Rejection is always hard. Getting rejected from your early decision school can feel like the end of the world, but it's not. It’s the end of the road with that school but not with this process. We work with students every year that come to us after getting rejected from their ED school. We sometimes call it our “everything's going to be ok” package. Because, we promise even if you have gotten a tough rejection, everything is going to be ok.

You might be asking yourself, “what do you do when a student is rejected in ED?” We’re glad you asked!

Our first step is to always take a deep breath. This type of student comes to us with a lot of big emotions. We want our students to take time to process those emotions so they can approach regular decision and next steps with a clear mind. If you try to just stuff those emotions down, they will come back, and usually at the worst time imaginable. So we advise our students to take a self-care day or two and then the work begins.

The next thing we do with our students is to take a second look at their college list. We always work with our students to craft a balanced college list, but it’s especially important for those who got rejected during ED. We make sure that our students have a healthy list of target schools as well as reach schools and safety schools before they start on the next round of applications. We also talk with our students about ED2 options if it's right for them and which schools offer it.

Once we feel good about a student’s college list, it’s time to revisit their Common App. We want to make sure it’s the strongest possible. We go over a student’s full application, but we pay special attention to the writing and activities sections. While essays aren’t everything, a good essay can make a student stick out and a bad essay… well we won’t go there. Many of our students end up rewriting or heavily editing their Common App essay during this process. This can feel like a lot, but it can really help to build a stronger app overall.

Once their Common App is as strong as it can be, it’s time to make a schedule. Many students come to us with very little work done. We get this. If they are banking on ED, starting RD apps can feel like extra work. However, if a student hasn’t started their other apps, it is a lot of work for what boils down to only about a month and a half. Even if they have started their other apps, we often want to revisit and revise those as well. Much like the Common App, we want their supplements to be as strong as possible. Most of our students apply (or plan to apply) to about 10 schools. This can mean 10 supplements. If you don’t have a good schedule, you will most likely fall behind. We make sure our students keep on schedule and don’t get overwhelmed with their workload.

When it comes to supplements, we know what works and what doesn’t. We use our collective knowledge to ensure that our students write the type of supplements that colleges want to see. We do this for our students whether they are applying ED or RD after a rejection. Because, for us, it’s all about getting our students into a school that they will love and thrive at, even if it wasn’t their ED school.

Not getting in ED can be stressful and emotional, but we make sure our students are ready and have a great plan, even if it’s a backup plan. We repeat, not getting in ED isn’t the end of the world, it’s just the end of the road with one school. There are so many amazing schools out there and we will help you get into one where you will thrive at.

Want to learn more about how we can help? Reach out here.