myUface Blog

Following up on yesterday’s podcast, I wanted to share five thoughts with you that I hope will make you feel better if you ever are rejected by a U.S. university (or any other university for that matter).  Hopefully this will never happen!

1. Tons of the world’s most successful people were rejected many, many times before they became successful.  For example:  Edmund Hillary, the first person to successfully climb Mount Everest, was made fun of by his gym teacher in school because he was very small for his age.  How many times do you think that gym teacher made it to the summit of a Himalayan mountain?  If you guessed zero, you’re right.
2. The rejection might be a sign that you need a year off.  Often times U.S. universities want candidates to get some more experience before continuing their studies (this is especially true of students looking for a Master’s degree).  In another year you might be much more ready to go to the U.S.  Maybe the rejection did you a favor!
3. Rejection is a great opportunity to prove someone wrong.  Don’t focus on the negative, wondering why you were unfairly rejected.  Focus on showing the schools that rejected you that they made a mistake!

I’m not sure that these thoughts, or any others, will make you feel much better after being rejected by a university you really wanted to attend.  The bottom line is, rejection hurts. But do your best not to take it personally.

All that a university rejection means is that admissions staff don’t think your candidacy (NOT YOU yourself) is a fit for the university.  If you are really determined to get into the university, focus on improving your candidacy, and try again next year!

A lot of international students applying to U.S. universities like to use timelines or calendars to give them a schedule of tasks they need to complete.  That’s a good thing.  Timelines are useful tools for international students.  We’ve offered Summer and Fall timelines on this very blog.  The internet is full of similar schedules – you can see two examples here and here.

These kinds of resources can really help you prepare your application for U.S. universities.  Timelines can keep you aware of upcoming deadlines and help you structure your time.  However, there is a limit to how useful these tools can be, and in my experience a lot of international students end up losing time because of them.

Here’s why:  often, international students download and study one of these timelines.  They resolve to follow it exactly. However, they are intimidated by all the work the schedule says they have to do.  As a result, they find reasons to procrastinate.  They fall behind the schedule.  Now they feel really terrible.  Not only do they have a lot of work to do, but they have a shorter amount of time to do it!  They feel even more intimidated, which makes them procrastinate more, which makes the further behind.  And so on and so forth until, at the last minute, they whip together an application.  Which is often not very good.

To avoid this situation, follow these simple guidelines:

1. Remember, timelines for international students are guides, not rules. If you work according to a different schedule – if you start later on some tasks and earlier on others – that’s OK.
2. If you fall behind the schedule, try to remember that it is very possible to catch up.  Applying to a U.S. university is a lot of work, but it’s not an impossible amount of work.  You can do it!!!
3. Try to develop strategies that keep you from procrastinating.  Here are some internet resources to help you do just that.
4. Finally, and most importantly, RELAX. Remember that you are a smart, dedicated, effective person.  Remember that you want to complete your applications.  Remember that you want to spend the time to make those applications good.  Remember that you want to finish them ahead of schedule, to reduce your stress.  Focusing on the fact that you want to do all these things will reduce any feelings you have that you “have” to follow the schedule.

In short, use schedules and timelines as a tool.  But remember that you are the one controlling the tool – the tool shouldn’t control you.