Konkana is a neet aspirant. Her brother qualified for the exam and is now a 3rd year medical student, and she aims to follow the same path. However, it’s her third attempt, and her scores are not enough to meet the eligibility criteria for her dream college. Even though the experts have predicted that due to an increase in toughness of the exam, the cutoff is expected to be lower than usual. Konkana has been feeling a knot in her stomach for many weeks, and now she is having trouble sleeping. Even though she knows that she will be able to get into college, she is not able to shake off the feeling of fear.
Why does Admission to School or College Create Stress?
Getting admission in school or college is an important milestone in one’s life. For the majority of people, getting into a good college plays an important role in their career, causing many people to view it as a chance to get a good life. However, many psychological researchers state that people not only view admissions as an academic hurdle or an opportunity but also as a form of identity. This mental stressor is further characterised by social standards, performance, economic status, etc.
A national report conducted by Ruffalo Noel Levitz in 2018 examined student satisfaction across different types of institutions. Results showed that 66% of students who attended their first-choice school reported being satisfied. This percentage decreased to 50% for those who went to their second-choice school. Only 33% of students, or one out of every three, felt satisfied when attending their third-choice school.
The implication is that the emotional impact of not getting into their top choice does not end with the admission decision. If not properly addressed, this can lead to ongoing feelings of not belonging, which could be managed through cognitive reframing. (Ruffalo Noel Levitz, 2018).
Read More: The Role of Psychology in Academic Success: Understanding the Mindset Behind Achievement
Impact of Thought Patterns on Admission Stress
1. Seeing their Performance as Their Identity
Individuals in their student life often have academics as a major area to represent their abilities, hardwork and discipline. It is something that earns them affection and respect in society. Often, students associate their worth with their report cards, which, in the long run, leads to mental health issues. Research published in 2015 showed that Academic Contingent Self-Esteem (aCSE) serves as a vulnerability for depression. (Schöne; 2015).
If any college or school rejection application of an student’s application, or a student is not able to qualify for the eligibility criteria for the college, often students perceive it as personal failure affecting their self-esteem. As a result, they develop a fixed mindset believing that their potential and worth is tired to the scores they have achieved. These students often believe that they are not worthy of affection and care if they have not performed as expected.
2. Decision Fatigue
Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice states that having options to choose from is good, but having too many high-stakes options often has a negative impact. It leads to anxiety and fear that choosing one over the other can lead to loss of opportunities. Not all colleges would have all the facilities and opportunities, hence the individual might feel that they are missing some opportunities, which might cause FOMO. Also, constant comparison between the choices can lead to mental exhaustion. The data points over which a college can be compared are endless (campus, placement, culture, faculty, global ranking, etc.), hence draining the mental resources in the process.
3. Feeling of loss of Control
Psychologically, humans crave closure and control. Any individual can control the SOPs and essay for the admission; to some extent, they can control their preparation and knowledge, but cannot control the Question paper or results. This can lead to a feeling of loss of control. Often, between admission processes and declaration of results, there is a brief period of waiting time, generally weeks, but sometimes it can be months. This time period fuels the anxiety. Waiting for months often creates elevated levels of cortisol for a long time, affecting their mental and physical health.
Does Social Media Play a Role in Pushing This Anxiety?
Today, in the era of YouTube and LinkedIn, the stress of admission is magnified by social comparison. If an individual comes across their peers or seniors on the social media posting about their college, the fests etc or an individual when compares their college with someone else on their LinkedIn account, they often create distorted reality, “every one is doing so well in life” or “I must try to get into the same college to set my life” or “If I do not get in same college, I would be a looser”. This often triggers the fear of being left behind or the fear of social exclusion.
Role of Social Environment in Admission Distress
In South Asian countries, which are academically oriented, the college an individual attends is also related to the pride of the family. Here, there is social pressure to be qualified for the maximum number of colleges; the individual is forced to perform various activities to meet eligibility criteria. For example, various students opt for PCMB as a combination in their higher education, even though the combination is quite tough for average students, just so that they can meet the criteria for both engineering and medicine-related courses.
Conclusion
Admission-related distress is a natural response of the human body to societal expectations, self-expectation, desire to be successful and have a better life. It is a result of a system that views an individual’s potential and success with the ranking of the institute. However, students must understand their actual worth in order to protect their long-term well-being.
References +
Wen, R., & Jin, Q. (2025). The Effect of Upward Social Comparison on Academic Involution Among College Students: Serial Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem and Perceived Stress. Behavioral Sciences, 15(11), 1515. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15111515
Frontiers | Contingent self-esteem and vulnerability to depression: academic contingent self-esteem predicts depressive symptoms in students https://share.google/HmY2KHLy77kwuPz2B
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606626.pdf?hl=te-IN.
The Paradox of Choice – The Decision Lab https://share.google/W2F68V7Zl6Bnsy1Kp 50 Current Student Stress Statistics: 2026 Data, Analysis & Predictions | Research.com https://share.google/glSZKh3N8r0UJGxtV
