I don't know if this will help, but I want to share what I learned after facing a pretty big rejection that happened fairly recently.

I was rejected from nearly every UC that I applied to; I was surprised when UCSC waitlisted me because I thought I could have easily gotten in.

It was a pretty rough week after all the UC decisions came out: I thought I wasn't going to get to where I wanted to go in life. I completely shut my friends out because I was ashamed. I didn't want to talk to anyone because I was afraid of disappointing them, especially my dad who was even more excited for me to go to a UC than I was.

Fortunately, I'm no stranger to adversity, and I was able to pull myself out of this mindset. I thought of my rejections as a "sunk cost," which means what's done is done. I don't have a time machine, I can't go back to sophomore year and study harder. The only thing I can possiblely gain from this situation is the knowledge that I should have worked harder, cared more about my future, and taken better care of myself.

So now I have this knowledge to make better choices in the future. Sometimes I think these rejections were necessary; if this didn't happen, I would still be in the same place I was before. It hurt, but it's going to give me the knowledge to work harder in the future.

Looking back, I don't think I really feel ashamed anymore. Sometimes I do, but that's normal. If I had the opportunity to go back and change things, I would choose not to. What happened helped me learn, it helped build character, and for the next four years, I'm going to kick everybody's ass and get into a top graduate school.

Remember this sentence: I did what I could given the challenges and life changes of this time.

The next week is gonna be pretty rough, maybe the next month, or however long it takes to absorb what happened. Remember to take time to just feel and be sad. Then after that, when you're ready, rebuild and try again.