By Nat, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor
It seems that every year we hear about how college admissions has become increasingly competitive. Harvard reported a 3.45% admission rate for the Class of 2027, and many other selective schools have announced record-low admission rates as well. It’s no wonder many students are stressed about their impending college applications.
With record-low percentages of students getting in, even more are being rejected. Getting a rejection from a student’s first, second, or even third choice school is difficult. In the selective admissions process, sometimes a rejection is hard to avoid, however parents and students can prepare for unfavorable admissions news by planning ahead and taking appropriate steps after decisions come in.
At the end of the day, if the student has done a good job with their college search process, there will be success. In short, the easiest way for parents to help students cope with rejection is to prepare in advance so that there is also success come decision time.
Students need to only apply to schools that they would be happy to attend. If they haven’t found any, they haven’t searched long or carefully enough. One of the great things about this country is that we have more options than any other country for higher education. For a student to say that he or she hasn’t found a school that he or she would love to attend that is a likely or target school is a poor reflection on his or her research efforts considering the choices.
There is nothing wrong with applying to a few reach schools, but be careful in spending time applying to “out of reach schools.” We hope that all applicants will apply to a balanced list of schools and that the schools will be categorized in reach, target and likely categories.
Anecdotal data shows that students that apply to a smaller number of schools are more successful for a variety of reasons, one being because they can spend more time filling out each application as opposed to diluting their efforts by applying to too many schools (more than 10-12).
Rejection is a part of life. Everyone who has tasted success has also tasted rejection. This doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. Parents can be supportive by giving students the appropriate amount of time to take the difficult news, but they should also not let students sulk for any longer than needed.
For many teens, the worst part of rejection is telling peers they didn’t get in or where they are going (especially if others will question why someone of their caliber did not get into a ‘better’ school). When dealing with a rejection, it’s important to keep things in perspective and to not allow one or two letdowns to overshadow other successes.
If a student is dealing with a rejection, here’s what to do next:
As colleges begin notifying applicants of their admissions decisions, many students — especially those who applied to highly-selective universities with notoriously low admit rates — may be faced with their worst-case scenario: getting rejected from their top-choice college. Receiving a rejection from a top-choice college can be crushing to students, but it’s not the end of the world.
It’s only natural for teens to feel pressure when navigating the college admissions process – it is, after all, one of the biggest decisions many teens will have made up until this point. In the January newsletter we covered how to manage test anxiety, which is common among many teens taking the ACT or SAT in hopes of getting into their dream school. While testing anxiety can be crippling, the college preparation process extends beyond one Saturday morning test. Many students can feel overwhelmed going into the process, and the stress can cause problems with grades, family, friends, health, and more.
Whether you’re a sophomore preparing to take your first standardized test or a junior retaking the SAT or ACT to achieve your goal score, performing well is on the minds of many students. One thing remains consistent for students of all ages, however — test anxiety.
