Facing Rejection in Academia, Part 1

In this two-part series, I highlight people's experiences of facing rejection in academia and in grad school. This piece is an attempt to normalize experiences of failing and getting rejected before, during, and after grad school. Drawing on other people's experiences, we suggest ways to not only move past rejection but also focus on what can be gained from it.

Facing failure and rejection is undoubtedly one thing that all graduate students have experienced at some point in their careers. This could take the form of a grant or award application not being selected, your manuscript getting desk rejected from a journal, your advisor or committee criticizing your work and asking you to re-do it, your poster not being accepted for a conference, or receiving a negative review from a student in your class. I'm sure that several examples from your own life came to mind while reading this and what you might remember most is the barrage of feelings that immediately follow—feelings of disappointment, anger, frustration, regret, sadness, and guilt. Instead of acting as a catalyst, these feelings might instead add to your existing imposter syndrome in academia (the belief that "I'm not good enough to be here").

Before we talk about what those feelings of rejection could culminate in, I'd like to highlight Hannah Pearson's story and her ups and downs in grad school.

Hannah is a 3rd-year graduate student at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She is currently at the Master's Thesis stage of her grad program where she studies religious and cultural differences in lay perspectives of animals. She is also working on research projects looking at religiosity and COVID-19, religion and well-being, and how culture and religion overlap. Outside of academia, she loves to read (is currently trying to complete the pop-sugar reading challenge) and spend time with her husband and pets (2 dogs and 2 cats!)

During your time in grad school, did you face any rejection? Can you describe in more detail how many times you have faced this and what kinds of rejections were they?

I faced grad school rejection even before I started the official grad school process. In my first cycle of applying to graduate schools, I was rejected from 15 programs. While that is certainly the most significant, since then I have faced being rejected from travel awards for specific conferences, not being selected for graduate assistantship positions I was excited about, and harsher than necessary reviews on papers that were not initially accepted.

How did you feel about it right after you heard the news? Can you give me an example of which one hurt the most?

Of my rejections throughout the academic process, the worst was definitely getting rejected from my first cycle of applying. When I first started getting rejected from the schools, I still had a little hope left but the more rejections I got during that time the more I began to question whether or not I should even be applying. Once I was rejected from all the schools, I had a decision to make, I either needed to try a new path or set my sights on trying again next year. I decided that I loved research and the field too much to give up after one (big) round of rejections, and dedicated the next year to trying to improve my applications for the next cycle.

How did the rejections impact you or change you?

It was a very humbling experience to get rejected in my first cycle. While I knew it was hard to get in, there was still a voice telling me that I would be someone who got in right away. Not getting in at first really made me question my abilities and left me with a pretty deep sense of imposter syndrome. It took a while for me to reframe how I thought about the process, realizing that there is always a bit of luck and fit involved with the process. I am now in a lab that is a perfect fit personality and research-wise for me that I didn't even know about my first cycle and if I had gotten in right away I wouldn't be in this lab now!

Has the way you feel about rejections changed over time with more experience?

I think over time it has gotten "easier" to get rejections. I think realizing that rejection is something that pretty much everyone in our field has to deal with helps with this. I really appreciate folks being open and honest about rejections they have faced, it helps newer individuals in the field realize they are not alone in these experiences!

Do you have any tips/advice you would like to share?

I would say that my biggest piece of advice is to try and let the rejections roll off your back (I know, easier said than done) and if it is something you really want—keep trying. Getting rejections is not about you as a person and likely isn't even about the specific work you are doing. There are so many people working hard for so few spots/grants/etc., that it is 100% normal to get rejections. I would also say that something that helped me a lot was learning to submit things that reflect me and my research interests rather than what I think reviewers or PIs want to hear.

In her interview, Hannah shares some excellent insights into how someone can work around failures they experience in grad school. Given how much time, effort, and passion you put into your research and applications, it is truly difficult to not take rejection personally. One takeaway here is to remember that rejection is normal. Most people face it and what you see on social media or what people share is often biased toward people's positive experiences and achievements but many times, was preceded by one or more rejections that preceded those achievements. It's not easy to move past rejections and use them to push forward, but it is possible for these rejections to sting a bit less over time.

Resources: Arthur Spirling's Essay and Tweet on Rejection

Acknowledgments: I am sincerely grateful to Hannah Pearson for being open about sharing her experiences with rejection especially because of how much courage it takes to remember and talk about those not-so-rosy experiences. I would also like to thank Dr. Arthur Spirling for being open to sharing his essay on Rejection.