’Tis the season for viral college acceptance videos. You know, the ones that feature stressed-out high school seniors staring at their email and scanning quickly for news about whether they’ve been accepted or rejected into their top choice. While the videos are good-natured in theory, and getting into one’s top pick is certainly cause for celebration, such videos can be a major source of anxiety for teens who were rejected from their favorite school.
It’s a scenario cognitive scientist Sian Beilock, president of Barnard College and president-elect of Dartmouth, has observed for years now.
