911爆料

Spring is in the air, and envelopes from colleges are in the mail. Anxiety levels begin to shoot through the roof as high school seniors across the country anxiously wait for responses from schools where they applied. Some students eagerly tear into the paperwork when it arrives and others are too scared to look, somehow assuming that they鈥檒l have a greater chance of being accepted if Mom or Dad rips the envelope open, especially if it鈥檚 on the thin side. It鈥檚 time to learn the answer to that haunting question: 鈥淒id I get in?!鈥�

Rejection Letters: Why Me?

It鈥檚 important to remember that receiving a rejection letter from a college doesn’t mean that 测辞耻鈥檙别 a personal failure. Of course that鈥檚 easier said than done, but it鈥檚 the truth. I think that Sue Shellenbarger at the Wall Street Journal puts it best: 鈥淩ejections aren’t uncommon. Harvard accepts only a little more than 7% of the 29,000 undergraduate applications it receives each year, and Stanford’s acceptance rate is about the same.鈥�

For some, though, receiving a rejection letter from a dream college seems to be the first major setback in life. Students that have made straight A鈥檚 their entire lives while doing volunteer work and participating in every club, sport, and organization possible are typically used to getting whatever they want. Truth be told, most of the people applying to elite Ivy League schools can make the same claim.

Just try to think of it statistically: colleges receive many more applications than they have openings, so they will obviously have to turn away students 鈥� it鈥檚 just hard to deal with when 测辞耻鈥檙别 the one getting the rejection letter.

Or rejection letters, plural. If you鈥檝e applied to ten or twelve schools with hopes of having the opportunity to choose from all of them, 测辞耻鈥檙别 probably in for a rude awakening. Most likely, 测辞耻鈥檙别 not going to be accepted to that many schools, especially if they鈥檙e all extremely selective and your grades or SAT scores aren鈥檛 incredibly impressive.

As the College Board explains, 鈥淐olleges have many reasons for rejecting students, and there is always an aspect of randomness in the process. Student merit is not the only factor in a school’s decision. Schools also must address their own needs for a diverse population or for strength on sports teams or in specific degree programs.鈥�

It seems as if Harvard tries to be consoling when turning people down. Their rejection letters claim that “Past experience suggests that the particular college a student attends is far less important than what the student does to develop his or her strengths and talents over the next four years.”

Rejection Letters are NOT the End of The World

Once you get over the initial shock and depression you鈥檒l most likely feel, it鈥檚 time to get your chin up. Rejection letters are not the end of the world. The roof didn鈥檛 just blow off your house, you didn鈥檛 get fired from a job, and you didn鈥檛 wind up at school naked. OK, I鈥檒l admit that last one was a bad joke, but it鈥檚 true. You鈥檙e still a cool person with great grades, and don鈥檛 let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

It may be a bit awkward if your best friend was accepted into your dream school but you were not, and it will seem even worse if you were hoping to attend your parents鈥� alma mater. However, try as hard as you can to avoid letting anyone else鈥檚 situation bring you down. I know, I know, that鈥檚 also easier said than done, but 测辞耻鈥檙别 a successful student and 测辞耻鈥檙别 going to go to school somewhere else. That鈥檚 all there is to it.

Some famous 鈥渃ollege rejects鈥� include billionaire Warren Buffett, who was turned away from Harvard Business School but states that 鈥淚 thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better.鈥� Yeah, I鈥檇 say it did 鈥�

Today show co-host Meredith Viera was also rejected from Harvard. Ms. Vieira went on to meet a mentor at Tufts University who sparked her interest in journalism by offering her an internship. Had she not been rejected, she doubts that she would have entered the field.

鈥淭ime puts rejection letters in perspective,鈥� says media mogul Ted Turner, who was rejected by both Princeton and Harvard. He went on to build his father鈥檚 company into the media empire that spawned CNN. “A rejection letter doesn’t even come close to losing loved ones in your family. That is the hard stuff to survive,” Mr. Turner says. “I want to be sure to make this point: I did everything I did without a college degree,” he says. While it is better to have one, “you can be successful without it.”

I got a Rejection Letter 鈥� Now What?

If you weren鈥檛 accepted to the school of your choice, you still need to go to school somewhere. You could always attend your second choice school. You could always consider attending another college for a year or two and reapplying to your first choice. If you continue succeeding in your academic career and show that you have what it takes, you may get those pesky admissions counselors to reconsider. Many students opt to attend community college and earn an associate鈥檚 degree before reapplying to the school of their dreams.

Reference

Posted on 21 Apr

Melissa Rhone earned her Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Tampa. She resides in the Tampa Bay area and enjoys writing about college, pop culture, and epilepsy awareness.