an applicant?" It feels like the things I've done : a Best in category at ISEF, several state level science awards, student council vice president all went to waste. Knowing that Ivy day won't go well I am planning to go to a school known at my school as am ultimate backup, especially for the slackers. I could have gone there by not working twice as hard as I did in high school. I know prestige and name shouldn't matter, but it stings when my peers are attending NW, HYPS, Dartmouth, etc and I'm going to "the easy school". God I wish I applied to more schools :-\ ugh i fail</p>