<p>How do you cope with not getting into the school you want to go to more than anything else in the world? I'm hoping this doesn't happen to me, but what has anyone who has gone through this done? Yeah, I have backups, and I've already been accepted to a few places, but how do you live with being at another college you really don't want to be at?</p>
<p>Your first mistake was getting so attached to one school that none of the others look good in comparison. That is very much an illusion… get over it now. Even students who get into a “dream” school can’t always go because of finances. College is a big business – they market themselves like crazy, and high school seniors get sucked into the dream of a perfect school. Every college has strengths and weaknesses, and none of them are perfect. Some students also find once they are accepted and attend accepted student days that they aren’t so enthralled with what they thought was their top choice after all (happened to one of my kids, she picked what was her 3rd choice going into accepted student days and thinks she dodged a bullet by not attending the school she thought would be best before those final visits).</p>
<p>Keep an open mind until your acceptances are in hand. Then weigh the costs and benefits, and go to accepted student days at your top choices before making a decision. Then move forward and don’t look back. No point in pining for a school that didn’t want you anyway (rejection letters make a nice addition to a bonfire…). Consider yourself lucky if no one waitlists you, too. Waitlists are almost always just a tease, and don’t help you move forward and get excited about where you are actually going to attend.</p>
<p>Don’t mope. Realize that you have other great choices and make the most of them. The best way to make yourself miserable is to spend all of your time at your school wishing you were at a different one. You’ll miss great things your uni has to offer.
But as intparent said, don’t worry about this too much right now. It’s October. A lot of decisions don’t even come out until April 1. When you know what your options really are, then you can start to seriously consider it, but wondering about all the hypotheticals right now is only going to cause unnecessary stress.</p>