At Berkeley High School, ambition is everywhere. From packed backpacks to late nights in the College and Career Center (CCC), students juggle rigorous academics, extracurriculars, sports, and social activities — all while trying to stay mentally afloat. For teenagers everywhere, the pressure to look “successful” for colleges doesn’t just motivate hard work; it can also quietly fuel stress, burnout, and cycles of procrastination that are difficult to escape.
Academic pressure at BHS often begins earlier than most would expect. Before junior or senior year, students say they are already thinking about GPAs, transcripts, and comparing to their peers. “Me and my friend met with our counselors one time to talk about if there was anything that we could do to prepare for college,” Abby Pique, a freshman at BHS, said, “It sounds like a crazy question, but I feel like people are talking about that a lot so it's definitely causing me a bit of worry.”
“I think if you get one B in chemistry sophomore year, students feel really shell-shocked,” Matthew Laurel, an Academic Support Coordinator and teacher at BHS, said, “It becomes hard to enjoy learning when you’re constantly worried about a percentage that might define your future.”
For BHS sophomore Laurel McGatlin-Golier, that pressure shows up in the need to appear “well-rounded.” As a student athlete, she practices volleyball daily during the season, yet feels that commitment alone may not be enough. “Colleges just see that I play volleyball,” she said, “So then I start thinking, what clubs am I going to do? What extracurriculars am I going to do? How am I going to be more than just one-dimensional?”
With thousands of applicants competing for limited spots in colleges, students often feel like they must do more — not necessarily because they want to, but because they fear falling behind.
While some stress can be motivating, too much can become harmful. According to Berkeley International High School counselor Addison Fonseca, academic pressure often leads students to sacrifice basic needs. “I see students compromising sleep, food, and their ability to enjoy things they love,” Fonseca said, “That’s a cycle that can be really detrimental to both mental and physical health.”
This cycle often looks the same: students feel overwhelmed, procrastinate because the work feels unmanageable, cram late into the night, and then burn out. “Finals in particular were very stressful,” Pique said, “When I feel stressed about those types of things I normally avoid the problem until later.” Exhaustion makes it harder to focus, which can lead to falling further behind — and even more stress.
“If students are staying up regularly to cram, it’s normalized, but that doesn’t mean it's healthy,” Fonseca said, “Most of the time, it's not even effective studying.” While this is a hard pill to swallow for students who may think they are doing well by having late night study sessions, research by the National Library of Medicine shows that getting fewer hours of sleep directly decreases grade averages.
Teachers also see how this pressure can affect attendance and motivation. Laurel noted that some students labeled as “unmotivated” may actually be struggling with exhaustion or hopelessness. “Sometimes students don’t come to class because they’re overwhelmed and tired, not because they don’t care,” he said.
Much of the pressure students feel is related to college admissions and the idea that success only comes from attending a prestigious four-year university. Universal Ninth Grade Ethnic Studies teacher Alex Day explained that expectation can be limiting. “A lot of people are forcing themselves into AP classes and learning styles that don’t work for them,” Day said, “At some point, it becomes a cost-benefit analysis: is this level of stress worth it?”
Fonseca added that students sometimes feel disconnected from what they actually want. “When there's a misalignment between what a student wants and what they feel they should want, that’s when depression shows up,” she said. Edward Tory Higgins, a professor and director of motivation science at Columbia University, found that emotional distress comes from conflicts between different self-beliefs, not from the specific traits or content of those beliefs themselves. This is also known as self-discrepancy theory.
Despite the pressure, students are finding ways to cope. BHS senior Vivian Johnson, who is balancing college applications and multiple AP classes, said structure and environment make a big difference. “I try to get my work done at cafes with friends or at the CCC,” Johnson said, “If I go home and lie down, I lose motivation.”
Others rely on social connection, separating themselves from comparison-driven environments, or choosing not to overload their schedules. Still, not all students feel they have clear strategies or enough guidance to know what colleges actually want. “Sometimes it feels like you’re just blindly guessing (what the right thing to do is),” McGatlin-Golier said.
BHS offers many academic supports, including teacher tutorials, counselors, and the CCC, but both students and staff agree that there’s room for improvement. “I think that this is just a much more serious issue than people realize so BHS should definitely do some thoughtful reflection on prevention tactics,” Johnson said.
Fonseca emphasized that counseling services are often underutilized. “We help with mental health, executive functioning, and creating study plans,” she said, “Students don’t need to do this alone.”
Teachers also pointed to empathy and flexibility as key steps forward. Laurel believes acknowledging students’ full workloads can make a meaningful difference. “We’re one of six classes students are managing,” he said, “More flexibility and human understanding go a long way.”
Several students suggested structural changes, such as study halls or more coordinated workloads among teachers. “I have seen other schools do study halls, like study periods that give students time during school to do homework, and I can see that being really helpful,” Johnson said. Others emphasized the importance of normalizing alternative post-high-school paths. “I feel like (BHS) primarily sets students up for college, but they could make different after-high-school tracks more accessible,” Deven Tripathi, a BHS sophomore, said.
“We can’t have it both ways,” Day said, “We can’t expect everyone to have perfect GPAs and also protect mental health.”
As academic pressure continues to shape student life at BHS, many are asking the same question: what does success actually look like? For counselors and teachers, the answer goes beyond grades or college names. It’s about balance, well-being, and helping students build sustainable habits, not just impressive résumés. “Your health matters more than any transcript,” Fonseca said. And for students caught in the cycle of stress and burnout, that reminder may be the most important lesson of all.