As college acceptance and rejection letters are released, I can't help but reminisce on this same time last year when I was the one receiving these letters. This is undoubtedly an incredibly stressful time for applicants. Although some people achieve their highest potential during college admission season, a lot of other people's dreams are crushed. Reality is, not everybody is going to get into their dream school and not everybody will be satisfied with the decisions of the various school's admissions offices. After being rejected from a decent amount of higher tier schools, I stopped caring, but my very first rejection letter broke me because I was blind sided by my idealism. Here are the several stages you should expect to experience when you receive your first rejection letter.
1. The build up
At this point, you have only received acceptance letters or have not received any letters at all yet. Your parents tell you there is a college letter in the mail for you, or you get an email telling you to check your portal. Naturally, you get anxious. You are probably hoping to get in, but if you are anything like the average teenage,r then you are doubting your ability to succeed. Nonetheless, subconsciously, you expect to get in.
2. Reading of the letter
As you read the first few words of the letter, you become aware that you did not get in. You reread the letter several times just in case you misread it. Once you get tired of repeatedly reading the same words, you slightly get furious because who would not want you attending their school.
3. Denial
You do not want to come to terms with reality just yet, so you do not tell your family and friends of your failure. You do not want to disappoint any of them, but you also just do not want to admit it to yourself that you did not get in.
4. Heartache
Once you decide to face the facts, you will also have to face the pain that comes with them. Being rejected is not something anyone can take pride in. You start to wonder what you did wrong, and you convince yourself that this reflects on you as a person. This is when the tears come rolling through.
5. Acceptance
You finally accept the fact that a school rejected you, and you come to realize it is their loss and not yours. So what if you did not get in, not like it is the end of the world. Life goes on, and so does your future.
Being rejected, whether by your top university or some stud you have had a crush on for ages, is inevitable. We all get rejected in one way or another throughout our lives. It is how we go about the rejection, not the rejection itself, that says something about who we are as a human being. Keep your head held high. To current college applicants, I was in your position last year, and although it hurt at the time, I am currently having the time of my life where I ended up. We all end up where we are meant to be eventually, so just let fate take its course.
