63: 25 Reasons You May Have Been Rejected From Grad School

63: 25 Reasons You May Have Been Rejected From Grad School

In this episode you’ll hear some of the reasons Dra. Yvette has observed that students may have been rejected from grad school. They can include things that are in and out of your control. Sometimes the issues are related to selecting the right advisors, having a solid grad school list, writing tailored essays, securing strong recommendation letters, and other factors. No matter the reason, you can always reapply. Tune in to learn more!

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Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hello everyone. Today I have an episode on twenty-five reasons you may have been rejected from grad school. The reason I'm talking about this today is because I've been thinking about this episode for a while now in my head, just as an idea. Sometimes things come up and I have this impression of the reasons why a student may not have been admitted to grad school. And I'm gonna give you some background.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I have been helping students apply and get into graduate programs for over ten plus years, since 2010. So going on eleven years now. In that time, I've had a pretty solid record. I believe it's been probably over 90% of the people that I've actually helped- in terms of reviewing their statements, helping them brainstorm, kind of walking them through the process of helping them get into at least one graduate program- not all of them, but at least one.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But there are some cases- and to me, they're always strange. It's really hard to predict. But there are cases where a student might not get into even one program, even if they're stellar students, even if their profile is just set and I have this impression that they're a shoo in. Every once in a while someone doesn't get in. Based on all of these observations, I came up with twenty-five potential reasons that you may have been rejected from grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Keep in mind, this is just my impression, my observations. There's no way for me to truly know why you didn't get into grad school. It's not like I saw your application, or I was part of the admissions committee. So I don't know. But here are some ideas, some possibilities. This might be helpful for you if you apply this time around, didn't get in and you're thinking of reapplying next year. These are just some things to keep in mind for next time.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I want to start with some things that are completely out of your control. So yes, there is the chance that you might have had a really excellent application, strong essays, strong letters of rec, good GPA, decent GRE scores. Maybe GRE scores weren't required, so you didn't submit them and they weren't considered. Just overall a very good academic and research profile, and you still did not get in. What happened?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

These are the things that could have happened. Maybe the departments that you applied to were not accepting students this year. Yes, that did happen. As a result of the pandemic, I heard of entire departments- for instance, one student told me that there was an entire department in sociology that told him that they weren't admitting students this year. So the student had to take that school out of their grad school list.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But if the student hadn't reached out to that department to ask them to try to consult and to meet with professors, potential advisors, they wouldn't have found out about this. It wasn't widely publicized on their website, so students presumably could have applied to the department and then not get in. Then they're taking it personally, like it was something that they did that was wrong. But in actuality, that department just didn't accept anyone. That's one reason that's completely out of your control.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another reason out of your control is maybe the department lost funding. So instead of admitting a certain cohort size- say their cohorts are ten, or fifteen, or twenty, they only admitted a fraction of them- maybe five, or six, or three, or four, or one or two. Sometimes, there's just a very limited number of spots. That's on a case by case basis. It's really hard to tell per year how many spots are available. But I did hear that that was more common this year. Because of budget cuts, a lot of departments shrank their cohort sizes this time around, and I'm not sure how it's going to be next time around. This may not be the case next year.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another thing out of your control is that maybe the adviser that you wanted to work with didn't admit any students this year. Similarly, maybe the department as a whole is doing okay, but certain professors lost funding. If that's the case, and they only accept students if they can provide them with funding, then maybe the professor you wanted to work with didn't accept anyone this year. Maybe similarly, the adviser that you wanted to work with is on their way out. They might be retiring. They might be transitioning to another job, making a lateral career move where they got a job at another institution, and they're on their way out. Sometimes this happens.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another reason that's out of your control is that maybe you are applying or you did apply to a program or a discipline that actually encourages gap years and more work experience. This is not true across the fields, but I know for instance, in areas like education or in psychology, it can be a strength to take some time after undergrad to gain some work experience- internship experience, teaching experience, or even research experience through a research assistantship before you go in and get the PhD. That's on a case by case basis. You really would need to consult with professors in your discipline to find out if that is the case in your major.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Those are the five reasons that I could come up with that are out of your control. What is in your control? Twenty other reasons, they're all in your control. The first one, or a couple of ones that are going to come up next, are related to advisor issues. Maybe you only listed one person to work with. That's an issue, and that's in your control.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Ideally, you should be listing two to three professors per program. You don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket, because again, what if that advisor is on their way out. You don't know. What if they don't have funding, you don't know. So it's better to have two to three people. If there aren't two to three people, then maybe that's not the school for you or not the program for you. That's one- an advisory issue.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another one is that you didn't meet with them. You didn't meet with prospective advisors. Believe it or not, in certain fields, especially in STEM fields, it's practically a requirement to meet with professors before you even apply and to ask them if they're accepting students this year. It's not necessarily a requirement in the humanities and social sciences, but it can only help- not hurt you. I strongly encourage it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

In fact, I wish that I could make it a requirement for students to go out of their way and meet with prospective advisors. A lot of times our students freak out, get really nervous, think that someone's going to realize that they're a fraud, and that they're going to grill them and quiz them and that's going to negatively affect their application.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But in actuality, more often than not, it actually helps them because, one, maybe they develop a great relationship and rapport with this person. That person then vouches for them, advocates for them, remembers them when they apply. Or maybe they have a not so great meeting, and it's awkward and uncomfortable. They get this really weird vibe from the individual, and maybe they're sensing toxicity there. They are actually saving themselves time in knowing that they don't want to work with this person for four or five, six years of their life. They can scratch that person off their list.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Or maybe they go on and meet and it's a great fit. The person's awesome. But then that professor tells them actually, we're not taking any students this year. This is just good to know, to get that information, and you won't get that information from the website. So go ahead. I strongly encourage you to meet with prospective advisors.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It's a great time to do that. Between now, because summer is about to start. We're near the end of the spring quarter in the UC system, and I know that we're practically in the summer for the semester system. This is a great time to reach out to professors- between now and whenever the fall term starts for you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another advisor related aspect of your application that is in your control that maybe last time affected you and was the reason you didn't get in is that you didn't actually reach out to your own professors to ask them for input on who they know that you might want to work with. Always consult with your network, the people that you know- grad students, professors- and ask them, based on work that I've done so far, based on my interests, do you know anybody who I might want to work with? Because odds are, if you have a faculty mentor and develop a great relationship with them, then they probably have connections and people that they know that would be a good fit for you too.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another thing that you may not have done is maybe you didn't reach out to grad students. A lot of times, my students- even though I tell them time and time and time again, meet with professors in advance, meet with grad students in advance, get information. It's going to help you. They get overwhelmed, over extended, they freak out and they don't do it. And they end up doing it after the fact, after they've applied or after they get in to grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But it's actually really helpful to do it before you apply, to talk to the grad students to ask them for input on who to work with and maybe who to avoid. Because then they can let you know- actually this person is great. Go ahead and apply. Or this person is great, but they're actually leaving, or this person is not so great. Maybe you want to go and work with someone else or actually there's this new person who is coming in the fall, who is not even on the website right now and you'd be a perfect fit to work with them. You won't get that on the website. So talk to prospective advisors and talk to the grad students.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now let's move on to other things. I've gone through five things that are out of your control, four things that are related to advisor issues. Now we're moving on to grad school list issues- reasons ten, eleven and twelve. Reason ten that you may not have gotten into grad school is that you didn't apply to any Master's or postbacc programs. Instead, you put all your eggs in the PhD basket. You only applied to PhD programs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I think this is really risky, especially if you don't have a Master's degree, which none of my students do. Otherwise, they wouldn't be working with me. Or if you don't have much research experience when applying. I often encourage students to include Master's and postbacc programs. That way, they have a wide range of different kind of levels of programs, and also not just the top 10, but more safety schools. I also encourage them to maybe look into research assistant positions as well, just to have a broad range of options to apply from.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Why do I do that? Because it's really hard to get into a Ph. D. program right out of undergrad without a Master's degree. And in the case that you don't get into a Ph.D program, it's nice to have those Master's degrees as another option. And the postbacc programs, if they are available in your field, are even better, because oftentimes they are fully funded. Oftentimes, they include in their curriculum, assistance with helping you to apply to PhD programs. It's really nice to have this full- sometimes they're called gateway to PhD, or some sort of path to PhD program. The whole point is to get you into a Ph. D. program.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So if there are postbacc programs in your field, I strongly encourage you to include them in your list. Don't just apply to PhD programs. I've seen that happen among our top scholars who have excellent GPAs. They've just been high achieving in every way. And they think, I'm definitely gonna get in. They only apply to PhD programs, and then they don't get in or they only get into a couple of places. And it's tough to select from not a lot of options, especially if those options are not their top choices. So include master's and postbacc programs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Next grad school list issue is what I mentioned earlier. You only apply to top 10 programs in your field. I don't recommend this. So many times, this is what students do. They go to US News and reports, they go to that website. And then they choose the top 10 schools for their major- top 10 schools in econ, top 10 schools in theater, top 10 schools in physics. And that's their list. That's where they apply. They just kind of try to force their way into like, this kind of fits- working with this professor in this lab, or with this professor doing this work. Nope, don't do that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Instead of only selecting top 10 programs, you should be applying to the top 10 programs that are a good fit for you. Not the top 10 programs nationwide, but actually the programs that have a good fit based on the individuals that are there and the work that they are doing. Making sure that the work that they are doing mirrors or complements or is the kind of work that you would want to do in grad school. It's all about fit.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You also want to include safety net schools. There are a lot of really wonderful schools that maybe aren't top 10. Maybe they're top 20 and they're still really great schools with great individuals. So focus on fit. Don't focus on ranks. And that goes the other way around. Don't just apply to safety net schools because you don't believe that you're going to get into the top Ivy League schools. If there's someone who's really great, a great fit for you and they are at an Ivy League, go ahead and include it in your list.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Another grad school list issue is you didn't apply to enough programs. This happens a lot. Students work really hard and they do all their homework. They have a really strong application. They only apply to one school because they're convinced that this is the only place I want to go. I don't want to move. I want to stay here, and this is the only school that's near where I am at. Most people don't get the one on one attention. I've actually helped my partner, I've helped my cousin, I've helped my sister in law, apply to only one program and get into that one program.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But most people don't have a personal coach who can help them through every step of the way, answer every single question that they have. Most people don't have access to that resource. And also, a lot of times applying to grad school is a numbers game. Even if you have all the help in a world, with a personal coach helping you along the way, you might still not get in because of the reasons that are out of your control, which I mentioned earlier- lack of funding, they're not accepting students. You never know.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So don't just apply to one programs. Don't just apply to two programs. Don't just apply to three or four programs. I recommend eight to twelve. Sometimes students can handle more than twelve. And if they can, and they find enough programs, and they are all good fits, go ahead and do that. But from my experience, eight to twelve is a decent number. It should give you enough options. Just consider including more than just one or two programs on your list.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now we're on to reason thirteen. The next set of reasons you might not have been admitted to grad school are related to your essays. In my opinion, essays and letters of recommendation are the most important aspects of your grad school application. That's my opinion. Other people might think otherwise. But that's just my opinion, from my experience, from what I've observed.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

With essays, there's quite a few reasons actually that you might slip up or mess up in the essay portion. One is you didn't ask for or review any sample essays to get a sense of what a strong statement looks like. I know this is awkward and uncomfortable to ask other people, would you mind sharing your essays with me?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But yes, you can make the ask and you can ask them without expecting them to say yes. You can say hi, I know you applied to this program and got in. I was wondering if you might have any advice or if you feel comfortable sharing some of your sample application materials. Having an opportunity to review sample materials would greatly help me as I start drafting my own. I understand if you might not feel comfortable sharing the materials. Any advice, any input, any support you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It doesn't hurt to ask. Again, I just off the top of my head came up with a sample email. It's not even the best, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Make the ask and be very grateful for whatever advice that they can offer. If they provide you with sample materials, take a look at them. Get an idea of what it is about their essay that made it strong.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Oftentimes, it's specificity. It's them being very clear about who they are and their background and how it relates to what it is that they're wanting to study. But for me, what was really helpful when I was an undergrad and even as a grad student when I applied and got multiple fellowships, it was really helpful to see samples. To take a look at the language and how they transition from one idea to another. I didn't mirror it. I didn't use that language that they use. It just gave me a structure.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It gave me almost like a rubric, something to follow. Like oh okay, so from here, they went to this. Even if they were in a completely different field, it helped a lot to take a look at sample essays. And also to remind myself that my first draft would not look like their final draft, because their first draft didn't look like their final draft. So if you start to take a look at samples, and they look amazing, and you think- I can't write like that. That's not true. They went through multiple drafts to get to that. You also will go through multiple drafts to get to having a strong statement. So if you can, get a hold of sample essays.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, reason fourteen. You didn't do enough research in your statements. You didn't look up the location, the institution, the program and convince them that you're a good fit. Fit is everything when it comes to grad school apps. It doesn't matter if you have straight A's and four years of research. If you're not a good fit for them, they're not going to admit you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The other reason is that you didn't get feedback on your essays. You worked on a draft- first draft. That's what you submitted. Very few people will get into graduate school off of a first draft without getting any feedback from anyone.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Reason sixteen- you asked for help, you got feedback, but you didn't implement that feedback. This actually I've seen, I've witnessed. I've actually had this happen. I've provided students with a ton of feedback on their writing, on their essays. And I think it can be really hard to work on revision, especially when you're an undergrad, and you're not used to revising your writing.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

A lot of times students take feedback personally, and they struggle to kind of own up and read the feedback and address it. I remember- I've seen this happen with a student where they get feedback from one person, and then they don't address it. And then they go and send that same paper with the marginal comments and the feedback from one person and send it to another. Then from that person, they send it to another. Almost like they're expecting other people to make the revisions for them. No one is going to make the revisions for you.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Even if you work with an editor or coach, they shouldn't be doing the writing for you. They should be giving you feedback, giving you suggestions, helping you through the process, but it should be your writing. It should be you making the revisions. So take it seriously. You really should revise your statement, not even just once- a couple of times before you submit it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, reason seventeen is you didn't tailor your essays for each program. You just worked on one generic essay, and sent it to all of your programs, and you just filled in the blanks for the names of the programs. That's it. You want your statements to be tailored. Not every single line needs to be tailored, but at the very least, you should have a fit paragraph in your Statement of Purpose. That fit paragraph should be written differently and specifically for each program, based off the research that you did- which I mentioned earlier- on location, on program, on institution, on the people you want to work with. Do your research. Do your homework, and then show that in your essays.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Reason eighteen, you didn't tell us who you are in your essays. I can't tell you how many times. When I help people, I get to know them pretty well. They're vulnerable with me. I know who they are. I know their background. I know their identities. Then I read their statement, and I think, I would never know that you self identify as x, or that you come from x background or you have this experience.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If any person could have written your statement- if you're reading it, and you wouldn't know certain particularities about you- your background, your identity, your experiences, your XY and Z about you. Then it's not a strong statement. It's too vague. It's not specific enough. I just want to make sure that we get an idea of who you are, that your statement stands out. Otherwise, like I said earlier, it's just not specific enough, and it doesn't stand out. We don't know who you are. It's not going to be the strongest statement. It's not going to help you get in.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, reason nineteen- you didn't include a short statement justifying gaps in your application. If you have a gap in your app, don't just ignore it and hope and pray that they don't see it. If you know your GPA isn't as strong, your GRE isn't a strong score, if there was a quarter or semester that you took a leave of absence, don't just ignore it. Own up to it and justify it.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It doesn't have to be a long part. It could be in your personal statement. It could be in your Statement of Purpose. It could be in the section of the online portal where it says- is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself? But justify what happened. If you want to know how to do that, I've got a whole episode on that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Reason twenty- your writing sample wasn't strong enough. Oof, I think this has gotten a couple of my students, I'll be honest. This is a tough one. I've actually witnessed students who have been writing or working on their writing sample at the last minute, who maybe worked on the writing sample, but they didn't meet the page length. Maybe the page length was twenty, twenty-five pages, and they turned in something that was half that length. Maybe they drafted at the last minute, so it was a rough draft and it needed lots of revisions, lots of editing. If that's the case, if you think it was a writing sample that really kind of didn't help your application much, you want to make sure to focus on that when you are reapplying, if you decide to reapply. That's reason twenty.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Now moving on to recommendation letters. One reason you may not have been admitted is maybe you didn't have strong letters. How do you get strong letters of rec? By asking for a strong letter of rec. Literally, in your email, when you ask for a recommendation letter, you ask them- will you be able to write me a strong letter of recommendation?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then, after you ask that and get yes from them, you back it up with providing them with a recommendation packet that includes everything that they need- rough drafts of your essays, your statement of purpose, your personal statement, an updated copy of your CV, and anything else that they may ask from you to write a strong letter. So asking for a strong letter, giving them a recommendation packet, even offering to meet with them to talk more about yourself, your application, your ambitions, all of that will help you get a strong recommendation letter.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The other reason related to letters that you may not have gotten into grad school is that you didn't follow up with your recommenders. You ask them for letters of rec. And then you didn't send them your packet, or you didn't give them specific deadlines, or you didn't remind them a week before the deadline was due about the fact that it was coming up. Then they mess up and didn't submit their letters on time. It is your responsibility to remind them. So make sure you follow up with your recommenders.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, now we're on to reason 23. And there's three more reasons. These are other factors that could have affected your application. One is, maybe you actually didn't submit a complete application. Your application was incomplete. The GRE scores didn't arrive. The transcripts didn't arrive. For recommendation letters, like I said earlier, they arrived late. And you know what? Programs will not always reach out to you to notify you that you have an incomplete application. It's always best to double check, and to go ahead and email them if you need to verify that you have a complete application.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Ideally, you're submitting your entire application a week early. So all of your deadlines- push them up by a week. That way, a couple of days before the deadline, you can reach out to them to verify that you have a complete application. You don't have to do this, but it just helps to minimize the potential that you will have an incomplete application. And if things really get bad and you end up realizing the day of the deadline or after the deadline has passed- they tell you you're missing materials.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Ask them if there's any way that you can submit materials after the deadline. It doesn't hurt to ask. They might say no, but in some cases, we've had students do that and they said yes. Then they turn in their applications, and yes, it was after the deadline, but they still got in. Don't say, I missed the deadline. It's all over. I guess I'm gonna move on. Actually, you could ask. You never know, maybe they might give you the extension.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, reason 24. Second to last reason- you did not ask for help. Some people get help from mentors, from advisors, if they're part of a specific grad school prep program. I'm thinking McNair, Mellon Mays, MARC, all the other programs that are intended to help students get into graduate school. Some have the financial capacity to hire academic coaches or editors, and they get help or support in that way.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then there are some who have the educational privilege of having access to parents or aunts, uncles, cousins, community members, just individuals who are loved ones, who are close to them, who have advanced degrees, who can help them with that process. Some get help from friends who have already gotten into grad school.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Whatever it is that you have within your reach, reach out to your community and ask for help. Don't do it alone. Please don't. It's just gonna make things a lot harder and again, increase the chances that you'll do something wrong that will be the reason that you don't get into grad school. So ask for help. The more help you get, the better off you'll be.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Okay, the last one is reason 25- you didn't apply at all. I could go on and have a separate podcast episode about mindset issues. Why didn't you apply? You said no to yourself. You didn't let someone else say no to you, you said no to yourself. You didn't think you could do it, so you didn't do it. You got in your own way. You freaked out. You second guessed yourself. You let the deadline slip by.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Maybe you actually didn't want to apply to grad school anyway, and you're in denial. Maybe you haven't fully accepted the fact that you don't want to go to grad school because you don't want to disappoint others. Maybe you're telling yourself you're going to take a gap year, but in actuality, you know deep down inside, you're not going to apply next year either.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Whatever mindset issue it is, it's better to try to own up to it. Was it really that you just were afraid of other people saying no to you, so you just prefer to say no to yourself? If that's the case, you need to work on that because this time next year, not that much is going to change and you're still going to feel unprepared. Nobody ever truly feels 100% prepared to apply to grad school. Trust me, even the folks who are reapplying, who have lots of experience, there's still that part of them that worries that they're not going to get in.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So you really want to work on your mindset issues. That way, you don't get in your own way of applying. Then if you know you're just not interested in going to grad school, you might want to own up to it. You might want to admit it, accept it and have those tough conversations with yourself and with the people around you who may be pressuring you to go to grad school. And then think about what is coming next for you. If you don't go to grad school, what are your other options?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Those are the twenty- five reasons that I could come up with that you may not have gotten into grad school. If you went ahead and applied and you really wanted to get in, and you didn't, I want to leave you with this saying that I got from my friend Cecilia Caballero. She told me that she heard someone say that rejection is redirection. And I really love that saying- rejection is redirection.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Maybe you did realize that you didn't give it your all this last cycle and you want to go ahead and reapply. You know what? The fact that you're reapplying automatically increases your chances of getting in. Why? Because you already have statements to work off of. You can rework them to make them stronger. Anything you do now to help improve them, they're going to be stronger.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

You can ask for feedback. You can go back to the programs you applied to and ask them for feedback. The worst thing that can happen is they ignore your email and they don't give you feedback, and then you end up where you started. That's okay. But the best thing that can happen is they actually do give you feedback. Then you can work off of that feedback to improve your application based off what they said.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What else? You can take what you learned from the process last year and try to develop a better system of applying. You can try to get more organized this time around. Now that you've done it once, it should be easier to do it again. Your letters might also be stronger if you reapply because then your recommenders also won't be starting from scratch. They can reuse the letters that they used last time around. Then they can update them to reflect whatever it is that you worked on or did during your gap year. Again, those letters are going to be stronger.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Going back to this idea of rejection as redirection- I'm going to be wrapping up soon. I want to go back to what I mentioned earlier about maybe your heart isn't in it anymore. Maybe your gut, your intuition is telling you that you no longer want to pursue grad school. That is okay, to think of this experience as data. All of this is a learning experience for you. And no matter what, it's gonna get you closer to the next step and to your next set of goals.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If you went ahead and applied, you didn't get in, and then you realize- actually I don't think I want to go to grad school anymore anyway. This was not time wasted. You still gained a skill set. The whole process of getting organized, following through from beginning to end, is a really great skill set that you will be implementing in other settings as well.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm gonna go ahead and leave you with that. If you want to reapply, you got this. You can do it. Go ahead and think about some of the reasons that I mentioned. Don't get discouraged. Whatever it is that you can do to improve your application the second time around automatically will increase your chances. So you got this. Lean on your community, ask for help. I hope you'll have a good rest of the day. I hope you found this helpful and I'll talk to you all next time.

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