Monica typically only sees two options when she assesses situations. For example, when she was applying to colleges, her heart was set on attending Harvard and she actually had the grades to get in. Knowing that Harvard was notoriously difficult to gain acceptance into, Monica's mother suggested she apply to a few other excellent colleges as well. Monica, known for her high levels of anxiety, retorted with, "If I don't get into Harvard, I might as well not go to college at all!" Based on Beck's descriptions of cognitive errors, which one best describes Monica's thinking?

all-or-nothing thinking

Explanation:

From the evidence given in the question text, we can see Monica's cognitive distortion is all-or-nothing thinking.

This kind of thinking means a person is going into the extremes - either they have exactly what they imagined in their heads, just the way they imagined it, or they are not willing to cooperate and settle for anything else. Everything is either absolutely good or absolutely bad.

Monica is not willing to settle for any other colleges; she is putting all her stakes only to Harvard and doesn't want to go anywhere else unless she does exactly what she wants.