Masuk Free Press

With the college commitments of the class of 2024 rolling in, it serves as a reminder to the underclassmen of the seemingly impending doom that college applications are. With the pressure from colleges to do everything and anything to make themselves stand out, it is surprising that colleges do not want high school students to be superheroes at this point. 

High school students already face immense pressure from academic stress. On top of these advanced classes you are expecting to excel in, colleges also want tons of extracurriculars from students.

“The goal is just to pile more and more stuff on us, none of it is actual genuine interest anymore,” said junior Sophie Keppler. 

With only 24 hours in the day, high school students are expected to work like machines, achieving the highest GPA and then immediately jumping into after school activities. Thus, leaving little room for students to be able to breathe or relax. 

With college applications increasing over the recent years, rejections have become more and more common among applicants, forcing students to go above and beyond, even if it affects their mental health.

“I feel constantly pressured and stressed all the time, but it’s inevitable, you have to do it,” said junior Abby Kirberger. 

There is no debate that the mental health of high school students is declining, and one of the reasons behind that is the constant pressure from colleges to be perfect. Extracurriculars used to be a way for students to escape from the stress and academic pressure brought on by teachers and parents, but instead are becoming something students dread, feeling forced to participate in fear of jeopardizing their future. 

“I feel like I’m being pulled in a thousand different directions, it all becomes overwhelming,” said Keppler. 

The common solution to checking off the extra curricular box is to participate in a sport. However, this only accounts for a small percentage of high school students.

“I don’t do any sports so I get nervous that colleges will not like me,” said junior Emily Sutfin. “They like to see you focused on one thing and I feel like if I don’t do that, or participate in enough school activities, it will affect if I get in or not.” 

Without sports you are left to small scale clubs offered in your high school, and even then if you are not participating in a lot of clubs, with leadership positions, it seems irrelevant to your application. 

Now it seems like colleges care more about the extracurriculars you participate in, rather than your grades. Which is frustrating to those who work hard to achieve high marks, but are now forced to pile on several extracurriculars as well. 

Students have reported feeling like they are just going through the motions, participating in activities just to impress others, rather than fulfilling their interests. 

“It’s become how much you can do and the highest achievement you can get and not really what shows your interest,” said Keppler. 

Rather than picking the clubs and activities that foster their beliefs and interests, students are more worried about what will look good on their resume being sent to potential colleges. It then becomes more like a chore than an activity you do for fun.

With the college search beginning for juniors recently, many are becoming worried that they are not good enough to get into the schools they want to. 

“Freshman year I didn’t do anything because I didn’t know I should, and now I’m faced with the pressure of having to do so much now,” said Sutfin. 

At the beginning of freshman year you get a small spiel of how to get involved, but the importance of participating in activities is not stressed until the last minute. Students right off the bat need to be aware of what they need to do to impress colleges, so they do not have to pile on last minute activities into their last years of high school.

The reality of it all is that high school students are just teenagers, and the impractical expectations put on by colleges feel hopeless, as few are able to achieve that title of a superhuman student.