How to Deal with College Rejections and Waitlists: 8 Interesting Strategies
Have you ever wondered about how to deal with college rejections and waitlists? Did you recently apply for college education abroad and got rejected or received an unanticipated response of waitlist in your application? Do you wish to know about 8 interesting strategies to effectively deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad? Let us explore some important tricks and tips that shall help you effectively deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad in colleges and universities.
It is important to understand these interesting strategies in order to avoid inviting acute stress in the form of disappointments, failed expectations as well as feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Let us understand the strategic process of how to deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad.
8 Interesting Strategies on How to Deal with College Rejections and Waitlists while Applying Abroad
We have specifically shortlisted a few interesting strategies that will help you understand the process of how to deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad. By being honest and sincere with these strategies, one can easily avoid any kind of confusions and problems in terms of inviting unnecessary negative attitudes in their life and begin looking for alternative options.
Here are some comprehensive strategies to effectively deal with college rejections and waitlists:
- Take some time to process the event: Rejections and negative responses for college applications abroad are part and parcel of the process. It is important to come to terms to the unanticipated rejection or waitlist by being patient with it and taking some time to process it completely. While it might appear troublesome, frustrating as well as disappointing, it is important to embrace this change. Once you begin accepting this then you have partially mastered the process of how to deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad. Do not feel overwhelmed or small in such cases, since the rejection/deferral or waitlist is not representative of your personality or meant to demean or insult you. So, do not take college rejections personally and let them affect your self-esteem or confidence!
- Think of better alternatives: It is important to keep some back-up options in mind while making the decision to apply abroad in colleges and universities. This is suggested in order to avoid losing potential opportunities of missing out on getting accepted in other good universities. Therefore, if one receives rejections from say, 10 universities, then should ideally have 5-6 other options available in mind, so that they can easily apply to those universities immediately under such circumstances. There’s nothing wrong in applying to universities that might have a low ranking in the world but are equipped with a good education system and relevant facilities.
- Take a gap year and improve your chances of acceptance next term/year: Several universities abroad have multiple intakes for incoming students from different locations. These intakes could range from mid-year, annual as well as lateral admissions. One could look for the next best intake option in a given institution of their choice and attempt to work towards securing admission in that intake. Taking admission in a later intake or a semester late does not make any difference, as long as you are hardworking and committed towards academics. Other alternative includes taking a gap year and applying a year later for the same course in the institution of your choice by addressing whatever lacks in your existing application, resume as well as available experiences and skillsets. A gap year can be utilized and made meaningful by working on different activities such as internships, research projects, creative work as well as taking up certificate courses in your relevant discipline. It can in fact help you secure admission in your desired institution abroad.
- Look for good universities in your location: One must observe that there are some reputed and prestigious institutions locally and nationally in their own country of residence. By actively searching for good institutions in their own location, one can improve their chances of getting accepted in universities abroad at a later stage for say, postgraduate or postdoctoral admissions. This will also help one deal easily with rejections in colleges abroad.
- Wait for that waitlist to get updated: Getting waitlisted in universities and colleges abroad is not as bad as it might appear superficially! Many universities and colleges often update their waitlists regularly, especially under cases of receiving less number of fresh admissions in relation to the available intake for a given course/discipline of study or even under cases of experiencing vacancies in courses due to inadequate admissions or cancellation or transfer of admissions. So, waiting for a few weeks after getting waitlisted is not a bad idea after all! Who knows you might just get accepted at a later point in your desired course at a good institution.
- Try consulting your college counsellor or admissions officer abroad: Many times, getting in touch with your college counsellor or even the admissions officer abroad can make a huge difference in the status of your college application. One can get to know in a realistic sense about what went wrong with their application and see the prospects of improving it in the existing intake to reverse their admission chances. In addition, one can get some interesting insights about the necessary steps that need to be taken to improve their chances of admission. One could buy some more time from the admissions committee and address the flaws in their application by say performing well in their last semester in college/undergraduate college or taking up some internship or course to acquire the required skills as suggested in the course eligibility criteria. At times, writing a persuasive and inspiring statement of purpose makes a whole lot of difference! If you feel that you have not expressed yourself properly in your statement of purpose, you could consider writing another essay that would appropriately describe your interest to apply in the given institution by making it sound more convincing, persuasive as well as well-framed.
- Stay positive about deferrals: At times, many colleges and universities abroad tend to defer one’s college applications, especially in cases where they have not completely understood the personality of the student or the primary motivation behind applying in their institution for further studies. Under such cases, one can stay positive about securing admission by waiting for the next admissions announcement or the appearance of the next merit list on the institution website. Always remember that staying positive is not always about getting rejected. Be patient till you get to know the reason of deferral.
- Get in touch with alumni of the institution of your choice: It is always a good idea to connect to the alumni of the institution of your choice. If you tend to know the concerned individual as a matter of sharing the same school/undergraduate college or due to some other personal connection, then it is all the more better to get in touch with them. By getting to know their personal experiences while applying to a given institution of your choice, one can follow their footsteps and look forward to receiving responses from colleges and universities abroad. While each individual’s transition to colleges abroad is unique and different, it is a harmless step to take some suggestions from those who experienced similar emotions as yourself some time ago, especially if incorporating them makes a difference in your college applications and makes your chances of getting accepted better.
So, do not feel small or get worried at all if you receive rejections, deferrals or get waitlisted in your college applications abroad. Instead, learn how to deal with college rejections and waitlists while applying abroad with an open mind and a better perspective!
