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Early Decision Rejection: Should You Change Your Application?

Early decision results arrive full of emotions. For most students, this is their first response from a college admissions office in a process that has been hyped up throughout all of high school (or even earlier). Mid-December, thousands of students anxiously check their college application portals, praying for happy news. But the reality is, only the lucky few receive a congratulatory message. If you got an early decision rejection, you are not alone!

No matter what, an early decision rejection can sting. But I’m here to remind you that everything will be okay! In fact, more deadlines and more chances for acceptances await in a few short weeks.

An early decision rejection can trigger many questions and cause students to second-guess themselves. Is there something wrong with one of my recommendations? Do I need to change the application? While an early decision rejection provides an opportunity for self-reflection, it’s important not to fixate on the past. Here’s some advice for how to move forward from an early decision result that wasn’t what you were hoping for.

Take a Deep Breath

This is the first school you applied to; you inevitably put pressure on yourself for a fantastic result from your dream school. But in the grand scheme of things, this is only one school. Even if you loved it, there are hundreds of incredible institutions where you can achieve amazing things!

The first step for moving forward with your applications for the regular decision round is gaining this perspective. Remember: cut-throat admissions rates are the name of the game these days. As acceptance percentages shrink year by year, remember that some of the results come down to luck.

Did You Shoot for the Stars?

Often, applying early decision is a strategic way to play the admissions odds. Since students commit to enrolling if accepted through this application scheme, colleges can count on these early applicants to boost their yield. Colleges like to know that they are your #1 choice and are more likely to say yes. If your application was the non-binding early action variety, you might not have had a statistical advantage in the admissions office, but it can be nice to just know your result earlier.

The size of the admission advantage varies from school to school, but early decision does provide an advantage. At my alma mater, Dartmouth’s regular decision admission rate of 10.4% shot up to 24.9% during the early decision round this year. With the edge that the ED round can provide, many students apply to an extreme-reach, dream school that might be a bit out of reach.

Sticking with my Dartmouth example, let’s look at what those numbers mean: while 24.9% of applicants are accepted, let’s remember that the vast majority are still deferred or denied. A whopping 75.1%, in fact! Your chances for ED might be higher, but that doesn’t mean they are high. If you were shooting for the stars with your early decision selection, remind yourself that the school you aimed for was always a reach. As strong as your application may be, your ED school may have always been a gamble.

Even if you knew you were stretching yourself with your early decision choice, it is always wise to re-evaluate your school list at this point to ensure that you are on target. Look through all of the schools on your list that you added during the college search, and check the average GPA and standardized test scores to verify that some of the school are well within reach. The smartest school lists will have a combination of reach, fit, and safety schools. To make sure that you’ll end up at a school where you’d be content, verify that you have enough fit and safety schools in the mix.

Have Others Read Your Application

It is ALWAYS smart to have people around you read your application. An extra set of eyes can help catch any grammatical errors or things that might rub someone else the wrong way. After an early decision rejection, it is all the more important to reach out to your parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, teammates, coaches, and mentors for their help and time. These editors may notice some common mistakes in your personal statement or Common App activities list that you missed the first time.

Odds are, you already asked for some editing help the first time around. I still recommend asking for fresh perspectives! If you didn’t go through a thoughtful editing process during your ED application, you’ll definitely want to invest time to polish and fine-tune everything before regular decision submissions. Carefully look through your application to ensure it is grammatically correct, appropriate content, and shows who you are.

Listen to Ben Schwartz, a Former Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth, talk about applying early and what to do after rejection in our podcast:

Don’t Dwell

Most applicants have strategized their personal statement and supplemental essays, assembled their activities list in a careful way, asked supportive recommenders, and have just done everything they could have. If that is the case for you, do not look back! Have confidence in who you are as an applicant and don’t doubt your application.

For the sake of your sanity, and also for the sake of time, don’t dwell! With only a few weeks before regular decision deadlines, invest your time into making these upcoming applications as strong as they can be. Give your regular decision schools the same TLC you gave your ED choice.

Getting an early decision rejection is never easy, but it is not the end of the world! In this ultra-competitive college process, rejections are part of the game. Re-examine your school list and give your application a few more reads. But odds are, your smartest strategy will be to just polish your application and keep moving forward. Get to work on your regular decision applications today!