After studying for math tests, writing essays and spending Saturdays taking the SAT, a high school student’s hard work all culminates in their college acceptances. A decision so important to them that the one thing they must do is set up a camera and record. 

   As college admissions have become more selective, it is treated like a game where you collect the most points by getting good grades, joining the most clubs and getting the highest SAT score. This leads people to want to brag when a college admission brings success. They can finally show people that all their hard work has paid off.

   The trend of college admissions videos has spread across social media with many videos accumulating millions of views. An applicant will record their reaction to opening up their decision letters to highly ranked schools and post the results. The problem with these videos is that they are not just for the applicant, but they are shared to the rest of the internet. 

   “I just have been waiting,” said senior Trevor Buettgen, who made a college admissions video. “Honestly, the one thing I was excited for in the college application process was to make all those videos when I was done with it.” 

   A college admissions video is usually made by super strong applicants who get accepted into top schools. While they deserve praise for their hard work, a college admissions video is not the way to earn it. The videos hurt the people watching them; someone who did not get into top schools is made to feel less than. They get to watch someone else live out their dream.

   “It definitely hurts some people who just got hurt by the college admission system, and they didn’t get in anywhere,” Buettgen said. “It can be kind of hurtful to see all of these people’s successes on your social media with hundreds of thousands of likes.”

   Also, it hurts the younger students watching them. The younger students who are exposed to a lot of these videos are made to feel like everyone is getting into these colleges and that they must apply to these schools too when it might not be the best option for them.

   “I think it also further makes it a big deal,” Buettgen said. “It’s not just your parents and your school pushing. It’s also your environment of kids around you on social media pushing for you to go to a good college, so I think it kind of reinforces the stress of the college admissions process.”

   College admissions is a stressful process. According to The Princeton Review’s 2022 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 74% of high schoolers report high stress about college applications. 

   “It’s kind of like a self-worth problem when you feel like you’re only a test score and your GPA and nothing more than that, and it’s all these small little things that barely matter,” Buettgen said. “But they’re everything to you because you need to get into a good college.”

   A college admissions video makes college admissions even more competitive and stressful than before. All of a student’s hard work in and out of the classroom for all four years culminates in one decision: accepted, rejected or waitlisted. All their hard work is reduced to three words. A lot of pressure is put onto these words; after all, their future is dependent on it. However, now a student does not just see these words. Instead, they see people all over their social media getting into the college they have been dreaming of for years.

   College admissions videos only magnify the stress of college admissions. While students want to share their successes, there are more effective ways to do that. For example, when you decide where you are going to college, you can announce it and share it with people. This way you can still show off your hard work, but people will not have to see exactly what all your decisions were. Also, you can record the videos of opening the decisions, but only keep it for yourself and your family to watch.

   College admissions should be a private process not a public one. When posting decisions anywhere, remember that when someone gets into a school that means another person did not. 

   The lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial staff. Please send comments to [email protected].