BY KATHRYN PETERSON
Rejection is an inevitable part of the academic journey. From denied grant proposals to critical feedback on your dissertation chapters, it can feel like a personal attack. But it’s essential to remember that rejection is not a reflection of your worth as a writer or as a scholar. It’s a normal part of the process.
Understanding The Initial Shock of Rejection
- It’s Not Personal: Rejection often stems from factors beyond your control, such as funding limitations or differing perspectives. Sometimes an article just isnât the right âfitâ for a journal, or another candidate has already been secretly selected for the job. Sometimes academic departments have narrow ideas about what they are looking for, and often it has nothing to do with you or the quality of your work.
- It’s an Opportunity: Negative feedback can be a valuable tool for growth. It helps you identify areas for improvement and strengthens your research, and it can even show you what youâre doing right. If your work is good but just not quite the right fit, the feedback may guide you and your work to a better home.
- It’s Temporary: Disappointment is natural, but it won’t last forever. Focus on moving forward and learning from the experience. Give yourself a little bit of time to react to the rejection, but schedule a date to reconnect and regroup afterwards.
Coping With Rejection
- Seek Support: Talk to your advisor, mentors, or peers about your feelings. Sharing your experiences can provide valuable perspective and emotional support.
- Reframe Your Mindset: Instead of viewing rejection as a failure, see it as a challenge to overcome. Focus on the lessons learned and how you can apply them to your work.
- Practice Self-Care: Prioritize physical and mental well-being through exercise, relaxation techniques, and healthy eating. Remember that self-care isnât an option. It is crucial to your wellbeing as a human and as a scholar.
Turning Rejection into Success
- Analyze the Feedback: Once youâve taken time to process your feelings and nurture yourself, go back to the comments, if there are any. Carefully review them and identify specific areas for improvement. If there arenât any comments, and you just got a simple âno,â you might want to think about where else to send the work, or what other opportunities for which you may apply.
- Develop a Plan: As you work through the comments, itâs important to create a concrete action plan to address the feedback you agree with and strengthen your work. You may want to take each comment at a time, each reviewer at a time, or you may want to look for trends in the feedback. If all three reviewers said the same thing and you agree with them, then you know what you have to do. If on the other hand you get conflicting feedback, you may want to think about your goals for the work and which piece of advice will help you get to them. Listen to the voice that most aligns with your own vision.
- Seek Additional Guidance: If you’re struggling, consider consulting with a writing coach, research consultant, or statistician. Sometimes another set of eyes is important, especially someone who can be as impartial as possible while also helping you to do and be your best.
- Focus on the Desired Outcome, not The Precarious Present: In the present moment you may still be feeling the sting of that rejection. Thatâs okay. You can work through that sting and focus on where you are going. What are you moving towards? Where are you going? When you close your eyes and imagine your work being cited and discussed, who else is in that vision? What publications? Which colleagues? Imagine that it goes well and that the rejection ended up being the best thing for you, because it led you to somewhere even better. Visualize that and focus on progress, not perfection.
Remember, rejection is a common experience for academics, whether you are a seasoned professor or a doctoral student seeking your first publication. By normalizing rejection and accepting its inevitability, you can prepare yourself for it as best you can. Everyone gets rejected in this field. But if you keep working, that acceptance will come.