Rejection and Redemption: My College Decision Journey

By: Rylee Cassidy

As April creeps up to an end, so does the start of May, and what that means for people aged

17-18 is that Decision Day is upon us. As someone who went through this exact process almost a year ago today, I know how it feels to anxiously wait for the response of your dream school, and how it feels to get an answer you didn’t want. In honor of the season, I would like to share my college decision journey in hopes that it will ease someone else’s anxiety and heartache.

I began touring schools, both unofficially, and officially as early as my junior year of high school. As someone who did not necessarily have “a dream school” this made my search even harder because I honestly had no idea what I was looking for. Did I want a big or small school? Did I care if the school had a football team or not? Those were questions I did not know the answer to. I started off touring some schools in my area, under an hour away from home. These schools being Saint Joseph’s University and The College of New Jersey. It is not like I hated these schools, but as soon as I stepped on campus I knew that these were not the right places for me. I wanted to graduate and leave high school behind, and with these schools being close to home and housing many of my high schools’ alumni, I knew that would not be the case there.

Once I discovered that I wanted to major in Communications I began my research. I scoured the Internet finding schools that had my major, and had a good program for it at that. After this criteria Syracuse University, University of Delaware, University of Connecticut, and Villanova University were added to my list. I submitted my applications in early October and for the next couple months it was a tortuous waiting game.

In the meantime I toured pretty much every school I applied to and, needless to say, some were better than others. In the beginning, Villanova was my top choice, excellent academics accompanied with a great sports environment. The dream soon was crushed after attending a tour where they said most of their acceptances received between 1400-1600 on their SATs. To no one's surprise I was deferred then rejected soon after.

Next on my list was Syracuse, they had one of the best Public Communications programs in the country, even better athletics, and a big school with a small school feel. This was exactly what I was looking for and after touring there, it immediately soared to the top of my list. If I’m being honest at this point I only really cared about getting into Syracuse and my other applications were ‘safety schools.

’ I had done some programs the summer before that I added to my application that made me hopeful on an acceptance. In late March when decisions finally came out I was fully prepared to see that orange confetti on the screen, but instead I was meant with,

not a flat-out rejection, but a waitlist spot. I was devastated, I truly had no idea what to do now.

The two schools I really wanted had not given me acceptances and now the clock was ticking on where I was going to choose. What did I do next, well I did what everyone else is expected to do in times of trouble and I picked myself up off my bootstraps and continued my search for ‘perfect college.

Although I still had four great schools to choose from, the ones I were actually interested in at this time were UConn and University of Delaware. This was a hard decision. I had one friend already attending University of Delaware and knew no one out in Connecticut. I could either go four hours away from home or one. After touring both schools in early April, I finally made my decision. I was going to attend the University of Connecticut. UConn’s endless clubs, great school spirit, challenging academics, and research connections would make for a school full of opportunities for me.

Fast forward now to a year later, I am almost done my freshman year here and am happy with my decision. I would be lying if I said that it was all completely smooth sailing, but in the end I have grown to love our traditions, niches, and spirit here. The college decision journey is not an easy one and feels isolating even though most of the population has dealt with rejection during this time.