Everyone knows that to get into college these days, it takes a little bit more than just a shiny report card and a good SAT score. But I don’t think some people really know just how demanding and taxing the application process is these days.

I am a high school student just wrapping up my junior year, and with the college application process opening up in August, I can’t help but compare my process to the ones my parents had.

Back then, someone with a solid SAT score, good grades, and a strong recommendation could get into a great school and set themselves up for the future.

Nowadays, kids often need rigorous coursework, top grades, awards, passion projects, AP classes, extracurriculars, honors programs, dual enrollment, strong SAT/ACT scores, a few well-written essays, and to be a legacy to get into their dream school.

Not only is the process so much more demanding, but just the price to hit submit is increasing each year. Private tutors, essay coaches, admissions consultants, advisors, and, not to mention, SAT, ACT, AP, and college application fees, all add to this price tag.

Today, college is becoming a luxury that some people can’t even apply for.

It used to be that the sign of wealth was owning a big house or belonging to a country club.

Today, it’s whether your family can afford the private tutors, essay coaches, and college counselors that it takes to build a competitive application, let alone more than 15 schools.

The College Board has turned the college admissions process into a high-stakes one that relies solely on time, money, and resources. The fact that the College Board controls both the SAT and AP exams is a bit absurd to me, especially as today, it costs $99 to take an AP exam and $68 to take the SAT. That’s singular. Per test. According to the University of the Potomac, students are generally advised to take the SAT 2-3 times to achieve their best scores without extra stress. Yet, the liberty of being able to take the test so many times is one that many can’t afford. Some students, like those at Greeley, take 8 or more AP courses over their high school years, which is crazy, yet slowly becoming the norm. At a school as competitive as Greeley, kids will do anything to stand out in a crowd of 4.0s, impressive extracurriculars, and great standardized test scores.

According to the Independent Education Consultants Association, comprehensive admissions consulting packages alone can go anywhere from $4,000 to over $15,000, and that’s before ever touching an application fee.

I did the math, and with all these factors combined, for a realistic applicant, it can range from just over $1,300 for the bare essentials, 2 SAT tests, 5 AP exams, and 8 application fees.

For a Greeley student, add in a private tutor, an essay coach, a college counselor, more SAT retakes, AP exams, and application fees, and the number climbs to around $20,000. Which is absolutely absurd.

I realize that a Greeley student is not the norm. The $14,000 figure reflects a more typical competitive applicant. Not everyone has private SAT or AP tutors, but for some students, especially some at a school like Greeley, $20,000 is not an exaggeration.

And yes, the College Board does offer fee waivers for students who need them, but that’s its own process, and most people don’t know about it.

Social media is a whole other problem. Online comparisons among students and applicants create unrealistic expectations and crush some people’s dreams of getting into a top-tier school.

The expectations are purely inflationary, but unlike in our economy, there’s no monetary or fiscal policy we can use to reverse it.

In a world where so much is determined by what other people around you are doing, so many high school students, myself included, are subject to the unrealistic pressures of the college process.

10 years ago, how many high school students could you say had a LinkedIn account? Not many. I mean, I have one, but so does half my grade.

Some social media accounts have been created solely to review and discuss students’ college applications from around the world. These content creators have grown their accounts and built platforms, such as the popular creator Limmytalks, who has an Instagram page with over 389K followers. While I do respect the idea of capitalizing on the anxiety and pressure students feel around college admissions, I believe that it comes at the expense of students’ emotional and social well-being.

Research from Pathlight BH, a behavioral health organization, shows that “76% of students feel that college admissions is a life-defining moment. 73% worry that small mistakes could hurt their chances of getting in.” Social media accounts like these add fuel to the fire and establish crazy, unrealistic expectations where students measure themselves against the most polished and carefully picked applications online. As the saying often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt goes, “comparison is the thief of joy.” Many of the students who watch these videos compare themselves against unrealistic expectations for perfect grades, nationally ranked awards, honors, extracurriculars, test scores, essays, and more.

College has always been a matter of finances and a game of money. But soon, that game will be strictly limited to those who can afford to see their application results.