For most kids at Oakton, whether they’re a senior or a freshman, the process of college admissions and acceptances is shrouded in mysteries and what-ifs. At a competitive school like ours, it’s only natural to seek out information through any possible channels. They range from parents, nosy relatives, friends in college, friends not in college, and of course, the internet. One of the sites most infamous for their information is College Confidential. Friends of mine and myself have spent countless hours looking at their “Chance Me” forums and “xyz University Applicants 2022”. On threads and forums like those, students post their “stats” (GPA, SAT, ACT, etc.), extracurriculars, and rate their essays and letters of recommendations for other students and parents to comment on. Many also post their admissions results once they arrive. While some services offered by platforms like College Confidential can be beneficial, I can’t help like feeling like these sites have a net negative impact on student psyche.

I want to take a second to give some advice to underclassmen. Don’t go on College Confidential if you want to learn about your “chances” at a particular school. All of the students and parents on these threads are just as unqualified as you are to give out “chances” of admission. They don’t know what they’re talking about, but anonymity and the number of people on this site causes a bit of implicit trust in them. Don’t give in! Comparing yourself to other students will only end with you thinking that you can try harder or feelings of self-doubt and unworthiness. Several seniors mention this feeling as a joke and dismiss it, but these comparisons can have a real impact. Competition and stress is already an integrated part of high school life in many areas, and an overload of these components can lead to depression and anxiety in students. While the quest for college information and “chances” seem all important now, students always come to the conclusion that time spent obsessing over college wasn’t worth it.

As a senior who is in the middle of hearing back from various universities, I’ve been spending some time reflecting on my high school career, which seemed to all lead up to these fateful weeks in March and April. I’ve realized that I could have done so many more productive things while I was stressing about admissions as a sophomore and junior. Obviously, I was stressed about the SAT, ACT, and my grades, but those things are important and matter. However, I also spent copious amounts of time thinking about if I should join a club or start a new one. Not because I wanted to, but because it might “look better” on applications. Instead of stressing over what I wasn’t doing, I should have focused on what I was doing, and tried to enjoy it best I could. I know that there are many people like me who have fallen into the same trap, and that this problem isn’t exclusive to College Confidential users, but I think that sites like it contribute to an unhealthy obsession with colleges, “elite” schools in particular.

What I know now, is that while college is important, obsession with it is unhealthy. People end up where they are meant to be. College is not the “end all, be all” of life, it’s just the beginning of adult life. While this article may sound a bit preachy and maybe a tad condescending, I think that it’s important to stress that students need to relax. We’re all working as hard as we can towards our goals, and at this point, competition should be with ourselves, not our peers.