No one likes to get rejected. Whether it is asking someone out, applying for a job or applying to a college, rejection hurts. So how do you avoid rejection when applying to competitive colleges?
The answer is don’t apply to competitive colleges. You see, no matter how smart you are, how good your grades and test scores are, no matter how much your mother says you will get into every college that you apply to, competitive college admissions have no guarantees. So the only way to avoid the hurt of rejection is to not apply to these colleges at all.
Community college here I come…. OK, so maybe I can deal with some rejection. But how do I minimize the chances of getting hurt? Apply to colleges that make sense for you.
I won’t repeat what I have said here so many times before about applying to colleges that fit your needs. Applying to reach schools is alright as long as you understand that you have a chance of them saying no to you. This is not personal. For whatever reason, the college that didn’t accept you just wasn’t looking for someone like you this year. Maybe your expertise in Yo-Yo would have gotten you admitted last year, but they admitted a Yo-Yo player last year so they don’t need you this year.
One of my strongest students this year was accepted to MIT and Caltech early action. And rejected from the University of Chicago. Was my student hurt by the rejection from Chicago? Yes. But the student understood that such things happen in competitive admissions.
Remember the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, “What does not kill me, makes me stronger.” Trust me, no matter how much rejection may hurt, it won’t kill you.
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