It’s about that time, the time when we start receiving letters back in bold writing that either says, “accepted” or “rejected” with lasting effects on the next chapter of our lives. It’s the time when high school is coming to an end and when the stress of that bold writing will determine our futures.

So how can we deal with that feeling, the feeling when opening the letter we’ve been stressing about receiving comes back with the news we’ve dreaded most?

According to Alinia Abbott, a senior, “Finding out I didn’t make it into my dream school was devastating, especially after I had spent so much time picturing my life there.” Abbott said, “However, what helped me cope was thinking about the fact that just because I didn’t get in, it doesn’t diminish my other successes and schools I did get accepted into.”She said.

It’s easy to let a letter of rejection determine the way we feel about ourselves and our future plans, but it’s important to learn, as early as now, that in life and in adulthood things don’t always go as planned and just because plans change and unexpected things happen it is not a reflection of who we are or how hard-working, or successful we are.

Instead of allowing a college letter to break us down and make us feel discouraged about our future, we can instead allow it to be a sign. A sign that just because we planned on attending a specific school, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other opportunities and other schools where we can thrive the same if not more than we thought we could. That just because we made plans somewhere, it doesn’t mean other places can’t bring us the kind of college experience we want.

This positive mindset and way of thinking is hard to have when the school we dreamed of attending sends back “rejected” with a phrase like “after heavily considering your application we can not offer you admission…” that’s supposed to make you feel better about the fact that the school you spent all of high school trying to work toward attending, after all that, isn’t the school you’d be accepted.

According to Isabella Hust, Rim of the World 2024 Senior, “Throughout high school, I dreamed of attending UCLA and loved the idea of attending there. However, when I received the letter back that I was waitlisted it sucked but it was okay because I realized I had many other opportunities at some amazing schools.” Hust said, “It was hard to accept at first but I know that just because I didn’t get in, it doesn’t mean I failed or didn’t succeed.”

I implore you to take a tough situation like this as less of a reflection of who you are and more of a way to learn the importance of life’s way of always bringing unexpected variables in. That no matter how much planning we do for our future, plans can change and it’s important to learn to be accepting and open to the opportunities in life that we may not have expected.