<p>What can I do to cheer up my friend who got rejected from her top choice? She's really sad right now...although she got into other good schools, she had her heart set on this one. I was accepted to that school, so I don't want to make things worse...but I really want her to cheer up and see the brighter side of things!</p>
<p>Any ideas? :)</p>
<p>Time, give her time. Don't try to cheer her up, rather accept her grief and the fact that her dream died today. Acknowledge her disappointment, disbelief and utter despair. In time she will move on, find a way to celebrate with you and make plans for her "new" school.</p>
<p>tell her to take break year and reapply next year (hopefully getting in!)</p>
<p>i baked my best friend a cake to make her feel better.
i think its just gonna take time, its only been 2 days...for her at least.</p>
<p>
[quote]
tell her to take break year and reapply next year (hopefully getting in!)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No one should ever listen to Paul -- EVER.</p>
<p>Agree with zotan.</p>
<p>it depends on your friend....
when i got rejected from my #1, i didn't even want to tell my friends. They were like, "That sucks, you should have gotten in," and then distracted me with things like shopping and juicy gossip (lol can i sound more stereotypical), which I appreciated far more than any commiseration and dwelling on it. After a few days of that, I felt much better.</p>
<p>Don't talk about it unless she wants to. Definitely try to distract her and, when she's out of her rejection funk, offer to listen while she talks out her other options.</p>
<p>And DO NOT tell her to take a break year. What is the obsession with break years on here? Just because you didn't get into your top choice you should cheat yourself out of a great experience? It doesn't matter where you go, it's what you make of the experience.</p>
<p>A break year is a horrible suggestion unless she has no other remotely decent alternatives.</p>
<p>you say she got into some other amazing schools - so DEFINITELY do not take a break year, she might learn to love her other options. </p>
<p>i went through this just yesterday. my friend was deferred ED from brown, and then flat out rejected even with AMAZING stats (2350/4.4) and pretty solid ECs and essay. i have no idea how the hell it happened, but eh, that's life. she called me late at night and sounded okay, but i knew she was devasted because she skipped class that day - and this girl never misses a day of school. i kinda gossiped to her about what ivy league schools the people from our classes got into/rejected from, talked about having a huge icecream waitlist party (since most of our friends were waitlisted/rejected at their first choices), and stuff like that. just let her talk and complain and be there for her. :)</p>
<p>Just have fun with her, nothing special, just as it was before. People get over it all the time and eventually they will fall in love with the school they accept.</p>
<p>I would advise you to be sympathetic, but only give back as much as she gives, at least initially. It can be really shattering, and sometimes people need to be alone with their thoughts, or just verbalize them to someone. I know that when I was waitlisted at my first choice, I cried to myself and then spilled everything out to my friend. I certainly didn't want her to be apathetic or cold, but I also wasn't in the mood for psychoanalysis, too-bad-but-everything-will-turn-out-great-I-promise, or anything. I just needed someone to be with as I let out my thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, it can be easy to be kind of condescending when trying to console someone. For instance, I witnessed this type of thing in the hall at my school the other day - one girl who got into X school was trying to console another girl got rejected at X school and was absolutely butchering the whole thing. It was painful even for me, and I think everyone around was cringing until someone finally managed to distract the first girl and get her away from the other. So it's a fine line, and I guess that it depends on the person, but I know that in my case at least, I just needed someone to listen to me and let me cry. After some time, when she has had some time to move on a bit, perhaps you can try to be a bit more active in helping her choose a school, but for right now, just be a good friend and lend a shoulder to lean on, etc.</p>
<p>Don't touch that one with a 20 foot pole, esp bc you got in</p>