Swarthmore is an excellent small liberal arts school that has become intensely competitive to gain admission to in recent years. The college wasn’t ever easy to get into — or, at least, not in the past half century. But the acceptance rate has plummet more recently and more students than ever are receiving disappointing news in the Early Decision round.

Rejection nearly always stings, but getting an Early Decision rejection from a dream school is particularly frustrating. If you recently heard from Pomona that they don’t have a space for you, it is understandable if you feel turned upside down. You had a plan and being rejected wasn’t part of it. Now, you have to figure out what comes next.

If you recently received a rejection from Bowdoin in the Early Decision round, you aren’t alone. The ED acceptance rate for Bowdoin is quite low, and admissions is extremely competitive. That doesn’t make it hurt less, though. An ED rejection is always gutting, as a dream school rejection is, to put it bluntly, the rejection of a dream. But it isn’t the end of your college dreams. You can still get into an exceptional school. To pull that off, you need to figure out what to do next.

If you’ve recently received a rejection from Rice in the Early Decision round, we know that this wasn’t the plan. You picked Rice ED because you are in love with what they offer, and it felt possible. Not easy, probably, but possible. But now you have a rejection in your inbox, and you have to figure out what comes next.

You had a plan. You would apply to Johns Hopkins Early Decision, get in, and be done with the college application process. Or, if you didn’t get in ED, you’d at least be deferred. A deferral is far from an acceptance, of course, bouncing you into the Regular Decision pool, but Johns Hopkins would still be in the mix. However, that isn’t what happened. Now you are grappling with a rejection ED and trying to figure out what comes next.

Any rejection is upsetting, but college rejections — especially in the Early Decision round — have a particular sting to them. There is so much hope, optimism, and hard work wrapped up in college applications, that having a dream school like Northwestern shut down that potential future is frustrating, to put it lightly.

If you recently received a notice of rejection from Boston College in the Early Decision round, that is a major downer. It wasn’t the plan. You picked Boston College for Early Decision because it is a dream school that seemed feasible. You didn’t assume you would get in, but you also thought that you had a solid chance to at least be deferred. Unfortunately, this ED rejection tells us that Boston College didn’t assess your application as “highly competitive.” In this post, we’re going to break down what this means, why it may have happened, and what you need to do next to get into a dream school.

Receiving a rejection from Williams in the Early Decision round is more than frustrating. For many, it is devastating. Williams is a highly-selective school, and it is also a self-selecting one. Students who apply to Williams want Williams, even more so when they decide to apply ED. We’ll go into some numbers in a moment, but the chances of getting into Williams are low enough that it isn’t a safe ED option for anyone. So, what does a rejection tell us and what should you do next?

If you applied to Barnard Early Decision, you know what you want. As an all-women’s college, it has built in filters that guarantee that every ED applicant has thought long and hard about their collegiate future. What you didn’t want, though, was a rejection.

Being rejected Early Decision from Middlebury stings. Yes, it’s a super competitive school, but you didn’t apply thinking that you’d be rejected. Using your Early Decision I for Middlebury was probably a measured choice. You thought hard about it, and it didn’t work out how it was supposed to. What you do next will determine whether you move into a dorm at a dream school in the fall.