![]() In 2018, a survey by the College Board and Seventeen magazine found that 70 percent of high-school students “always” or “often” felt stressed during the college-application process. ![]() In 2014, the American Psychological Association found that school is a top stressor for teens-and a significant part of school stress is the race for college acceptance. These videos only exacerbate the already over-the-top stress students feel around college admissions, and have felt for some time. Some people might find these videos harmless or even uplifting, but that has not been my experience, nor does it resemble what I have heard from other teens around the country through my online wellness community, Talk With Zach, where teens have conversations about the issues we’re facing. One can spend hours watching thousands of videos like these, and many teens do. Finally, she clicks a button and-OH MY GOD-she got in! Expressions of utter shock and piercing screams ensue. There’s more freaking out about how she won’t get in. Somehow, she manages to log in to the admissions portal and see that the decision is available. Next comes a monologue about how she’s shaking so much, she can’t move or even breathe. ![]() The videos-which have expanded their reach from YouTube to TikTok-follow a formula that goes like this: A teenager looks nervous and might even be crying, claiming that she’s absolutely, positively certain she won’t get in. Every year at this time, viral college-acceptance videos start making the rounds, passed along from student to student, parent to parent, racking up views in the tens of millions.
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