1. Denial & Isolation First, you feel devastated in such a deep and perfect way it’s almost like feeling nothing at all. 2. Pain & Guilt You slowly empty out and then begin to fill with shame at (what you perceive to be) your biggest failure. Over the next few weeks you go over every minute detail of the past few months: what you said in your interviews, the views you expressed in your applications, how long it took you to send thank-you emails to necessary persons. You try to figure out what went wrong. 3. Anger Just pure, unadulterated anger. 4. ”Depression” & Reflection Why is this happening?! You did everything right. You had research experience, you shadowed five doctors, you got a 42 on your MCAT! Just who exactly do these admissions committee people think they are! 5. The Upward Turn Gradually, almost imperceptibly at first, your anger will cool to acceptance. 6. Reconstruction & Working Through You’ll realize maybe there are a few things you can improve, maybe you weren’t quite as ready as you thought, maybe those committee people do know what they’re doing. 7. Acceptance & Hope Most importantly, you realize that you are an amazing individual who is proud of your accomplishments even though you didn’t get accepted this time around. You are strong and you’re not going to let this setback keep you down for long. Medicine is still your calling and dammit, you’re going to make a wonderful doctor one day. You smile and get ready to start the process all over again. Source
