Coping With College Disappointment

It is typical to begin the college search process junior year, and as a junior I have begun just that. A week in, however, I discovered that at some point there isn’t going to be a way around disappointment.

Over my spring break, I toured fifteen colleges in seven days and returned home flustered after leaving my confidence in the tenth information session I attended.

I began my trip skeptical about the long distance driving, but I had no idea that driving was actually the least of my worries.

Strutting into my first college tour and info session at George Washington, I acted like I was the smartest student there, because I mistakenly thought this school would be easy for me to get into. I soon learned that I would need between a 28 and a 32 on the ACT to be accepted, and only around 30 percent of the students who apply are accepted. These facts did not intimidate me, and I decided that I did not like the school because of the urban campus setting (after spending three hours there). However, I did learn that if I applied there would be no guarantee of my acceptance.

Later that day, I toured the prestigious Georgetown University, and of course I could not help but love it. So, I added Georgetown to the list of schools I wanted to apply and my list of school grew to eight. However, my list was useless because it contained no safety or target schools. So at this point it looked like in the fall I would by applying to eight schools with acceptance rates at or below twenty percent, meaning I would risk being accepted at any colleges.

While at an information session at Wesleyan, I learned probably the most disheartening, but true, statement of the trip. The admissions officer conducting the session said to all of the people in her audience, “Around 80 percent of the students that apply to Wesleyan can complete all work that they would be given here at the university. However, we then have to decide between this 80 percent what 20 percent are accepted.” It was at this point that fully understood how terrible the college admissions process is.

I don’t comprehend, and I probably never will, how a student makes it from that 80 percent to the 20 percent. I do know that the typical student colleges are looking for is a student who is passionate, and especially talented, at one thing, but also participates in community services, three sports, loves everyone, takes care of their entire family, and spends their summers interning at top businesses while working full time. I’m kidding because I believe that being and doing all of that is impossible. However, if it was possible, all colleges would look for that in their students.

So as I student how to I make it from that 80 percent to the 20 percent? I’ve been investigating to find an answer to this question; however, I don’t think there is one. At some point students just have to sit in their rooms and wait as fate plays into the college admissions process. This is why it is inevitable that at some point the majority of students will face disappointment.

So now, as a junior, I can continue to look for schools that I think will suit me. However, the school that I think may be the best fit me might actually reject me from their applicant, and there is nothing I can do about that. So I guess now all I can do is hope that my life throughout high school is enough to get into my top school, and if it isn’t then I have to learn how to cope with that disappointment.