Sorry, you didn’t get into Northwestern. If you are hyperventilating right now, we promise it will be ok. While getting rejected stinks, there is still enough time to ensure that you get into a great school. You just need to put the work in.
Last year, Northwestern’s acceptance rate was just around 7%. While their early decision acceptance rate was more like 22%, this number is always a little inflated by recruited athletes, legacies, and other ‘preferred applicants’ who tend to apply in the early round. The TLDR is that it is hard to get into Northwestern, and no matter when you apply, most students don’t get in.
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But what comes next? Well, you need to prepare for success in the regular decision round, and there are a couple of steps you need to take to set yourself up well. Let’s break them down.
Step 1: Breathe
It is easy to spiral after a rejection, but you can’t bring that energy to the regular decision round. Take some deep breaths and get your mind right. You want to be in your cool and collected era to optimize your RD applications. Take 2-3 days to feel your feelings, and then it's time to move on.
Step 2: Strategize
A lot of our job as counselors is setting up good strategies for our clients before they even start applying. However, it isn’t too late to inject some strategic planning into your application season. Part of that strategy needs to be a balanced college list. We always help our clients develop a list of 8-12 schools that contain a healthy mix of reach, target, and safety schools. This is a foundational step for a successful college application process. If you are worried, we have a blog about how to make a great college list that can help. However, we want to point out a couple of other vital points for students coming off a rejection.
Just because you didn’t get into Northwestern doesn’t mean you need to get rid of your reach schools. However, you should give your reach schools another look and make sure they don’t feel like too big of a stretch. Try to be practical here. In our experience, sometimes students can really focus on their reach schools and not give their target and safety schools enough love. Targets and safeties should be over 2/3rds of your college list and need to be schools that you would actually like to go to.
If your list needs a refresh, a good place to start is thinking about why you liked Northwestern. We have found that students who like Northwestern often like Duke, Boston College, Lehigh, McGill, and Tufts, but there are so many colleges out there that may be an excellent fit for you.
You should also check if any of the schools on your list offer ED2. For example, from the colleges we mentioned above, Boston College, Lehigh, and Tufts offer an ED2 option. Much like ED1, colleges admit at a higher rate during ED2, making it a powerful tool for applicants. We usually advise our clients to choose an ED1 and ED2 plan before they even apply to schools, but it isn’t too late to make a plan to use this round to your advantage.
However, our biggest tip when it comes to crafting your college list is to back it all up with data. Sometimes, students categorize reaches, targets, and safeties based on hunches. This won’t work. You need to look at the data. You should be combing through Common Data Sets, checking Class Profiles, and even using probability software to ensure that your college list is really balanced. We also encourage speaking to a counselor, whether a trusted high school college counselor or a private counselor like us, to double-check that your list is working for you and not against you.
Step Three: Essays
Ok, so bad news: you likely have to rewrite your Common App Essay. We know this sounds harsh, but whenever we work with a student coming off a rejection, we always look at their essays. 9 times out of 10, their essays need to be reworked. At the very least, you need to do a good edit.
While essays are only one of many factors that admissions offices look at, they help you stand out. Northwestern gets a lot of impressive candidates and not everyone with a 4.0 gets in. At elite schools, you need to stand out even if you are a great candidate, and your essays are your best chance of doing so.
Trust us; we specialize in helping students write creative and unique essays, and in our experience, an excellent essay vastly improves your chances of being accepted to top schools. So, TLDR: it's time to take another look at your Common App essay. If you don’t know where to start, we just published our Official Common App Essay Guide for 2024-2025. We also publish college-specific supplemental essays because, yes, you should also make sure your supplemental essays shine! If you need more bespoke help, we have you covered and can help you edit. Drop us an email.
Step Four: Ask for Help
Hey, we just said that! It isn’t a sign of weakness to ask for help. This process is hard, and working with a counselor can make all the difference. We offer a specific package for students in your exact position, the “It’s Going to Be Okay” package. It is an intensive in which a dedicated counselor will make sure that you are set up for success during the regular decision round. Let us hold your hand and ensure that your college list, applications, and essays work for you and not against you.
We know that it is hard to bounce back after a rejection, but you have less than a month and you need to. We believe in you. It just takes some work. So get into the right headspace and dive in. And remember, if you need us, we are here for you.
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