“Thank you for applying to…”
These dreaded first words are
part of a common nightmare
for many high school seniors. After years
of effort through school, extracurriculars,
and personal essays, their college appli-
cation was rejected. However, in an era
where people share more and more on-
line, these rejections have become a new
addition to students’ social feeds.
Two PHS seniors, who asked to remain
anonymous, created an Instagram account
for seniors to share their college rejec-
tion letters because they saw other high
schools doing so. Despite only sharing six
letters, it has amassed almost 400 follow-
ers.
“College decision time is really stressful
for a lot of people, so I did want to make
it kind of funny,” said one of the account
creators.
The posts feature students’ rejection let-
ters accompanied
by witty
cap –
tions like ‘Stanford is missing out’ along-
side playful emojis. Several posts often
have other students commiserating and
encouraging the rejected individual in the
comments.
Senior Coral Yeh sent her rejection letter
from the University of California, Davis,
to the account cre-
ators.
“I figured why not,”
Yeh said. “I thought
that the rejections ac-
count was a fun idea,
and the previous posts
weren’t super mean.”
Piedmont and Mil-
lennium High College
and Career Counselor
Stefanie Manalo-Le-
Clair said she has also
seen students at other
high schools share
their rejection letters.
“It takes a little bit of
that doom and gloom feeling about rejec-
tion and spins it into something that a stu-
dent can laugh about a little bit,” Mana-
lo-LeClair said.
Manalo-LeClair cautioned students
against posting personal information on-
line and making potentially mean remarks
toward colleges
because future
employers and
other colleges
might see the ac-
count’s posts.
“This is the kind of
private, personal infor-
mation that I personally
probably wouldn’t share, but
it’s interesting seeing other peo-
ple choose to share it,” senior Hen-
ry Horsley said.
In addition to being playful, some said
the account created solidarity between
students going through the lengthy pro-
cess.
“It makes people that are rejected from
the same college feel better about them-
selves and show that it is not just them,”
said one of the account creators. “It’s a
way of connecting and showing rejection
is normal.”
Yeh said the account allowed her to
connect with other
students in similar sit-
uations.
“I think sharing re-
jections both normal-
izes the experience
and allows people to
show solidarity and
let them know they ar-
en’t alone,” Yeh said.
While the posts fo-
cus on seniors, the
account creators said
they also had to con-
sider the precedent
they set for juniors
and other students not
yet applying to college.
“I think it’s kind of comforting to know
that there’s other people who also are re-
jected,” junior Joseph Ichimaru said.
Manalo-LeClair said the account might
help juniors gain a more realistic view of
the college admissions process but could
also discourage them.
“Seeing lots of seniors they think are
very sharp getting rejected could be disil-
lusioning,” Manalo-LeClair said.
Ichimaru acknowledged this side effect
but said the account was unlikely to sub-
stantially affect juniors compared to oth-
er stress factors like standardized tests,
weighted classes, and social uncertainty.
Ultimately, Manalo-LeClair wanted to
leave students with a final piece of ad-
vice.
“You really can’t take it personally,”
Manalo-LeClair said. “They have so
many applicants for those schools that
there’s no way they can accept everybody
who applies.”
