I was REJECTED by a university, what should I do? (Get Accepted to Your Dream University Part #13)

- Hey guys, welcome to a psychological video.

Today, I'm gonna talk to people

who have not been accepted to their dream university,

or maybe you have been accepted

but you didn't get enough financial aid

and you couldn't attend.

It's not the end of the world,

and I wouldn't even consider this a failure.

I would consider it another opportunity and great experience

and we're gonna talk about things you can do now,

'cause there are a lot of things you can do.

So, continue watching.

(upbeat music)

Okay, first, don't be upset.

Like, I know this happens,

and it's gonna happen so many times in your life.

Welcome to adulthood.

Like, things are gonna fail,

you're gonna fail in a lot of things,

but your attitude to this should be,

I got some experience.

I passed some standardized tests

and I know how to improve my scores,

or maybe you have already good scores

and you don't need to improve them.

Second, if you are not an English native speaker,

your English should've probably become a lot better.

Third, you know how the application process works

so if you decide to reapply,

it's gonna be a lot easier next year.

Basically, I've taught a lot of students

from Stanford, and they said

they have like 30% of a class who are re-applicants.

So basically they applied once,

they did not get accepted,

but they applied for it the second time,

for the third time.

There's an accelerator called Y Combinator

in Silicon Valley, and they say on average

they accept startups after their third application.

And it's okay.

Like, if there is a dream university

and you're sure you're meant to be there,

reapply the next year.

Just make sure you're improving your test scores,

make sure you're comparing yourself, again,

to the class profile.

Maybe notice something that you think wasn't strong enough.

Maybe it's the test scores,

maybe you didn't have enough work experience.

So take this year to get some work experience

to earn some money for your future education

so maybe you can have some savings

and don't rely that much on financial aid.

Maybe your English wasn't that good,

take this time to brush up your English,

travel to an English-speaking country.

I would, like, if you have some money

I would even travel to a place

where all of your dream universities are,

like California for example, we have Berkeley

right across the bridge here in San Francisco.

We have Stanford 40 minutes away.

We have UCLA a one hour flight from here.

Come to this place, learn English,

attend all of the universities,

'cause they pay a lot of attention

to students who actually come to campuses

and meet them in person,

'cause this is another level of dedication.

Number two, maybe you don't even need that program.

Like, if you were applying to a master's program,

or an MBA, think twice.

Do you really need it?

In my case, okay, my story,

when I got accepted to my MBA program,

I also got accepted to another program,

500 Startups, the accelerator program.

And I realized I don't really need MBA.

The goal of my MBA degree

was to grow my startup in the US,

'cause I thought if I do my MBA here,

then I would be able to grow my company,

meet local people and stuff.

But then basically I realized I can do that without MBA,

it's gonna save me two years, it's gonna save me money.

And I decided to skip this part of my life.

And I don't regret it at all.

So maybe, there is a faster route

to whatever you're going.

Maybe start a business straight away

if you are doing MBA to start a business.

Maybe do master's in your own country and come here

for a PhD if you're doing something scientific.

Another thing that I would highly recommend looking at

are certificate programs.

There are so many of them in the US

and the coolest thing about the certificate programs

is some of them allow you to stay in the US

for a year and work here,

so OPT, the thing I've talked about

in my visa and immigration video.

Basically what happens, so for example UCLA

that I've mentioned already in this video,

which is one of the top universities in the US,

has a lot of certificate programs.

One of my favorites is, for example, digital marketing.

You have the same tutors who teach master's.

You have the same campus,

well, it's like a different building,

but it's still UCLA campus,

you are still a UCLA student.

You have to access to the community,

you have access to all of the facilities.

But a master's program costs 40, 50 thousand dollars,

a certificate program costs 9000 dollars for a year.

It's a little less in terms of hours

but it also allows you to work in the first part of the day

and then study in the evenings.

And again, once you graduate,

you're gonna have an OPT that would allow you

to stay in the US for a year and get this work experience.

It's a lot cheaper, it's a lot easier

to get into those programs because you don't

have to take any GMATs or GREs or SATs or whatever.

You just need to take a TOEFL if you're a foreign student,

write a personal statement, fill in the application,

and that's it.

You come and you study and you get

the same experience with less headache.

Number three, there are also short courses

that you can do.

Because sometimes, you can do a course

in like six weeks or eight weeks.

For example, again, last year I did my filmmaking course

which lasted for six weeks

and I think it was enough for me.

Like, my goal was to become a better blogger,

better YouTuber, learn how to work with camera,

learn how to work with a team,

and six weeks was more than enough.

Yes, at first, I was thinking like,

maybe I should get a master's or something

but then I realized, wow, I can only spend six weeks

and get, well, not the same results,

but I can get the results that I need

for my own goals.

So look at the short term programs.

We work a lot with NYFA,

we work a lot with UC Berkeley,

we work a lot with UC Davis, Columbia,

like all of those universities have short programs.

Stanford has really short programs,

like, they cost 350 dollars,

and you do like entrepreneurship course,

or you do like a digital marketing course,

a painting course, acting course,

they have so many opportunities.

So again, please don't be upset.

Maybe the path of doing an MBA or master's

is not for you, or not for you at this time of your life.

And there are so many things you can still do.

And fourth, of course, you can study online

Coursera is free.

There are a lot of websites where you can find

top universities' courses with free access,

and you get, again, the same knowledge.

Yes, you don't get the community,

you don't get to talk to people,

you don't get to come here,

but in terms of knowledge,

it's a really good resource

and again, it's free and you don't have to apply

and reapply and take all of the tests.

So the feeling that I want you to have now

by the end of this video,

is that you have so many opportunities.

And you have now this amazing experience

of going through the application process.

You have this amazing experience of failing.

You know how it feels.

And you know that this is not the end of the world.

And failing is gonna happen a lot, again,

it's gonna happen like every single week of your life.

Learn how to accept it,

and learn how to be grateful for every experience

that you get in this life.

Again, you are not the same person anymore,

your English is better, your communication skills

are better, you know so much stuff about admissions,

and about how American culture works.

So this process, again, is really, really useful.

Please don't be upset.

Please continue watching my videos,

'cause I'm gonna give you a lot of ideas

on how to motivate yourself, on how to get better education,

how to get a better paid job,

how to move to different countries,

and how to start your business.

Thank you so much for watching this video.

I'm here for you.

If you have any questions, please don't forget

to ask them in the comments below.

And if you're upset, this is like a virtual hug,

I'm hugging you, please don't be upset,

everything is gonna be fine.

And in a year, you're gonna forget about this problem,

your life is gonna be completely different,

and you will be like, oh, Marina,

I forget that I even applied, or I'm already in,

I don't really care what happened last year.

Believe me, this is what's gonna be in a year.

So again, thank you so much for watching this video,

like it if you liked it,

and subscribe to this channel,

and I'll see you very soon, in the next vlogs.

Bye.