Applying to college is stressful. We do our best to make the process as simple and easy as possible for students and parents, but this is a thing that is always going to be at least a little overwhelming. After all, where you go to college has a major impact on the rest of your life, from your careers to who your friends are to where you end up living in the country. That’s a lot to think about, and worry about, for students still in high school. There’s no way to beat this stress completely, but there are ways to make it better, and worse. In this article, we’re going to look at some ways to avoid stress, especially the siren song of college admissions doomscrolling, and how best to manage and avoid the detriments of it. There may be no way to avoid stressing entirely, but we do want our students to be happy if possible. Let’s see how!
What is College Admissions Doomscrolling?
Doomscrolling is a relatively new term, for a relatively new phenomenon, as . It generally refers to the news alone (a subject that’s always lively and uncontentious), but can occur in other areas as well, wherever your social media feed conspires to feed you content that increases your worries and stress.
College admissions is ripe for this, as it sits in the intersection of a few key points:
- It is a concern primarily for high school students, many of whom are online natives, and for whom scrolling online constantly is innate.
- It is a field full of misinformation, from parents, peers, and those who went through the process once and consider themselves experts (not to mention unscrupulous firms saying whatever they want).
- It invites direct comparison of yourself; your achievements, your grades, your activities; with those of your peers.
All of these combine to make it very easy to create and share posts which inculcate doom. Sharing your stats, or those of students who have been admitted. Sharing admissions tips and advice, well-founded or otherwise. Asking others to rate your essays, your activities, your chances, potential summer programs, or any laundry list of things. Looking for any kind of inside information, or rumors, or gossip, or hint of edge in the admissions process.Ìý
It builds upon itself, ceaselessly and relentlessly, a wave of information for you to passively scroll through, hundreds of thousands of students to compare yourself to, to see how you measure up, to judge and rejudge everything again and again and again. It is easy to get pulled in, to just scroll further; it feels productive, as if you’re learning something, even if all that happens is stress being piled upon stress.
How to Avoid Admissions Doomscrolling
We aren’t going to be so silly as to simply suggest you get off the internet; we want to give you advice that’s actionable and reasonable. A better approach, and a more manageable one, is to curate your content, to understand source analysis, and to browse with intention when you do.
Curating Your Content
The algorithm is an absolute black box, and so you can’t really control what’s recommended to you on platforms like TikTok, or Youtube, or Instagram. You can, however, choose which communities you join, and where you choose to spend your time. We recommend avoiding communities and sites dedicated to admissions; most love to commiserate, and high quality information is rare.
Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram are major problems here, and by simply avoiding the college admissions areas of these sites, you can avoid much of the related stress. Sure, you may still see some of this content, but focusing away from it creates a healthier environment.
Analyzing Your Sources
A lot of people say a lot of things about college admissions. The internet is a great equalizer here; anyone can go online and say anything at all. This is quite good for free speech, but leads to a sea of slop and noise which often drowns out experts and reasonable points.
If you see a story about colleges, or some other post which makes you begin to panic about your own chances, consider the source. Who is posting it, and what do they actually know about the admissions process and how colleges make decisions?
- Students who have been admitted to a top school are not experts. They have one data point–that they got in. This does not a pattern nor an expert make.
- Your fellow high school students can be very bright, but they are right there in the thick of it with you, and are no better equipped to give expert advice than you are.
- The college admissions industry has its own problem with unscrupulous companies who will take your money in return for bad advice. We specify clearly what our expertise and results are; not all companies are so forthcoming, or can be properly characterized as experts.
If you do find yourself getting trapped looking at posts about your college chances, take a minute to look at who is doing the posting. Consider whether or not they actually know what they’re talking about, and if they have opinions that are worth listening to.Ìý
Browsing With Intention
It is normal to have questions about the admissions process (that’s why we run this blog!), and to go searching for answers to those questions online. Our advice, however, is to aim squarely at credible, expert sources when you are looking for information, avoiding speculation and fearmongering from those who may or may not know what they’re talking about.
If you have a question about a particular college, they often offer blogs, webinars, and admissions seminars to address any and every question from applicants. For more general questions, firms like ours (and a few select others) offer a plethora of sources, pulling from years of experience and their own employees, many of whom have their own experience working as admissions officers.
Avoiding College Admissions Stress More Generally
College admissions is a stressful process inherently, even without the added allure of doomscrolling to lead students astray. One of the things we often work with students with is how to manage this stress. It’s often impossible to get rid of entirely, but a concerted approach can take it from overbearing to manageable. Our best techniques for doing so are careful planning, risk analysis, and strategic work.
Careful Planning
The biggest source of stress for many students comes from the last-minute panic of trying to get applications submitted before a looming deadline. We understand the allure of procrastination, and how many demands high school students have on their time. That’s why we carefully plan out application timelines with our students, so that everything is done well before deadlines.
These plans and structures don’t eliminate all stress, but they do remove much of the acute stress that comes from cramming at the eleventh hour. Making a plan for your own applications, what essays you will do when, when you will submit each application, can help in your own college journey.
Risk Analysis
Part of the stress of college admissions comes from the inherent risk in it. Top colleges have very low acceptance rates, and it feels like there’s a huge risk that you won’t get into your dream school, and your future will be lost along with it.
We use targeted admissions strategies and well-structured college lists to minimize and manage risk, up to a student’s tolerance. Balancing the boost from applying early decision, having safety schools that you would be okay with attending, and building a list to maximize your chances helps make risk manageable. As with all things, there is no certainty, but understanding and managing the inherent risk helps manage stress in turn.
Working in a Strategic Fashion
College applications are a lot of work, and this is itself a source of stress. If you apply to fifteen colleges (as many students do nowadays), then you may find yourself needing to write twenty to thirty essays, which is rather a lot by anyone’s standards. This sea of work, coming on top of your other responsibilities, feels overwhelming, even if you do have a plan to do it all in a reasonable timeframe.
This is why we plot out essays with intention. Colleges have a limited number of questions, and you can resume the same essays over and over with a bit of planning and editing. This strategic approach cuts the number of essays you need to worry about significantly. There is still work, but it is suddenly a manageable challenge, rather than the end of the world.
Final Thoughts
College applications are probably always going to be stressful; where you go to college is one of the biggest choices you will make, and one of the largest investments of time and money until it comes time to buy a house. This level of pressure invariably causes stress, but there are ways to ameliorate those pressures, and ways to make them so much worse. We hope this article has given you some actionable advice to make them less painful for you, and to help you escape from the alluring whirlpool of doomscrolling.
Of course, putting advice into practice can be a challenge in and of itself, and this is where having an expert guide can help. If you are looking for help with your own college admissions journey, or are stressing out about your chances, then ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø can help. Schedule a free consultation today to learn how we can make your life easier; we’re always happy to hear from you.
