It’s not easy thinking that it will happen to you but that’s exactly why you need to be armed with tips for how to deal with college rejection. When you are going through the process of applying to a selection of colleges, you need to be a really positive frame of mind, and because of this, you don’t tend to do much thinking about what will happen if the worst case scenario occurs and you don’t get accepted by your favourite, or even worse than that, by any of your choices at all. It is only natural that you will have your heart set on perhaps one or two colleges, but sadly, enthusiasm and desire aren’t the only factors that are taken in to consideration when places are offered, so even though you might not want to entertain the thought, there is a slim possibility that you won’t get in. In times like this, it is important to be equipped with lots of coping mechanisms. Here are some essential tips for how to deal with college rejection.
You need to give yourself some time to be able to process the emotions that you are feeling. If you try to act on impulse in the immediate aftermath, you might end up making a decision that you will regret later down the line. It’s totally fine to cry, it’s totally fine to devote some time to your yourself, and it’s also totally fine to distract yourself with movies, music, TV and books for a little escapism. What you shouldn’t do is grab the first place you find at a lesser college, because there will plenty more options available to you when you have a clearer head.
It might feel like it at the time, but the school you got rejected from isn’t the only school in the world. It’s time to find a different perspective on things and get excited about the prospect of different colleges. Dive in to research about other institutions and you might find that things you hadn’t even considered start to appeal to you. Colleges are just like dating, there are always plenty more fish in the sea! Talking to current students of the schools can really help.
You might have had your heart set on going straight to college from high school, but there is no shame in changing your plans and taking a gap year so that you can reapply and try again. In your year off, you can work both to make some money for the future, and to retake some of the important tests that ended up letting you down. You will be able to write a really meaningful personal statement about this experience, and colleges tend to appreciate the kind of maturity and commitment that this kind of plan takes.
If you would prefer to head straight to college, remember that transferring is always an option. You could accept a place at a different college, and then work over the course of a year or two to be able to win a transfer to the school that you were originally rejected from. Of course, transfers are never guaranteed, but they sure are a great way to keep you motivated and working hard.
If you feel like you really were the perfect fit and had all of the required test scores and grades, then you can always appeal or challenge your rejection. This is a tough road to take, but it’s a sensible one of you have any new or significant information to add to your application, or if there was a major error included in your original transcript.