How I Got Into Graduate School (After Being Rejected)

Imagine the moment when you experience graduate school rejection.

I’ve been there.

Even worse, the person I’d just started dating was there for the news and inevitable tears.

After a day or two of feeling sorry for myself, I made a game plan to use the coming months to strengthen my application and reapply the following year.

This plan worked for me and can for anyone who’s been rejected and is reapplying to graduate school.

The Back Story

I’m a first-generation college student; this means that neither of my parents graduated with a bachelor’s degree.

Even though I had plenty of emotional support from home, no one in my working-class circle had applied to graduate school or knew the inner workings of the admissions process.

For much of my educational career, I’ve been a poster child for “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

I never let it stop me, but can see now how it slowed the process.

As a result, my path has been a little bumpier than those whose family members have navigated admissions processes and complex educational institutions.

(I’ll skip an inspirational quote about grit and resilience here).

My First Application Process

When a college advisor suggested a fitting career path that involved going back to graduate school, it eventually became the goal.

The year after I graduated, I participated in national service through AmeriCorps with a program called City Year. It gave me experience in education plus time and space to confirm my career plans and consider graduate school.

That fall I started the application process, studied for the GRE as best I could with books from the library and vocabulary flashcards, took the test during an emotionally turbulent time and was satisfied with meeting the cut-off score for the one program I was considering.

I couldn’t afford to take the GRE again, let alone get a tutor or take a class, so that score would have to do.

After getting letters of recommendation gathered and my personal statement written, I hit submit at the end of the application window and hoped for the best.

Getting Rejected from Graduate School

This was 2009, I’m near-positive it was a paper rejection letter.

The quarter-life crisis and existential dread of figuring out what to do next set in. The economy was still years away from recovery, too.

There were a lot of tears and confusion, I thought I’d put together a solid application.

I soon learned what I could have done better and decided to apply again the following cycle.

You don’t know what you don’t know. I should have studied longer for the GRE. And maybe considered researching and applying to more than one program if I could afford it. I also should have contacted the department to discuss my application… and applied sooner than last minute.

The Post-Rejection Plan

After a day or two of feeling sorry for myself, I executed the following plan:

1. Scheduled a faculty meeting to learn how to improve my graduate school application

2. Pursued a second service year with AmeriCorps related to my career interests to show I was committed to the field I would be studying

3. Overhauled my personal statement to better fit faculty interests

1) The Faculty Meeting

You know how there are certain moments in life where you can remember the exact words someone said that cut to you to the core?

This was one of those.

When I asked what was wrong with my application, the faculty member told me I was “more of a do-er than a scholar.”

Basically, they didn’t think I had what it took to be a successful graduate student based on what I put forth in my application.

You don’t know what you don’t know. It wasn’t until after this conversation that I learned this was a top 10 program in the country, and that my eventual master’s advisor literally wrote THE textbook used in almost every master’s program in my future field. My application had zero reflection of my research abilities… the rejection shouldn’t have been a shock.

2) Get Related Experience

I was committed to my career path — working with college students at a university — which required a master’s degree for entry level roles.

To “prove” that I had what it took to succeed in this field, I applied for a second year with AmeriCorps, this time with a Campus Compact program where I would work on a college campus.

My service projects were focused on college access initiatives and increasing the college-going rates of the county’s residents, which sat at around 15%.

The experience lent itself to a much more robust personal statement than the prior application, which I hoped would make up for previous shortcomings.

If you need to reapply to graduate school: 1) find out what the weak points were in your application, and 2) spend the next 10 months getting experience that addresses them. Reapplying shows your dedication to pursuing the degree and working in that field — both of which are key characteristics faculty want in graduate students.

3) The Personal Statement Overhaul

In addition to having directly-related work experience now on my application, I strengthened the academic narrative in my personal statement.

This included a more robust description of which faculty I was most excited to learn from and why. I emphasized my commitment to academics and how I would put theory into practice as a professional one day.

Having worked in the field for a year, I also made a much more compelling argument for why I wanted to pursue it as a career.

You don’t know what you don’t know. This is the article I needed when applying to a master’s program years ago. Hopefully it helps you avoid the personal statement mistakes I made.

The Result

I was accepted the next year.

To the nationally-ranked program.

If the fear of rejection is keeping you from applying, this is your sign to try anyways.

The worst that can happen is you try again.

And succeed.

Good luck, you've got this!

Follow Dr. Jena on LinkedIn for honest insight and helpful tips on your journey to graduate school as a working professional.

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