Over the next couple of weeks, universities will be releasing their decisions on Early Decision and Early Action. As the dates creep closer and ever faster, no doubt anxiety is building as students wonder whether or not they will be accepted to those primary target schools. Of course, each and every student has high hopes for these impending notifications.
If you have applied Early Decision and are admitted – Congratulations!
You are now done, completely with your college application process. What a HUGE relief! Lest you think you are entirely done, PLEASE remember that you need to complete your Senior year with the grades (predicted or otherwise) that were sent along with your application. “You ain’t done until you’re done” with high school. As is always the case, any admission is based on you completing your high school with the same enthusiasm and excellence you showed throughout.
If you applied and were accepted Early Action – Phew!
The stress is off and you now know that you will be going to university next year. That is a huge burden to take off your shoulders. But, that also means that you most likely have other applications to complete if you have not completed them yet. If not, get on with it! Now! While there is the fire of confidence in your head.
If, in either case, ED or EA you were Deferred, congratulations are also in order.
While it may feel like a denial, it is not. Far from it. A deferral just means they really want you to take a little more time to prove yourself to them. What does that mean? Most likely they want to see the end of your first semester grades (Mid-Year Report). Hopefully, they are on target or better than the end of Junior year. They may want to know more about what you have done since you sent your application (did you mention that you were starting a club or working on a project? – they may want to know how that turned out). They may want to know if this school is still your #1 Choice and why is it still #1 now that you have been deferred. Schools may also want some further information from your school.
A Deferral is not the end. It is just a continuation of the application. Students in this situation still have the chance of admission, you just need to keep waiting. There is a myth that a deferral is the death knell, but it is not and you are still very much in the game. Keep playing, and playing with gusto.
Now on to the not so good news – the Denial.
First of all, students need, no must, know that this is not a rejection of you as a person. Most likely you did everything right: great grades, scores, recommendations and so forth. But, somehow, someway your application did not have the wee little thing to overcome the ultimate hurdle to get the acceptance. Be aware that there are most likely thousands of students with similar profiles as yours who also did not get in. This is the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to win, even the best and the brightest. Small consolation, I know, but also know that your life is not over just because you did not get into your Top Choice. If you have put together a solid list of schools, you will be just fine. Life will go on. But if you crash and burn because you put too much expectation on getting in, then you need to get on with focusing on your other applications and school.
As is clearly evident by this post, life is comprised of success and challenge. This is just the beginning of those experiences that life will bring along its pathway. How you manage and cope with both the successes and possible failures are the core of developing resilience, internal confidence, and self-esteem. For certain the only truly bad outcomes are the terminal ones. How we make, to use a somewhat trite phrase, “lemonade out of lemons” shows our true character.
Hamilton Gregg is the founder of International Educational Consulting and has worked in education since 1985. He helps students and their families understand their personal and educational needs and find the right school to meet their requirements. If you are a student or parent who would like to ask Gregg a question on our blog, please email hsgregg45@gmail.com
Photos: Hamilton Gregg, unsplash
