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Thousands of teenagers across the country are extra nervous this week.
There are many reasons for that The nation’s most selective colleges and universities Early-decision offers will be released, letting seniors know if they will be offered a spot in next year’s incoming class. Those who enter will celebrate with friends and family and perhaps Create their acceptance post for their school’s Instagram account. Those who didn’t would be treated to a parade of high school seniors across their social media feeds, sharing “stats,” such as GPAs and extracurriculars, that got them accepted.
“Social media about college can be really relatable, but at the same time I think it can be very toxic,” Jayden, now a freshman at Stanford University, told me.
One way in which college admissions has become more complicated, stressful, and high-pressure in recent decades is that The number of applications is skyrocketing, Declining acceptance rateAnd economic uncertainty combined to make earning a degree from a selective college seem more necessary and more difficult than ever.
Applying to college today is “vastly different” than the experience millennials and older Americans remember, said Sara Harberson, former dean of Franklin & Marshall College and founder of Application Nation, an online college counseling community.
In recent years, the number of students applying to colleges has increased. A jump of 21.3 percent Between 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 only. Individual students are also applying to more colleges — 6.22 on average in 2021-2022 compared to 4.63 in 2013-2014. The share of students applying to more than 10 colleges rose from 8 percent to 17 percent during the same decade.
As the number of applicants increases, it becomes more difficult to get into the most selective colleges. In the 1990s, the University of Pennsylvania’s acceptance rate was about 50 percent, Harberson told me. Last year, it was About 6 percent.
The application season has been inching earlier and earlier, with approx 58 percent will be college students Either implementing “early decision,” in which students commit to attending when admitted, or implementing “early action,” in which students apply early without committing to attend. Early-decision and early-action applications typically have deadlines in November, but some schools offer rolling admissions starting as soon as August 1.
For many millennials and Gen Xers, the college application season was a limited period, with deadlines in the fall and acceptances in the spring. Now, students apply and listen continuously for nearly 12 months, while watching their peers do the same around the world. “The college process is like a marathon,” Jayden said.
For some, it can be a long time of isolation, as students struggle to get reliable information about things like financial aid that are shrouded in confusion. Some young people say even their families don’t fully understand what they’re getting into because applying to college is so unfamiliar from what their parents experienced decades ago.
“I’m very grateful for my parents, but they didn’t have a lot of the experiences I had at my day and age,” Breen, a high school senior from Wisconsin, told me. “I don’t know what I’m doing, where I’m going, and what if I’m doing the wrong thing, and I can’t answer any of that, and it’s very scary.”
Teens these days are applying to colleges early and often
A college choice is increasingly drawn as a type Identity formation For young people. Stella, a freshman at Sarah Lawrence, calls college “the biggest decision of her life.”
Meanwhile, many young people, especially first-generation or low-income applicants, urgently need the economic leg-up that a degree from a selective college can provide. Students tell Cindy Zarzuela, a college counselor at the New York-based nonprofit Yonkers Partners in Education, that “their families really depend on them to have more opportunities, to earn more income, to get a better job,” Zarzuela told me. “It’s a lot of weight on their shoulders.”
Applying early can increase students’ chances of being admitted — Early Decision, in particular, can quadruple their chances of being admitted, Harberson said. But the rush to apply can also be confusing and stressful. “It takes a lot of time away from school,” Abigail, a high school senior in Yonkers, New York, told me. “Even though we’re applying to college, we still have classes left.”
The pressure to apply early resulted in months-long deadlines and decision days stretching from late summer to the following spring. “It felt like forever,” Ummul, a sophomore at Baruch College, told me.
For better and worse, young people across the country and around the world are chronicling their every acceptance and rejection on social media. Many high schools, teenagers told me, have dedicated Instagram accounts where seniors can submit their college decisions.
For Stella, who was recruited as an athlete by Sarah Lawrence, deciding when to post her college decision added another layer of complexity to the process because it was considered impolite to do so too soon. “There was definitely some moral compass about when you were going to post,” he said.
Meanwhile, students’ college admissions TikToks with their grades and other facts can lead to anxiety and false expectations, since having the same GPA as one does not guarantee admission. “Even though a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, that’s how I got into it,’ it’s not the same for everyone,” Abigail told me.
Some of the most important parts of the process – such as finance – are the most confusing
While students are exposed to a wealth of information about where other teens are going to school, they often struggle to get basic guidance about something equally or even more important: financial aid. “Nobody talks about financial aid at my school, and I feel very lost about it,” Breen said.
College has tuition has increased over the past 20 yearsAnd while an increasing number of top-flight universities have begun to offer Free tuition For students from low-income or even middle-class families, a lack of transparency and a confusing financial aid application process often leaves students unsure of how much financial aid they can expect, if any.
Early decisions can complicate the picture. Although many top-flight schools Commitment to meet full financial needs As with any student admitted through early decision, many low-income students still avoid the process because they are uncomfortable about committing to a single school without being able to compare aid offers, students and Experts say. This means that the admissions benefits that come with early decision go disproportionately to teenagers from wealthier families
Students from private or well-resourced public schools can rely on college counselors to help them navigate the application process, while affluent families are increasingly leaning in this direction. Personal admissions coach and consultant. But low-income students — who need financial aid the most — often have to navigate the process on their own.
Nonprofits like Yonkers Partners in Education, which offers college counseling and academic support at 11 high schools, can help. But younger adults are also calling for larger-scale changes, such as more open conversations around money and college, starting before high school. “I think financial literacy is very important and would have helped me a lot,” Breen said.
For now, many young people are getting information and emotional support from each other.
Many of Ummul’s friends are also first-generation students, and “there was a sense of community,” she said. “Like, if anyone has any questions, we’re here to help you.” Brynn, Ummul, Stella and Jayden are all part of it This is teenage lifeA podcast for and by teens that they also credit with helping guide them through the process.
“You get the most support from your peers,” Stella told me, “from those who are going through it alongside you.”
Social media, meanwhile, can be a place for empathy, not just a source of violence. “Sometimes you’ll be like, ‘Man, I thought I was going to get into this school,’ and then you hear about somebody else who didn’t,” Jayden said. “It’s almost like, well, we can all connect right now.”
what am i reading
The state of California banned bilingual education in 1998. The ban was lifted in 2016, but Bilingual education in the state is still sufferingeven as Dual-language program Pick up steam elsewhere in the country.
Parents are The company Character.AI is suingAlleging that its chatbots told a teenager that self-harm “felt good” and exposed a 9-year-old to “sexual content”.
If you have kids, you may have noticed that your Spotify Wrapped is actually their Spotify Wrapped. The Washington Post spoke to several parents Dealing with this phenomenon, including a father who lamented, “Last year, my No. 1 artist was Elmo.”
My older kids and I have read again Swamp Kid’s Secret SpiralA graphic novel by Kirk Scruggs that answers the all-important question: What happens when Swamp Thing goes to middle school?
from my inbox
An Australian reader wrote in response to last week’s newsletter about post-election harassment targeting children. He mentions that Australia has Recently passed a law Many social media sites ban children under 16 and ask, “What do you and your audience think about this? If a similar ban were enacted in the United States, would it prevent children from being targeted for hateful messages?
My first thought is that a lot of the post-election hate kids are getting is happening at school or through texts, so social media bans aren’t going to stop it. But I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the ban more generally, which has made a lot of sense Controversy (Also about the question How will it be implemented?) Is a blanket ban on social media a good idea for children? Let me know what you think at anna.north@vox.com.
