as i wrote in the kenyon forum (they sent the letter this morning)
rejection sucks. unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do now. I found out in the middle of an important debate conference. I was talking to someone and I stopped mid-sentence when I read the first line. I closed it quickly and pretended like it hadn’t happened. Then I re-read the email multiple times in shock and disbelief. This turned into disappointment, then anger and finally i pretended like i was nonchalant about it all. Then when i got home this afternoon, I ran to my mother and cried. Like. a. baby.
it’s good to get it out of your system early.
I know I took my S’s first rejection a lot harder than he did. Thank goodness he is a kid who just rolls with the punches. It’s been a week and I am still trying to figure out why. He got into the university but not into the selective major he wanted. He thought because the U. itself is not very selective he didn’t have to do any more than the minimum to get into his major. That was a big mistake.
I can sympathize with those who see other kids letting their parents do everything, and then they get accepted. I refused to do this. I did some research for my S, scheduled the campus visits and open houses, took the notes, and helped him some with his essays. But I didn’t do as much as some parents and I didn’t push him as hard as I could have to go above and beyond the minimum requirements for some schools.
Luckily, he did get an acceptance before he got the first rejection, and still has two schools to go, which we expect acceptances from but may be too expensive.
I haven’t been rejected from a college–yet.
but last year I did get rejected from TASP , the email came two or three days before my birthday and the official envelope came on my birthday. I sobbed. I cried for weeks and weeks and weeks. It took me months to get over but finally, like light emerging from the deepest abyss, I did. I got over my rejection. No one can say rejection won’t burn,immolate you to ashes inside or even make you question your worth; but you will get over it and you will later look back and wonder," why did I ever care about that?"
I felt hurt, but not terribly because I had stalked the last year applicants who had applied ED and knew what the letter was going to say.
Mainly, I just felt a bit vunerable. Because I was rejected once and could, quite possibly, be rejected from everywhere. I worked on my EC’s and put more time into some of my supp essays.
I’m still waiting ot hear back from my top choices and am sure I WILL be balling my eyes out if I see those little envelopes in the mailbox. Good luck to everyone else!
I also agree with some of the other posts. Not only might it actually better yourself (like it did to me, reference my first post in this thread), but use it as bulletin board material to help it better yourself. Prove to yourself that the schools that rejected you made a huge mistake. Use it as motivation.
Motivation is what keeps me on track. My motivation is a little different though. When I was young, a few certain people basically said I was going to become a loser in life (at best). Huge motivation booster right there. Every time I don’t want to study or do homework or participate in extra-curricular activities, I remind myself of what was said. It makes me want to do better and better. I like to see them eat their words. Of course my motivation is a little different, but if you use the schools’ rejections like I use the mean stuff that was said, you’ll probably do very well.
Being told you can’t, you are <insert something="" negative="" here="">, you’re not good enough, or something of that nature is a huge motivator.</insert>
I had been accepted with a scholarship to a lower ranked school before I got deferred ED, so I took that acceptance letter that I’d received in the mail and taped it to my mirror as “motivation.” Sort of like, just because that school didn’t take you doesn’t mean other schools won’t. I now have 2 acceptance letters on my mirror, the original one, and one from one of my reach schools (granted, not as “prestigious” as my ED school, but I’m still super excited!). Now the wait for 11 more possible rejections…
EDIT: Hello failure at trying to not reveal what school I got into… obviously my location says possibly WUSTL lol.
Getting rejected is one of the reasons I signed up for college confidential.
My first choice was the International Christian University in Tokyo. It has a good IR program and they have one of the best Japanese language programs in the country. I was so sure I was going to get in and when I received a giant, certified mailed envelope, I was 98% sure I was accepted. Then I opened it up and it was a tiny envelope with a letter telling me that they couldn’t offer me a spot.
I cried for a few days. The whole week just went downhill like crazy. Everything hurt and I became so depressed. I had wanted to study in Japan for years and it just made me so upset. The same week, the tsunami hit and all my anger and disappointment from getting rejected was replaced by concern for the country.
Rejection really hurts but the only thing you can do is move on.
Volleyball, freshman year. Didn’t make the team (Largely due to medical reasons.)
Had to walk to school to check the list. Walked home. Shut myself in my closet and cried. Then I joined track and went to state championships. One door closes, a better one opens.
Let me first say that I was deferred, not waitlisted though I have accepted it as a deferral. At first I was stunned. I was not really expecting to get in but my whole family was crowded around me so it was more than anything awkward. I sat there for a second and then went out to coffee with a friend who was deferred from the same school. I cried a little bit when I got home and was a bit jaded for the rest of the week. I then received an acceptance to a higher ranking institution that I had applied to EA so I was incredibly excited about that so my focus shifted. Now, 3 months later, I await a new set of rejection letters, but I have one amazing acceptance in my pocket. I still consider the school I got deferred from to be a good fit so I am interested to see if they’ll take me regular.
I actually took it a lot better than I thought I would. My safeties all came out first (accepted to all). I wasn’t too excited about any of them but at least I had somewhere to go. My first rejection was a reach (ucla) and today I received my second (ucsd).
When I read the letter, I felt kinda ****ty but both schools are above my range so I could have guessed I would be rejected. I think it was easy for me because I didn’t (and still don’t) feel any connection or strong desire to go to any of the UCs. Im still waiting on some privates -including my first choice - but I got into uw-seattle which will make any future rejections a lot easier to handle.
I still have yet to tell me parents I was rejected though. I think that’s gonna be harder than actually being rejected
Got rejected from RSI–didn’t even make it past the first round of cuts. Got irritated, then insecure (was my application really that inadequate?), then realized that I still had another summer program to aim for, and a fallback in case both of those don’t work out.
Juilliard’s Pre-College Division. The rejection letter said something to the effect of “yep, you’re really not at all qualified for our school. See ya,” so I wasn’t exactly happy about that, but…I’m still alive. Plus, I ended up getting concertmaster for the junior orchestra of a very prestigious area youth orchestra the next year, so it probably worked out for the best.
These accounts are very inspiring. They are helping me see that getting rejected at the end of the month won’t be that hard. Although, getting rejected on my birthday sure will suck…
But I digress. Hopefully I get into at least one of the nine schools I applied to because after nine rejections I’m likely to take the bridge… Just kidding.
Thank you to everyone who have shared their rejection/waitlist/deferred accounts.
Reading them have helped me realize that I’m not the only one who’s in this boat.
I found out about 2 hours ago I got rejected from Rice and I had considered it about a match for me. I saw the rejection notice (they’re all generic right?) via email and just kinda…slumped. I was…well am still really sad. To me, it just felt like my confidence was drained. I still have yet to hear from the majority of my colleges so seeing that rejection before the other decisions worried me. I’ve just been surfing this site for two hours…mindlessly. Eating a Twix bar and drinking ginger ale haha. Food is comforting
I got my first rejection last week from the “highest match” school I’d applied to. It immediately felt like I wasn’t going to be accepted by the rest. Very depressing, but I just went to bed, and listened to music the whole night. As I thought of it more, I saw that I have great financial need and the school wasn’t need-blind. I’ve convinced myself that’s why I wasn’t accepted. Being an international student only made things worse. I’m still trying to figure out what I will do if I get rejected by all of them. Hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll be prepared. I got an admission to another college with 50% grant, but it’s still very expensive. Maybe I can get a scholarship for the rest from elsewhere. Also, I have already started looking at colleges in other countries, so it will not be over; there’s many colleges out there…
I got rejected from my ED school. My hands were numb and my heart was constricting like it was being squeezed by each and every member of the admissions committee, but then I got over it to focus on writing my essays for the other colleges I was applying to. Once bitten, twice shy, though. I should have aimed for schools with higher admissions difficulty (and, I suppose, ‘ranking,’ you could say) because I think I was too conservative with my choices.
Overall, what I did was distract myself with school and other matters… I forget things easily, so I forgot about the rejection semi-easily as well.
WOW I really wish I found this thread when dealing with all the rejections from my top choice schools. It really helps to know I’m not the only one feeling like since I didn’t get into “College X”, it probably will mean I won’t get accepted into “College Y”…WHICH IS NOT TRUE!!! I did get in after all.
To sum it up, rejection just eats away all the hope in you. But I’m really happy that the wait is over and I heard back from all the colleges!! So now that I know which college I’m attending, I really feel back in control of my life.
If you tolerate all the crap, it will be all ok in the end! d(^_^)b
Long ago, I was so disappointed to be rejected by my first choice (SU) undergraduate school. I went to a rival school and studied my A____ off. For grad school, I got into SU with a full scholarship and have had a remarkable career. My S also was rejected for undergrad at the same school. Now we laugh about what we have in common!
Some schools just don’t realize what they are missing
