Relieving Stress in the College Application Process

Applying to college is one of the most stressful times in a high school student’s life.

Juniors and seniors must narrow down a list of schools to consider and take the SATs and write

supplemental essays and visit schools and create the perfect resume so that they can be granted

admission into the school of their dreams. Students crave an acceptance from highly accredited

universities so that they can please their parents and feel more secure that their education will

lead them to landing an incredible job (Vultaggio and Friedfeld 9). However, this process of

preparing and applying for college has become so overwhelming to the point of damaging

students’ well-being. In one high school located in Plainsboro, New Jersey the pressure to excel

academically, especially in the pursuit of gaining a college acceptance, has reached unacceptably

high levels. At High School North, in the year 2015, “120 middle school and high school

students [in the district] were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 were hospitalized”

(Spencer). There is permanent psychological damage to a student who focuses his or her entire

high school career on being accepted into Princeton, Harvard, or Stanford. Students work

tirelessly for a fat envelope in the mail, but at what cost?

There are approximately 4,726 colleges and universities in the United States.

(Chepkemoi). Unfortunately, there is a stigma against attending a school that is not a household

name. When, in reality, only being open to big named schools with low acceptance rates and

incredibly high standards may not be the best choice for all students. With thousands of options

to choose from, students should allow themselves to find a school that truly matches their

personality and not just one that looks impressive to future employers. Furthermore, dream

schools like the Ivy League schools require perfect SAT scores, perfect grade point averages,

transcripts loaded with honors and advanced placement courses, and let’s not forget plenty of
leadership and volunteer experience. And despite having a seemingly perfect application, a

student applying to their top choice is still not guaranteed admission or a successful future to

reward all of their hard work. So, are the hundreds of hours of studying worth the potential

degree from a top tier school? -- Most likely it depends on the individual. However, given that

the promise of a successful future is not guaranteed with attending a highly accredited university,

I believe that the pressures associated with excelling academically and applying to the ‘right’

colleges are too high, and that students should not feel obligated to attend a certain school to

ensure success.

Putting less emphasis on attending top tier schools, and therefore putting less emphasis

on students to excel academically, will cause students to feel less stressed in school and enjoy

their opportunity to gain an education. The recent obsession with attending the best college

possible has “consumed an unhealthy level of importance in the lives of American teens”, and

students have reported resentment and unhappiness against the pressure of where to go to college

(Redding 33). Gaining an acceptance into Ivy League colleges and other top tier schools requires

a remarkable amount of work and stellar grades; Meeting these requirements by senior year of

high school means four years of constant work, and while some verging-on-genius students can

handle countless hours of studying and endless practice tests whilst maintaining a healthy mind,

most students resent being forced or feeling like they are obligated to excel. In the case of High

School North, a poll conducted by the administration of its high school class showed that sixty-

eight percent of respondents felt that they were “always stressed” or “stressed most of the time”

during school (Aderhold 5). The poll also gave students a blank space to express their thoughts;

One student said that he hated going to school every day and that “school is no longer about

learning but instead about grades” (Aderhold 6). Having a mindset that school is not about
learning but is instead solely about grades goes against what going to school is for. High school

should not be a place to validate intelligence and self-worth based on quantitative data. High

school is where students grow into adults and learn skills that will help them throughout the rest

of their lives. When grades do not carry as much weight, students can enjoy the classes they are

taking and focus on learning course material. In the pursuit of excelling academically, high

school has become a pragmatic game where students think, “How can I receive an ‘A’?” instead

of thinking, “What can I learn from this class?”. High emphasis on obtaining a perfect GPA for a

college transcript has negative consequences including constantly stressed students, and high

schoolers who go to school to obtain good grades, not to learn.

Another problem that has stemmed from stress and the increased focus on the college

application process is the increase in college suicide rates. According to the American College

Health Association “one in ten college students reported having seriously considered suicide in

the previous year” because they felt overwhelmed by college (Taub 5). Although this statistic

does not specifically say that students felt that way because of academics, I would assume that

academics is a major part of the reason why. In fact, suicide is the second leading cause of death

among college students (Taub 5). College students are more likely now than ever to suffer from

high functioning depression and other mental illnesses. Most students receive no treatment and

never seek help from therapists. Unfortunately, these rates are highest at the same highly

accredited schools that students dream of getting into. At the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT) over the past five years, there were approximately 12.5 suicides for every

100,000 students (Rocheleau). Although that number may or may not seem high, the fact that

there are any suicides at all is a reason to be concerned about the wellbeing of students. No

student should be so overwhelmed to the point of having suicidal thoughts. Relieving the
pressure students face in the college admissions process by focusing on finding a college that is

at their level of rigor is crucial in trying to reduce suicide, depression, and mental illness rates

among high school and college students.

In addition, reducing the focus on the college admissions process and encouraging

students to branch out from solely applying to brand name schools reduces the uncertainty of

being accepted to college. Meaning that applying to a lesser known school that is still accredited

and worth its tuition will be easier to gain acceptance into. Saint Joseph’s University, a Jesuit

institution located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has an acceptance rate of about seventy-eight

percent according to The Princeton Review. The school received less than nine thousand

applications for the class of 2020. In comparison, Harvard University has an acceptance rate of

under six percent and received close to forty-thousand applications for its class of 2021.

Although both are great schools, the chances of being accepted into Harvard are slim to zero

even for the perfect candidate. The college admissions process is almost like a game. Students

calculate their chances of getting in based on their credentials. I however, found Saint Joseph’s

University, the college I currently attend, and felt confident that my skills and values matched

with those of SJU. Finding a college that matched my rigor and my personality has allowed me

to be challenged in school without feeling distressed or burning out from excessive studying. My

college admissions process did come with extra stress, however, I could feel confident in my

application and felt a sense of certainty. A feeling that no student--no matter how impressive--

would feel if they were applying to one of the best universities in the world.

Regardless of the proven psychological damage from excessive school work, many times

in the pursuit of achieving beyond national averages, some parents would agree that not

encouraging students to attend the best schools that they can get into is a way of holding their
child back and limiting their possibilities. This belief can be attributed to some high schools that

do not offer higher level courses and therefore have most students in the same level class. I will

agree that in many cases, schools that strictly follow a one-size-fits-all model could cause a

student to breeze through class with stellar grades and not be challenging enough (Berry). All

schools should provide students with the opportunity to take higher level courses--and schools

should encourage students to enroll in them. However, schools should make sure the students

have a challenging yet still manageable course load. Academics should not consume a high

schooler’s entire life where they do not have time to relax, hang out with friends, or get eight

hours of sleep every night. After all, teenagers are people first, and students second. The notion

that relieving stress for high school students and putting less pressure on students to excel at

Stanford-worthy levels is not a way of ‘dumbing down’ students or ‘dumbing down’ the

curriculum. Rather, easing the pressure is for students’ sanity and safety. Colleges like the Ivy

League colleges, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and New York University are some of

the most stressful colleges to attend. And once the stress of applying to these incredible schools

ceases, the stress only heightens when the student starts attending his or her classes only a few

months later.

There are thousands of universities and colleges in the world, the idea some parents and

students have that it is “Ivy league or bust” is a way of ignoring plenty of other great places to

gain a secondary education. There is a way to gain a great education, without constantly feeling

overwhelmed with school work and responsibilities. Deciding to put less pressure on a student

academically is a way to allow students to spend time finding other passions in non-academic

areas. Placing less pressure on students is also a way of helping students stay mentally healthy

and reduce rates of suicide, depression, and mental illness. And finally, easing pressure on
students is a way of allowing them to be more than their SAT score or their GPA. Schools,

students, and parents should work together to fight the stigma against non-household name

schools that are every bit as worth attending as household name schools. Overall, the United

States should work to reduce the stress among college students to excel academically, not

because students are not capable of achieving high, but because students should not feel that they

need acceptance from a college to validate their intelligence, success, and self-worth in society.
 Works Cited

Berry, Dr. Susan. “Parents of Gifted Kids Protest Dumbing Down of Curriculum with Common Core.”

Breitbart, Breitbart News Network, 11 Nov. 2015, www.breitbart.com/big-

government/2015/11/11/parents-gifted-kids-protest-dumbing-curriculum-common-core/.

Chepkemoi, Joyce. “How Many Colleges Are in the US?” WorldAtlas, 29 Sept. 2017,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-colleges-are-in-the-us.html.

McCaughey, Betsy. “From NYC to Harvard: the War on Asian Success.” New York Post, New York

Post, 30 Dec. 2015, nypost.com/2015/12/29/from-nyc-to-harvard-the-war-on-asian-success/.

Merriman, Anna. “High Levels of Stress in Students Prompted District-Wide Changes.” NJ.com, 19

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Proctor, Sean. “Suicide Rate at MIT Higher than National Average - The Boston Globe.”

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higher-than-national-average/1aGWr7lRjiEyhoD1WIT78I/story.html.

Redding, Alexis Brooke. "Extreme Pressure: The Negative Consequences of Achievement Culture for

Affluent Students during the Elite College Admission Process." Journal of College Admission,

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