“Students who got into this Ivy League school had nine AP classes by their junior year of high school,” claimed an Instagram video that my friend sent me, panicked that she wouldn’t get into any of her top schools. Scrolling through social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, many high school students might be confronted with videos claiming that they need an impossible number of AP classes, a certain extracurricular activity on their resume, or the “prestige” of attending a certain high school to get into their top college. This is adding even more stress on students as the struggle to get into a top school becomes more demanding.
A popular account, StandOut Search, often pops up in student feeds with videos about “U.S. High Schools that send the most students to Ivy League schools,” “Activities that Are Guaranteed to get you into an Ivy League,” and even “The Biggest Character Flaws that Make College Admission Officers Cringe.”
Many of these videos make unsupported claims, making the college admissions process seem very rigid, as if there is only one specific avenue through which students can get into the college of their dreams. Some videos feature students’ “stats,” or an information about a student’s GPA, SAT/ACT scores and extracurricular involvement, alongside a list of schools that student applied to with results of whether they got in. Many students are inclined to compare themselves with these students who got into top schools, making them feel like they need to hit a certain mark.
Junior Chanel Chen says that these videos throw her “into a rabbit hole of questioning [herself],” making her feel “always left behind on something.”
Junior Rewan Youseff agrees with Chen, reiterating that the videos always make her feel anxious.
“I feel like all these videos mention a student starting a nonprofit organization or something that’s extremely hard to start, or they have like a million clubs, a million AP [classes],” she said.
These videos are forcing students to take up classes and extracurriculars that do not align with their passions and, in the long run, hindering their overall journey to college. Teens should be expected to discover their interests at this developmental age, but instead they are being pressured into taking AP classes that don’t align with their career goals and joining clubs only because they think it will look good on their college applications. These videos are redefining “Passion Projects” turning them into “Pressure Projects” where students are only checking off boxes because they think they need to.
If the people behind those Instagram videos really wanted to prepare high school students for college careers, they would encourage students going through experiences with genuine interest in mind. Instead, they are exploiting students’ anxieties to make more money as one anxious student shares an anxiety-inducing video to another peer.
Next time you scroll to one of these videos remember that you will not get into your dream college by doing what every other student feels pressured to do. You will find where you belong by being genuine to your interests and following what truly feeds your curiosities.
