Exploring the myth of "applying sideways" and HYPSM hype: a deep-dive into college admissions
By Lynn Dai
In 2010, MIT Admissions published a blog defining a term now used ubiquitously in college admissions: “applying sideways.” This mantra encourages students to do things for the sake of their genuine interest instead of hard-set items laser-focused on getting into college.
But does it really hold water?
HYPSM, or Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT—an acronym coined in the early 2000s—is now a household name. Over the past few years, online communities composed of millions of users have sprung up with inquiries and reflections on the admissions process. In some discussions, individuals share qualifications—from placing top 5 in national STEM contests to building apps or services used by millions worldwide—that got them into great programs, but not dream schools. Others seek advice on crafting a “perfect” package, with each item targeted at earning admission to HYPSM or other prestigious schools. Feelings of aggravation at the “unfair” process are valid and common, especially among wealthier communities like those in the Bay Area.
Evidence shows fixation with “T20”—colleges consistently ranking in the top 20—is much higher in the Bay Area, compared to statistics nationwide or even in other areas of California. Data from the California Department of Education shows the percentage of high school students from each district that enroll in a UC mostly ranges from 1-5%; that number more than doubles to 12.5-22% for Bay Area districts like Fremont Union, Los Gatos-Saratoga Unified, Mountain View-Los Altos Union, and Palo Alto Unified. For students enrolling in private universities, that percentage is even less and mostly concentrated in two areas along the coast: the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Enrollment outside T20 schools in systems like California’s Community Colleges sees much higher percentages—up to 60%—of high schoolers enrolling.
How can students achieve a balance between pursuing activities purely for HYPSM versus for their genuine interest in them? College freshmen offer their insights on the hype behind HYPSM and the truth of applying sideways.
Nilay Mishra: on applying sideways, building a balance between interests and college
Throughout high school, the “overhype” around HYPSM has always been present for Mishra, a Random Math alumnus and freshman at MIT double majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics.
This overhype is dangerous for two main reasons, Mishra said: centering the purpose of four high school years around crafting an artificial package for college is “not meaningful,” “arbitrary,” and “unproductive.” In many cases, students laser-focused on HYPSM disregard what might be better fits or equally great matches for them at other institutions.
“The way college admissions are structured these days is very random and not conducive to getting into a particular school,” he said. “People end up discounting really great choices almost purely for the name brand. You're spending so many resources and time and your mental health on an obsessive fixation, when in practice, people who end up going to the other schools end up just fine. They get all the resources they want, and sometimes I even hear they get more attention from professors and faculty.”
In his senior year, Mishra heavily considered the College of Creative Studies (CCS) program at UC Santa Barbara. He was introduced to CCS through Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo, an alumnus of the program who Simon’s Favorite Factoring Trick is named after. The program has a separate application outside of the UC portal and accepts about 10 to 20 students into the math major each year.
Mishra was attracted by the strong math program at CCS, which had loose requirements and offered close, hands-on guidance for students to produce research papers.
“Many people, if they hear about this program, get turned off by the fact that it's inside UCSB and UCSB has a much higher overall acceptance rate,” he said. “A good thing about schools like [MIT] is the optionality they afford you, but I don't think you should be discounting other schools if there's this really strong program in the subject of your choice.”
Once he came to MIT, Mishra realized the hype surrounding HYPSM was disillusioning.
The same pressure to get into summer programs in high school persisted in college; essentially, HYPSM hype dissipated as soon as he stepped through the front door of MIT.
Particular milestones, like getting into a certain internship or research opportunity, only offer happiness for a short amount of time, Mishra said—goalposts are constantly evolving and shifting further away.
The continuous chasing of “hard” milestones like this makes people over-reliant on external pressures and motivations.
“Some people who are overly fixated on the college admission process think a little bit too short-term and fail to see this,” he said.
While he recognizes the importance of devoting enough time to the college application process, Mishra recommended building goalposts on "softer" milestones, such as discovering true interests and aiming to bring them to their highest fruition.
Throughout the application process, he said it’s important for parents, students, and peers to look beyond the name brand. The same logic used in preparing for math competitions—focusing on the work, rather than the result—applies to college admissions. When applied to peer groups, HYPSM hype can instill a sense of toxicity where students belittle their peers for not gaining admission to a dream school, rather than supporting them for working towards their interests.
“Parents should care about their children's outcomes and help them get there, but at the same time, not be overly fixated on the end result,” he said. “Some people gain external validation from getting accepted to a great school, and that's okay. But if you're a student who's overly stressed about getting into a good college, know that you have no control stressing about the results, and try to think a bit more long term: would you be in a significantly different place a few years down the line?”
Janelle Cai: finding communities for fulfilling high school activities
For Cai, a freshman at MIT majoring in Computer Science and an alumna of Random Math, high school activities were more of an opportunity to explore and learn, rather than artificial lines crafted on a college resume.
While Cai said she was interested in going to MIT for a "decent amount of high school," she didn’t approach her activities from a college admissions perspective.
“Throughout high school, I felt very strongly about not doing things for the sake of getting into college, but because I liked them, found them rewarding and genuinely interesting,” she said.
Her activities—math competitions spanning from AMC to Math Prize for Girls, robotics, competitive programming, and Model UN—were surrounded by a high-pressure environment for high schoolers to get into top 20 colleges, as is typical at competitive high schools around the Bay Area. Even so, Cai said she never found the idea of doing things for the sole purpose of getting into college fulfilling. She decided to attend Canada/USA Mathcamp for two summers to explore math beyond what she learned in high school. The program also seemed to have a "very welcoming and passionate community."
“When you do activities for the sake of getting into college, it doesn't go well. If you don't get the results you want, doing something you don't want to do, it feels like you’re wasting your time,” she said.
The kind of pressure pushing high schoolers to get into prestigious colleges doesn’t just end in high school. Even in college, Cai noted there were similar pressures to do things for the sake of getting an internship.
“Ultimately, what's more important is you're interested in what you do and put a real effort into everything you do,” Cai said. “Even if you don't necessarily meet all your goals of getting that internship or perfecting your resume, you'll still win from the experience and grow from it.”
Cai was introduced to competitive math at an early age. It wasn't until freshman year of high school—when she joined Random Math—that she discovered a community in mathematics and started becoming more involved in it.
Being able to find a community of people who are genuinely interested in the things she was interested in helped Cai avoid feeling pressured to do activities for the pure sake of getting into college.
In high school, one of her favorite communities was a reading group for math textbooks she and a few friends started. During lunches and breaks, club members would read a section of "Linear Algebra Done Right," a more abstract take on linear algebra, and work on a few problems afterward. While club sessions often evolved to playing card games when members stumbled upon a particularly challenging problem, Cai said she developed a more well-rounded understanding of linear algebra from the book, and most importantly, she found a way to enjoy the things she was interested in, without pressure from college.
"There's going to be a lot of different ways to spend your time. Maybe you don't know what you're doing, but try to do what makes you happy, what makes you learn, and ultimately grow as a person,” Cai said. “That’s the most important thing. If you're interested in learning and growing regardless of what college you go to, you'll be successful afterward.”
Oliver Ni: disconnecting from HYPSM hype
Ni, a sophomore at UC Berkeley majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), posted his reflections in full following his college decision results in the spring of 2022.
Though Ni knew that so many people would “kill for EECS as it is,” he initially couldn't help but "question [his] abilities and achievements" and feel like he had "failed everyone around [him.]" A week after he received admission into Berkeley’s EECS program, he wrote in his reflection:
“I looked down on the people planning out every part of their applications to perfection from years in advance. … I truly believed, with blind confidence, that if I worked hard enough with [the ‘applying sideways’] philosophy, I’d ‘be cast in the best light possible for competitive college admissions’ purely as a side effect, and that I’d have fun doing it too. Now, having grown beyond my past naivety, I know how much of a lie that is.”
Now, two years later, he acknowledged that those feelings of disappointment were wholly impractical. Even at the end of his senior year, Ni said he knew he would be happy no matter where he ended up. Having found a niche and close-knit community at Berkeley through organizations like the Open Computing Facility—a lab he admits might not be possible at smaller schools like Stanford or MIT—he said he can 100% say he belongs here.
“It was never about missing out on this one thing the school has or worrying about what [my college decisions] meant for my future,” Ni said. “It's more about the pressure ingrained in people—especially in the Bay Area—of getting into a good college. It was about validation.”
At Lynbrook High, Ni found it “incredibly difficult” to disconnect from the hype surrounding HYPSM and the pressure to get into a prestigious school.
While it's hard to ask people to completely abandon any college focus at all, he encourages students to have things they can carry on, activities that will have an impact on their lives outside of college.
Most importantly, however, Ni emphasizes the need to maintain close friendships.
“I think sometimes people get caught up in college applications they start hiding things from their friends, feeling like everyone's their competition,” he said. “Realistically, there are so many people applying that it's not worth it to give up your friendships for slightly better college chances. Being in this together with your friends is really important... I think that's the one thing you should definitely not sacrifice.”
For him, the pressure of gaining admission to HYPSM was just that—a desire for validation independent of his ability to do well in the future.
“I think it's pretty amazing how quickly you'll feel entirely disconnected from the college applications thing once you start going to college,” he said.
“I don't think anything I say will stop people from feeling disappointment if they don't get their desired results, but in the long run, things will be okay. Even if you are doing things specifically for college, I'd hope you're at least having some fun with that.”
Nikita Chowdree: discovering direction through formative processes
While there were similar pressures to attend a prestigious college at Clear Lake High School, a public school in Texas, Chowdree—a freshman at Rice University prospectively majoring in Business—said the difference in perception of great schools in the South contributed to slight differences between the academic pressures in her hometown and the Bay Area.
The publicly visible ranking system in Chowdree’s high school, combined with the view that schools like Texas A&M and certain programs in UT Austin were up-to-par with HYPSM+ schools, created an expectation for students to figure out their “direction.” For Chowdree, this meant realizing she wanted to pursue business from a younger age, due to her extroverted personality.
As a result, many of the activities she pursued in high school—theater and various religious and Hindu clubs—revolved not around a target in business, but around her extroverted personality. This allowed her to enjoy all the activities she pursued.
“Especially in junior year, nothing I ever did was solely for college apps,” Chowdree said. “I think [admissions officers] can see right through whether students did an activity for the sake of their enjoyment, or for the sake of applying to college.”
After viewing comments from admissions officers on her admissions file, Chowdree noted that one of the main activities she thought had gotten her in—a prestigious internship at the Wharton School of Business—turned out to rank only as the third most important factor. Her “stand-out” notes rested primarily on her involvement in her school clubs, which—although not directly related to business—were a significant source of her passion, something she put sincere effort, thought, and enjoyment into.
Those same principles of prioritizing her passions over college applied to her college search process. For Chowdree, visiting and participating in the programs her schools of interest provided—and talking to current students if those options weren’t available—were key to allowing her to decide which school she’d most likely attend if admitted. Her participation in the Wharton Summer Program, which exposed her to “unsafe” and an “unfavorable, overly cutthroat culture,” convinced her that the University of Pennsylvania was not the school for her.
On the other hand, she quickly grew to love Rice after having a few conversations with the students and alumni there.
“I think the most important thing for college apps is showing your genuine interest and care," she said. "Attending the Wharton Summer Program was a really formative experience for me. It helped me develop an understanding that schools more fit for me, like Rice, have a culture where students give each other opportunities and all the alumni are incredibly willing to talk to me and help me out.”
Other personal factors, including the desire to be closer to family and her love for the close-knit alumni community at Rice, allowed Chowdree to see herself on campus. Ultimately, a combination of a sense of direction in her major, her needs for college education, and her community helped Chowdree remove herself from the hype and perceptions of HYPSM.
“I stopped thinking about what other people were going to perceive about me going to Rice. I started thinking about what I wanted for my future, and Rice ticked all those boxes,” Chowdree said. “I'm really proud to go to Rice. I don't think I'm inherently different or better based on the school I attend, but it's incredibly important to live in other people's shoes and remove yourself from that tunnel vision.”
On finding fit: an ongoing process
For a freshman at Rice University who wishes to stay anonymous, finding the right fit doesn't end at simply choosing or attending a college.
Having grown up in the Bay Area, the freshman, who is majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics, initially had his sights set on MIT. At the beginning of his first semester at Rice, he considered transferring to the University of Chicago.
“I wasn't that happy at the end of senior year, and I still don't think I'm happy with where I am right now,” he said.
He attributed most of his dissatisfaction to the lack of resources Rice had for his particular field of interest, quantitative finance.
Compared to people he's interacted with at schools like Carnegie Mellon University or MIT, he said he feels that there are not as many opportunities or support at Rice as there are at tiered schools.
“We don't have a lot of big companies that come over and try to recruit us, and the small size of the school also isn't a great fit for me,” he said. “Everyone is like 2 or 3 degrees of separation apart, which is strange but also kind of cool. I’m not too big of a fan of the residential college system because I feel it boxes you in too much.”
Even so, he recognizes that Rice can be a great fit for students in other fields such as psychology or consulting.
He is currently trying to reach out to more people in his field, from alumni at Rice to students at other schools, to gain better insight into quant finance and build a better fit for himself.
"I feel it is possible to succeed wherever you are in life," he said. "The more people you meet in your field, the more opportunities you get."
Since graduating from high school, the freshman also recounts that his perception of college applications has slightly changed. As a rising sophomore in college, he feels the pressure surrounding the process has diminished, but he admits that there is a "decent amount of truth to where [students] get into college and their application."
While he doesn't regret anything he did in high school, he said he could've significantly improved his college application. For example, he said his Common Application essay topic wasn't something he cared about.
“I didn’t authentically present myself,” he said. “I also did a nonprofit I wasn't that passionate about, and it didn't help me much because it was hard to write about [in my essays.]”
Throughout his high school career, he enjoyed participating in contests like AIME. Although he said these competitions didn’t necessarily help him much in college applications, as doing well in any contest is a hard endeavor, STEM olympiads helped prepare him for harder coursework in college, especially for some of his discrete math classes. In particular, he said the thinking process from these competitions helps a lot in college.
"Students should find a balance in the activities they pursue,” he said. “Do what you're interested in, but you also need to consider how others perceive you."
Our recommendations
- Don’t disregard schools on the sole basis of “name-brand.” Consider subspecialty programs that are a great fit for you.
Dig deeper beneath the surface. This place will be your home away from home for the next four years; you’ll have to understand how you fit in at some point. It’s better to start discovering your “fit” earlier in the process—as soon as you begin researching which schools to apply to.
- Create "softer" milestones independent of admission to a particular school, program, or internship.
Continuously chasing hard goals causes overreliance on external pressure and motivation. Keeping lifelong goals, such as improving your critical thinking skills in an area of focus, allows you to ground yourself in tumultuous situations.
- Find a community of people who enjoy what you’re interested in.
Doing what you enjoy with other similar-minded people allows you to (at least temporarily) disconnect from the HYPSM pressure and focus more on your interests. A community lets you go further in your field.
- Keep maintaining your friendships.
The pressure to gain admission to HYPSM is, in a way, inevitable for many—especially for those in the Bay Area. Navigating feelings of anxiety and disappointment throughout the process together with friends allows you to focus on the bigger picture.
- Engage with the school community as best as you can.
Whether it means attending programs your school of interest provides, or talking to current students or alumni, engaging with the community is critical to developing a much clearer, coherent, and unbiased view of how well that college may fit you.
- HYPSM Hype isn’t connected to your future—it doesn’t have practical value.
At the end of the day, attending a prestigious college for your undergraduate education likely will not make a significant difference in your future life.
