The Truth About Reddit's Applying to College (From Someone Who Helped Start It)
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from the South Korean side
Optimism about A2C quickly vanished
Many of you may not know this, but I joined Reddit’s Applying to College when it had less than 3,000 members. I even served as the first moderator from late 2015 until the middle of 2017. I’m friends with the founder, Steve Schwartz, in real life. I tried my best to make it a sane, inclusive, and informative community. I brought on the first two groups of moderators, but like so many forums and online communities, once it grew to around 50,000 members, the quality of content decreased substantially.
Trolls arrived, memes took over, and the place became so unpleasant that I retired as a mod. A few other mods and active members were doxed and harassed in real life. I decided it just wasn’t worth the fight to try and decrease the stress of the admissions process. Receiving death threats for trying to moderate hundreds of posts during the April 1 Ivy Day decision releases. A small number of people are determined to ruin the fun for everyone.
A2C has too much user and moderator turnover
It was almost impossible to retain student moderators because they understandably lost interest in college admissions a year or two after high school. Some moved on to medical or law school admissions online communities. Of the moderators I recruited in 2017, zero remain, and by March 2021, no current moderator has held the position for over a year. Consequently, there is little continuity between admissions cycles as high school sophomores and juniors replace the cohort of graduating high school seniors.
Students aren’t incentivized to take collective action. Creating a union in an employment context or some massive strike and refusal to participate in a deeply unhealthy and unfair system is impossible. The lack of motivation to change is similar to an 18-year-old advocating for lowering the drinking age, that issue becomes irrelevant the day they turn 21. People over 21 don’t want to reduce the drinking age to allow a bunch of teenagers to crowd their favorite spots. Frequent A2C posters and mods move onto other communities as their interests and positions in life change.
Anxious students consume “admissions decision reveal” and “how I got into my dream school” viral videos. Rather than uniting around a shared struggle to resist an unjust system, envious users drag one another down. Jealousy and resentment on college admissions forums and social media produce a crab mentality of “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” If crabs in a bucket cooperated, each one could climb on top of one another to freedom.
Developing a collective consciousness among applicants is the only viable solution for reform coming from outside of politics or universities. Instead, Redditors act like crabs at the bottom of a bucket who pull down those at the top: Every crab fights, and none escapes. College admissions unintentionally divide and conquer.
Low-quality posts drive away thoughtful users
In a community currently exceeding 250,000 members, trolls and insecure know-it-alls run off experienced, well-intentioned admissions professionals and high-quality posters. Teenagers are especially prone to the egocentric bias, where they rely too heavily on their perspective or have a higher opinion of themselves relative to their experiences. A2C is a tidal wave of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, where Ivy League college students or other pseudo-authorities overestimate their abilities and knowledge. Content quality is a race to the bottom. It only takes one malicious post to cancel out the feel-goods from ten positive comments.
I see that Reddit’s A2C provides a release for many anxious students. I used to think memes were childish and didn’t have a place in thoughtful discussion, but now I view it as a form of resistance and mockery against the system. I suppose my regret is Steve and I saw so much potential in A2C’s early days to make it a viable alternative to the cesspool of College Confidential. It pains me to see what A2C and other Reddit college admissions communities have become.
High-quality or even mediocre posts become the exceptions rather than the rule, not unlike our broader political discourses on social media and YouTube comments. The larger an online community, the more likely it is to fail, absent heavy moderation and an overwhelming majority of members participating in good faith. Condescension from anonymous teenagers who would never talk to their teachers or me as such in-person persuades me that online communities can’t curb the madness.
Students embrace the current state of affairs and disparage alternatives at the expense of their individual and collective self-interest. It seems to me like a collective form of Stockholm Syndrome or learned helplessness where the prisoners justify the system that oppresses them. Rather than sources of high-quality information or mobilization against an unjust higher education system, online college admissions communities become a torrent of doubts, anxieties, and insecurities. Redditors, if I’m being honest, you’re your own worst enemies.
I will make two final points. The first is about social media and college admissions in general.
Minimize college admissions social media consumption
As the average teen spends around five hours on social media, it’s essential to consider whether constant content consumption serves your needs. A media junk food diet is likely to increase your anxieties rather than improve clarity.
Closed communities like GroupMe or Discord aren’t any better. I’ve joined the UT transfer Discord server in recent years during the spring when students are waiting. Perhaps it’s the case that misery loves company, but all anyone talks about is how stressed they are. I don’t see how it’s a reasonable use of your time to join a community with others who have already submitted their applications, and there’s nothing you can do but wait. College applications are only as stressful as you choose to make it and as much as you surrender to the social media algorithms.
Adults are part of the problem
The final angle to this is for parents and adults. I used to be part of the primary College Admissions Counselors Facebook group, which has over 15,000 members. They are university admissions counselors, enrollment managers, college consultants, high school counselors, and other higher education professionals. It provided me insights into how officials perceive themselves and their institutions as beacons of equity and inclusion. The short summary is they are so wildly out of touch with students, families, schools, communities, and their role in American democracy. The atmosphere there trended to the farthest left of political views, and any skepticism or critical questioning wasn’t welcome. There is so much bootlicking for elite universities rather than calling out their practices.
Like so many online spaces, the admissions professional Facebook group wasn’t a space for consensus building and testing ideas in the marketplace of ideas but a coliseum where gladiators fight over the most insignificant questions while ignoring elephants in the room like the cost of attendance or the artificial scarcity of enrollment spaces. The funniest thing is that the senior administrators and university officials complaining about whatever practices are the very people who have the potential to change the system, yet most participate as if they are passive participants rather than the primary drivers of so much about what is wrong in American higher education. Lurking in that community makes me feel hopeless for the state of college admissions.
Parent Facebook and social media communities are equally counterproductive and helpful. The issue there is that a few power-user parents dominate almost every comment thread and often spread misinformation or inaccuracies. Their perspectives usually start from a plausible initial position that leads to absurd conclusions. I tried participating in a few and quickly became frustrated. I was kicked out of one for being “too correct” and was banned twice from College Confidential in 2015 and 2016.
In conclusion, online spaces are not reliable sources of information. The laziest and most inflammatory content rises to the top, and the loudest commenters drown out reasonable and nuanced voices. Like so much about our public discourse and societal polarization, it’s best to stay away from online discussions. I’ve since gone off all social media since the recent election, much to the benefit of my mental clarity and sanity.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this critical take on Reddit’s A2C and other online communities. The easiest way to reach me is by email kevin@texadmissions.com