Absolutely not! And I’m not trying to offer false solace; I’m offering an understanding of simple math.
Single- and low double-digit acceptance rates are REAL. If you got rejected from a school with, say, a 30% acceptance rate, then to consider yourself a failure means you’d also have to consider 7 out of every 10 college bound applicants to that colleges failures, too. Likewise, if a school with a 10% acceptance rate dings you (and many rates have spiraled to less than HALF that since 2020), then you’d have to consider 9 out of every 10 failures. And that would would be pretty nuts, so cut it out right now!
How did they get so low? Also simple math: WAYYY more applicants. To wit, in 2022, Northeastern had more than—you’d better sit for this—68,000 applicants. And that’s just NE’s early pool!
Low acceptance rates across the nation these days is precisely why we ask our parents to fund the considerable expense of application fees for a decent number (typically around 10, or ~$500-$1000) of colleges on our list. When acceptance rates are in the single and low double digits, you have to expect more, often many more, rejections than acceptances. Even the geekiest of the geeks accrue one or more rejections on their score cards in this era of Uber-competitive college admissions.
So buck up, Simba. Lick those wounds and go claim a different kingdom. No matter how meticulous a job you did on your early app(s), carefully review ALL your application materials, looking for places to upgrade, and get some regular deadline apps in motion. Maybe consider an ED2 school to maximize acceptance chances at this point. We’re here to help, so reach out if you need us!