Commitment…it’s a difficult thing, especially when committing to a college. As many seniors know, the college process can be a daunting task and sometimes you need to deal with being either denied or wait-listed from colleges.
Senior Chase Gray found out that he was waitlisted from his top school, the University of Southern California.
“I knew it was going to be hard to get into, so when I was deferred to the school I was a little sad, but I didn’t lose hope on getting in,” Gray said.
Gray made the decision to commit to the University of Missouri as he can still go into his major in Broadcast Journalism.
“USC has a great program. Their campus is beautiful and there’s a lot of opportunities in my field out in California,” Gray said. “I know for me I want to get out of the state and be more on my own, somewhere my parents can’t be there within the hour so I can figure my problems out on my own and grow as a person.”
Being denied or deferred from your top college is common, and according to College Counselor Kevin Coy, it’s important to have a backup.
“I hate to call a school a backup, but students choose alternative options that span across the entire U.S. Some students choose Prairie State, while others may have wanted to go out of state…which might not have been their top option,” Coy said.
Sometimes if a student is certain they want to pursue a certain school, then your college counselor can make calls to the college administration to see if there’s something the student can do.
“We’ve made personal calls to admissions reps before, but it’s more just to inquire and see if there’s more the student can do. Usually, I’ll reach out beforehand to give the rep a heads up about a certain student if I feel they’re a good fit for that college,” Coy said.
He said although he will see what he can do for your college future, his job is to make sure a student is okay with having other school options and making sure you don’t get let down by ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’.
“I like to counsel students to consider Plan B, C, D, etc. in case Plan A doesn’t go as planned. That way, if it doesn’t work out at “school A,” then the student is okay with the decision to attend another option on their list,” he said.
Senior Joey Humphrey also applied to four schools for his major of Business or Economics.
He was denied from the University of Southern California and Duke and waitlisted at Notre Dame and Vanderbilt.
“I talked to Mr. Kain and he basically told me matters were out of my hands, which I expected,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey said being deferred was upsetting at first, but eventually, he and his parents thought the waitlisting was funny.
“Don’t get discouraged from being deferred, it’s not the end of the world,” Gray said. “You can still get in the school and can always transfer and reapply.”