Or harder still, having a classmate get accepted to your dream school and decide they don't really want to go there. Perhaps thinking of the college admissions process as competition rather than rejection may help. The best basketball teams don't always get into the Final Four and even the best students don't always get into their first choice college. This includes the valedictorian with 1500 SATs. A's and a 26 on the ACTs.
Schools can be more selective because the teen population is growing.
Colleges are turning down kids in record numbers, kids who have done everything right with top grades and scores and outstanding activities, kids they may have accepted a few years ago. A student might tell himself he won't be disappointed because he knows a certain school was a far reach, but when that thin envelope appears it's hard not to feel like a loser. Students who can keep it in perspective will fare the best. One valedictorian started an unofficial club for those rejected by the Ivy League. At one high school in the Midwest, some students post their reject letters on the bulletin board.