The High Cost of Excellence: Examining Academic Pressure

Dissecting how college propaganda affects students

KATIE KIM podcast editor

Reasons why your sixth to twelfth grader will not get accepted into a top college.” Variations of this phrase have most likely drawn your attention to an online college counseling advertisement.

After all, you live in the pressure cooker that is the Bay Area, known for its academically rigorous and competitive schools.

Despite how discouraging these advertisements can be, there is a greater need for college preparatory programs today due to the definite increase ing difficulty regarding admission into highly-ranked colleges. As the acceptance rates of schools plummet yearly, Generation Z and future generations will inevitably face intense academic pressure that no previous graduating classes experienced.

The highly coveted Ivy League universities and numerous other schools recently reported record-low acceptance rates, adding to the academic toxicity. Staggeringly low acceptance rates can result in students feeling the need to work harder to stand out in the college admissions process. Harvard University, already notorious for its selectivity, reached its lowest admission rate of 3.19 percent in 2022, upholding the status of such a school founded almost four centuries ago.

Similarly, other prestigious schools, like the University of California campuses, became more selective, reaching historically low admission rates.

Social media is also contrib- uting to the stress levels of high schoolers. On platforms like TikTok and YouTube, seniors publicize their exceptional statistics and qualifications. Many share their rejections from most of the schools they applied to, and the unprecedented competitiveness in college admissions shocks online audiences. Content on social media can lead to unhealthy comparisons and perpetual discouragement placed on students.

Aside from social media’s influence on ingraining hustle culture in students’ minds, parents can subject their children to this mindset even further. Parents often push their children to meet society’s high stan dards and perception of what is necessary to have a chance to attend a top school. Students can reach a point where they feel anxious, negatively affecting their overall mental and physical health.

Although high school students in the Bay Area are fortunate to have access to academic resources like college admission counseling, it is counterproductive to pressure them to aim for more than they can handle. Hustle culture is so deeply rooted in our society that people have normalized overworking themselves and often prioritize work over more important aspects of their life.

The pressure to stand out from your peers by outperforming them is especially prevalent at Cupertino High School. Students believe sleeping for only a few hours and studying for hours on end every day is normal, all for the sake of crafting the most impressive resumé. Since students believe overworking themselves is the bare minimum expectation they need to meet in order to receive admission into a top school, they do not see it as something harmful or out of the ordinary.

Prestigious colleges can offer students an excellent education after high school, but it is important to realize that this should not be the end goal. Even though the pressure to go above and beyond academically will always exist, ultimately, the college an individual attends does not define their capabilities. What one makes of themself can define that — the destination matters, not the process. Thus, college is merely the process