It has finally begun. We are all starting to see the Instagram stories of college acceptances more and more every day. The stress that has been building up on whether or not you will get in has been culminating and once you receive that letter of acceptance and text your friends that you got in and are going, the posts start rolling in.

With rolling admission decisions coming out and students less than a month away from hearing back from their early decision schools and/or even hearing back from some early action schools, the time is now for you to see more Instagram stories than ever.

Don’t get me wrong, when I make my decision on what school I’ll go to, I want all of my friends to post for me on their Instagram stories. After seeing them posted for everyone else, of course I am going to want to see them for my own acceptance and I feel like I speak for the vast majority of people when I say that. However, I think that I also speak for everyone when I say that seeing 20 posts for the same person’s acceptance is not something I really enjoy.

“On Tulane’s ED decision day, it seemed as though I went through over one hundred posts about acceptances,” said senior Sophia Cumella. “Obviously I’m going to post similar things for my friends when they get in, just when I see so many on the same day, for the same school, it gets annoying and stressful.”

On the mental health side of things, it also isn’t easy to look at all of these posts. The vast majority of decisions haven’t even been released yet, however, seeing all of these posts make it feel like you are the only one who hasn’t gotten in. Even if they are all for the same person, seeing so many people posting about it enhances the feeling of nervousness and anxiety for not getting in.

Remember, you never see the rejection letters people get.

As much as we can complain about the epidemic of college acceptance Instagram stories, I am saddened to say that I don’t think it can be stopped – at least not this year. The next couple of months, until all regular decisions are back, are going to be filled with “congratulations” and “*insert college here* 2023!!!”, so buckle your seatbelts and get ready.