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Rejecting the rejection

It’s mid April, and the recurring nightmare you have had for the past six months has come true: you have been rejected by every college to which you applied! How did this happen, and what can you do now? As to the first point, you probably applied to an unrealistic list of schools, one that did not include safety schools to back up the reaches and probables. If you had communicated well with your high school guidance counselor regarding schools that always accept students from your high school with records (academic and extracurricular) similar to yours, this probably would not have happened. The maxim "Better safe than sorry" is more than apt when it comes to applying to college.

O.K. So the damage is done. Now you must beat down your guidance counselor’s door and ask for help. After all, the blame for this is not totally yours. Your counselor dropped the ball in this process by not demanding you apply to additional schools. If he or she did warn you and you ignored the advice, you had better apologize profusely and beg for help. The counselor can recommend colleges and universities whose rolling decision deadlines extend well into the summer and can also make phone calls to admissions offices to inquire about available space and how receptive they would be to a late application. Just as important are calls to some of the schools that rejected you to determine the grounds for the denial. Although colleges don’t like to advertise it, admissions offices consider appeals of rejections. If you honestly believe you have a very strong case for reconsideration (particularly if your second semester was stellar or you received some kind of academic recognition that might strengthen your candidacy) and if your counselor will support your letter of appeal with an additional strong statement, an admissions office may reconsider your application. Other viable options are attending your local community college for a year or two and then transferring or taking a year off and doing something constructive like working or volunteering full time in a community service capacity. Not only do admissions officers look very favorably on such experiences, but you will mature in the process and become a much more interesting candidate as a result.

In the long run, what seemed a nightmare can often be a blessing in disguise. When forced to face a reality we had never considered seriously and to take the unmarked path, we often learn so much more about ourselves. Whatever you do, do not consider rejection a defeat Treat it as a challenge and it will make you stronger.

Last modified on Tuesday, November 16, 1999