High school senior and influencer Nicole Laeno was recently interviewed on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, and numerous other news channels regarding an event that had, at the time, seemed like the most devastating moment of her life. 

After her recent rejection from her dream school, Laeno’s college admissions reaction video appeared on YouTube’s trending page. With fans anticipating the posting weeks in advance, Nicole’s video blew up immediately after being posted. Condolences filling her comments, her rejection from UCLA helped bring awareness to an important issue in society.

As the idea of college grows more popular within society and big name schools become the new norm, many high school students are left with the idea that not getting admission into top universities is the equivalent of failure. 

College student Avantika Menon believes that while rejections can be hard, they lead to resilience. “Rejection essentially reroutes and pushes you to achieve success and goals beyond what you think you are capable of,” she stated. “Although there is no doubt that rejection is difficult to come to terms with, it is important to remember that every learning journey has its fair shares of ups and downs.”

Whether it be being cut from a sports team or getting rejected from a job position, rejection is a constant occurrence. Especially amongst high school students, each “no” can seem like a big deal. However, while no one looks forward to dismissal, it remains a natural part of life and learning to cope with it is the only existing solution.

With his senior year fast approaching, junior Andres Bravo Garza has begun pondering about the college admissions process. “I must admit that I feel unprepared,” Garza said. “Even though I have worked very hard to prepare for college, the feeling that I might get rejected anyways is quite scary. All I can tell to my fellow incoming seniors, who struggle in a similar way, is that the best way to overcome that fear is to keep working hard and hope for the best.”

After dealing with it herself, Laeno spreads positivity on how to move past getting rejected. Through sharing the message of how “rejection is redirection,” Laeno helps other students understand that as time passes, there will be even better opportunities that arise and having a good support system can help ease the blow.