The SAT has been taken, the applications are done, and now it’s just a waiting game. You agonize for weeks and weeks, going straight to the mailbox every day as soon as you come home from school until one day, it finally happens. Getting that first acceptance letter or email is one of the best feelings in the world. After four years of hard work in High School, you know that you are now definitely going to college. The daunting thought of “What if I don’t ’t get in anywhere” is no longer lingering in the back of your mind and you’re free to enjoy the rest of your Senior year.

The weeks go on, and there are more acceptances, but with the acceptances come the schools that say no. When that letter or email comes, it can be the worse feeling in the world. It can crush your spirit for weeks and make you think that you aren’t smart enough for college. If it was your first choice, it may feel like the end of the world. It may feel like no school will ever be the right school and wherever you end up you will be miserable because you didn’t get into your dream school.

The truth is that getting rejected from one school, even if it is your dream school, is not the end of the world. Getting rejected simply means you’re not the right fit for that particular school. There’s a good chance, had you gone there, you would not have ended up happy. It doesn’t mean you’re not qualified to go there, or that you aren’t talented. And it most definitely does not mean you’re not smart. In fact, what it usually means is that you’re a Biology major and they were looking for more English majors. It’s hard to know exactly what a school is looking for. There are thousands of people who have the SAT and GPA to get into Stanford, Harvard or Yale, but aren’t accepted and yet there is a small percentage of those applicants who get an acceptance letter in the mail.

Rejection is hard especially when it’s from a school that you really wanted to go to, but at the end of the day, it’s important to remember that they don’t really know you. They see test scores, a GPA, list of extracurricular activities on a piece of paper that is among thousands they will look at. In some cases, there’s an interview but how can they know the real you? How can they know the amount of dedication that it took to stay up until four in the morning finishing that history project, trying to make it absolutely perfect? How can they know that you went straight from school to dance twice a week and didn’t get home until 8 (or even later if there was a show coming up)? So to all the seniors out there who are anxiously awaiting a letter from their number one school, don’t worry. Whether or not it’s an acceptance or rejection, you are going to end up at the school that was meant for you and who knows, maybe the school you end up at will become your new number one.