This is not a discussion regarding college admissions; it is regarding college decisions. Probably obvious with the title of this discussion, I have been rejected or waitlisted by many of my colleges. I am an international student and I applied to a couple of U.S. colleges in the hopes of going to the U.S. to study for my bachelor’s.
I have always worked hard in school - from literally doing all my homework to doing well in tests, I have tried to be in the top of my class. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not trying to boast. I have always worked hard and tried my best to do well in school, academics or not. This resulted in me being the salutatorian of my class, so I was pretty happy with the result. I decided to take a gap year for some reasons and am reapplying to colleges. Due to the financial constraints, I have not been able to utilize this year as I would have wished to but I have tried to do things I had not before, like tutoring, art, online courses etc.
However, I have been rejected by half of my colleges, waitlisted to by mostly the other half, and been accepted by two. Again, don’t get me wrong, I am happy with my acceptances, but I have no idea how to deal with my rejections and waitlists. I have always worked by ass off to do well, and I guess it is kind of a blow to all the hard work to see that I have been rejected or waitlisted by so many colleges, and was accepted only by my safety colleges (which are also good colleges!).
I know that I should not be taking this personally, but it is really hard to not do that when all your college decisions are comprised of either rejections or waitlists. So, I am just asking how to deal with such a situation and not lose your morale and confidence because it’s becoming very difficult to not lose my self-confidence right now.
Are your acceptances affordable? It’s really difficult for international students to get an affordable acceptance. If you got two that’s quite an accomplishment.
College admissions isn’t a reflection of your self worth. There are lots of reasons why students don’t get accepted. There are so many highly qualified students to choose from and not many seats. It could be something as simple as financial need. A lot of US students commute to their local college because they can’t afford residential college. Going to a college overseas is out of the question for most of them, but it doesn’t mean their effort wasn’t worth it or that they’re not smart and accomplished. Give yourself time to accept the decisions then focus on all the good things your acceptances have to offer.
Just realize what you are seeing is the “new normal”. It’s nothing you can change, nor is it “about” you personally. That has to be the hardest part. All the work and effort IS personal for you. Your story is personal to you. But the process is very impersonal. Someone looks at your file for a brief time and “decides your future”.
But they don’t, really. It might help to remember that the vast majority of kids that apply to those schools (especially internationally) have the result you did, (or worse). And it is just a math issue. Too many applications, not enough seats in the schools. So it isn’t personal, and it does not determine your future.
Did you expect a different result? Sometimes even when we expect the rejection it still hurts. And you just need to let it sting and then move on as best you can. If you were not expecting it, then it can be a terrible blow, but you still need to just dust yourself off and move on.
They don’t know you. It’s not personal. If 90% of kids got rejected, you are in excellent company. It doesn’t change anything you have achieved thus far in life. You still are the same person. Go be successful. Be sad today, get up tomorrow and move on to your accepted schools! Good luck!
Yah, my acceptances are very affordable for me, so I am very happy for that. The issues with being a middle-class international student is that you often need aid from colleges that is hard to get. So I guess you are right. Thanks for the advice. I will try to be happier with the decisions I have gotten!