While I cannot completely relate to you, I’ll try my best. I’ve been rejected from A TON of schools, but I’m someone that moves on very easily, and lets them fuel my drive to succeed, but let me tell you a short story.
My best friend who graduated high school last year applied to 24 schools. I know. 24 schools. Ridiculous right? She applied to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, Columbia (ED) (Yup, she was one of those kids who applies to every Ivy), UChicago, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, UMich, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Rice, Northwestern, USC, Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Middlebury, and Pomona. She didn’t apply to a safety. Out of those 24 schools, she was admitted to a grand total of 3 of them. The rest she was flat out rejected, not even waitlisted. She cried… A LOT.
The three schools she ended up being admitted to, though, were UMich, UCLA, and Yale. She picked Yale—it was also the very last decision she opened.
She had a perfect SAT score and ended up being our Valedictorian (having taken 16 APs throughout high school). So yes, she has a happy ending and is now a freshman at Yale, but she dealt with a lot of rejection until she got there, and what made it even harder for her was seeing people who were “less qualified” in her eyes get accepted. Our mutual friend who only had a 29 ACT got into Princeton, and another who had only taken a measly 8 AP courses (yes… she thought that was measly) got into Columbia.
While I’m unsure what I was trying to point out now, I think this represents college admissions as a whole—especially when applying to the most selective schools. It’s a complete gamble. Unless you have a Nobel Prize, are an alumni and a first-generation college student simultaneously, started your own charity fund that raised a billion dollars to help save puppies… I don’t think anyone is “safe” in college admissions.
Rejection is tough, I know, but it’s inevitable, so don’t let it get you down. Take that rejection, and let it drive you to work even harder. I know it might feel like the world is crashing down on you or that your future is hopeless, but that’s not true. As someone who was rejected from their top choice school earlier in the year (and last year for that matter too as I applied two years in a row), I completely understand how tough that can be, but it’ll only make acceptance feel that much better!
Feel free to send me a private message if you feel the need to talk. I’m not exactly the most empathetic person, but I truly try!