Five Ways to Recover From A College Rejection Letter
BY ETHAN KUANG '24
If you’re a senior reading this, then chances are that you’ve already gotten denied from at least one school. If you haven’t, good for you. Regardless, it should be easy to empathize with the tough feeling of opening up your decision letter and not receiving a “Congratulations!”, and instead being subject to a not-as-nice greeting. Fortunately, though, you’ve come to the right place for advice. Here is my guide—not to help you cope, but instead to tell you what you should be doing instead.
2. Get your money back. Nobody has figured this out yet, but you can actually backcharge every credit card payment you’ve made out to Common App—so all those application fees you had to pay just to not get admitted into your flagship state school? Take ‘em all back. And while you’re at it, siphon some SAT and AP money from College Board because those scumbags don’t deserve a single penny. If they’re so “non-profit,” then maybe they don’t need to be charging $100 for an AP test. 3. Learn to accept your predicament. you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! you’re never getting off the umass waitlist! 4. Senior slide. If you’ve already been doing it, slide harder. Now, I don’t want to be the person to tell you to just simply give up on all your academic pursuits. Not in this school newspaper that multiple teachers will be reading, at least. (If any teachers happen to be reading this, a senior slide is when you gather all your senior friends and slide down a large chute while engaging in academic activities, such as calculus homework or Spanish interpretive exams). But I also want to say that I’ve never seen anybody successfully appeal a college rejection with their GPA. Why work hard for a goal that can’t be attained? Don’t be a Sisyphus. Take the time you have left to destress and relax. (sidenote: I do not support nor condone doing so poorly as to being rescinded) And that brings us to… 5. Enjoy your senior year. What’s a Spectrum Off-Topic article without a little cheesiness? On a more serious note, you should be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. Despite how it may seem at AB, people couldn’t care less about where you go to college, or if you even go to college at all (and people who do are mad that you have it better than them). As long as you can look back and see improvement over the past four years that you’re proud of, that’s good enough. And why wouldn’t you be proud? You’ve been studying your butt off for four years just to seek validation from a random admissions officer that you’re never going to meet. So maybe it’s time to take your mind off of all this and think about something else for a change. Find a new hobby to obsess about. Go to Dave’s Hot Chicken with your friends. And never forget that College Board has damned us all. Can’t even get accepted into the flagship state college… |