In keeping with our miniseries on forging ahead after deferrals and rejections, we’re here to answer a question that we get frequently. In short, no, unfortunately you can’t reapply to the same college during regular decision if you were rejected early decision. This is a harsh reality, and one of the reasons why we always suggest being realistic when it comes to choosing early decision schools. With that being said, the road does not end here.
One of the hardest parts about being rejected from your dream school is that you feel like you’ll never find another school that compares. And while our goal is not to diminish your feelings, we do believe that a rejection letter opens up doors you might have considered before. Below you’ll find two paths that you can take after being rejected early decision:
Find schools that have similar offerings:
Start by making a list of everything you love about the school you were deferred from. It might be helpful to start broadly, perhaps with location or size, but be sure to get into the specifics. Look into the academic program that you planned to study and figure out exactly what you liked about it. Giant lecture halls? Good access to professors? What specific academic programs and other offerings were you into? The longer your list, the better. Once you’ve got that list down, start finding schools with similar offerings. But before you start – get realistic about academic viability. In other words, find schools with similar offerings that are within reach given your performance in high school thus far. If it helps, we have a series of blog posts that go into schools that are similar to Harvard, Cornell, and Brown. And while it may seem impossible to find a school you love just as much, it’s important to keep an open mind. The show much go on, and the sooner you start researching, the more likely you are to find a school that makes just as much sense.
Go in the other direction – consider things you dismissed after you applied somewhere else early decision:
Bear with us while we ask you to consider rethinking, well everything. We understand what happens when students start to envision themselves at a specific school. Let’s use Brown as an example. Ever since you applied, you’ve been picturing your life there: you’re taking full advantage of the open curriculum, you’ve taken on several new social justice projects, and you even bought a pair of non-prescription seeing eyeglasses. We get it, it’s hard not to warm up these plans once you’ve hit submit on your early application. You start to picture yourself there, and somewhere along the way, it starts to feel like the ~only~ path forward. But what if it’s not? Chances are once you set your sights on your dream school and applied early, you stopped taking anything else seriously and focused all of your energy on getting into Brown, or whatever your top choice school was. But now that it’s no longer an option. So, no, you won’t be living in Providence, but what if you moved to California or Michigan? Now that your Plan A is gone, why not revisit those schools you didn’t take so seriously and see what they have offer? If nothing else, rejection offers you the freedom to reimagine the future.
Need help figuring out your backup plan? Contact us here.