Two Reasons College Reject Competitive Candidates
ONE: It’s Not About You!
College admissions may feel personal, but it is not. It is about the school and what they are looking for. While colleges know exactly what they want beyond all of the givens (GPA, test scores, extra-curriculars, leadership, essays, etc.), you do not. Do they want more students from rural communities, more humanities majors, more whatever, who knows?
One thing is for sure: if your quality/competitive application was rejected, trying to figure out why is a waste or brain power: an exercise in futility.
TWO: Math
Highly selective colleges get way more qualified candidates that they can accept and those numbers continue to rise. If you don’t believe me, check out the numbers below gathered from the Common Data Set. The trend is clear; the numbers don’t lie.
Duke: During the 2011-2012 admissions cycle 28,145 applied, 14% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 39,603 applied, 8% were accepted.
Georgetown: During the 2001-2002 admissions cycle 15,327 applied, 37% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 21,190 applied, 17% were accepted.
New York University: During the 2015-2016 admissions cycle 57,727 applied, 32% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 80,210 applied, 21% were accepted.
Notre Dame: During the 1997-1998 admissions cycle 9,079 applied, 40% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle, 21,253 applied, 19% were accepted.
Stanford: During the 2008-2009 admissions cycle 25,299 applied, 9% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 45,227 applied, 5% were accepted.
UNC Chapel Hill: During the 1999-2000 admissions cycle 16,022 applied, 39% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 44,382 applied, 24% were accepted.
University of Pennsylvania: During the 2009-2010 admissions cycle 22,808 applied, 18% were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 42,205 applied, 18% were accepted.
University of Virginia: During the 2015-2016 admissions cycle 30,840 applied, 30 % were accepted. During the 2020-2021 admissions cycle 40,878 applied, 23% were accepted.
What You Can and Should do After a Rejection
Rejection is tough, but there are things you can do to turn a negative into a positive.
- Focus on possibility
- Believe in yourself
- Let go of what you can’t control
- Believe the data: where you go to college does not determine who you will become
- Revaluate your college list with a more informed understanding of what constitutes a good school (i.e., not only the most prestigious)
- If you have a lot of reaches on your list, reevaluate—no matter how qualified you are—don’t ignore the numbers
- Make sure you have at least 2 “safetys” on your list
- Nix the mind trash: Don’t let a college admissions team who never even met you define even a little bit of who you are and who you can become
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