By the time we step on Seton Hall’s campus, most of us have already envisioned what college should be like. Golden-hour walks to class, lattes next to color-coded notebooks, friends laughing on super green lawns—these are the scenes that have made up our minds and that the real-life version of college has been living in our subconscious long before we even take our first course.
The perfect student-life versions that are presented as reality are in the form of soft lighting and self-care playlists that fill up platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Simply searching for the hashtags #collegemornings or #collegestudyvlog leads to an infinite number of videos showing students’ cozy dorm setups, morning journaling, and colorful “day in my life” reels.
The likes of @morganrosetaylor, @masseyamber, and other college influencers that fall into the category of “that girl” post such high aesthetic routines at 5 a.m., matcha-and-study vlogs, and immaculate dorm tours (search: “5 a.m. college routine on TikTok”)—the clips lead to the expectation that college life should always be calm, well-organized, and visually pleasing.
But the reality is the opposite, especially for first-year students.
My alarm goes off at 6:10 a.m. I rush into lectures, run from building to building, and wrap up assignments late in the library. I wonder, amid my daily intake of caffeine, my use of Canvas, and my state of exhaustion, why the picture of my college life is so different from the one that I see online and that I like.
The point might not be to stop romanticizing college but to change the focus of our romanticizing.
Social media fosters the idea that college is going to be very visually appealing with no hassle whatsoever. Nonetheless, for the majority of students, it is an act of juggling—a constant balancing between study, work, love lives, and self-discovery.
On TikTok, the 'ideal day' is compressed into a 15-second video, but for the freshmen, the truth is far from that—the situation is messier, louder, and way less color-coordinated than what is on their feed.
According to recent research conducted by the American Psychological Association, more than 60% of new students feel pressured to conform to the aesthetics of the online college world before even arriving on campus.
Moreover, constant exposure to idealized schedules is said to be one of the major causes of flaw-driven stress and dissatisfaction in the first semester.
The new students are in a silent war between the “that girl” lifestyle and the less glamorous but more genuine start of their college life. They are getting used to the freedom, the pressure to perform academically, and the entirely new surroundings—all while looking at influencers whose lives seem to be perfectly arranged.
We begin to suspect that something is wrong if our life is not like the one in the filtered video clips. But that pressure is a delusion: college is not a constant spotlight on the best parts of one's life. It is an unpredictable, but equally important, experience full of ups and downs.
Now comes the change: the true college life is the one that is never portrayed on TikTok.
It’s the 9:30 p.m. library study session, when the library is nearly empty. It’s the walk to class in the rain with your umbrella flipped inside out. It’s taking a deep breath before the midterm, having a giggle with a stranger, or finally understanding the topic after hours of struggle. It’s the huge relief you feel when you wrap your lab report up at 2 a.m. or the little bit of achievement you get when you turn up on days when you would rather not.
The clips that fall under “#collegemorningroutine” aren’t the only ones, but they are the ones that really show our days—proof that curated videos only deliver a small part of the entire narrative.
These moments aren’t pressed, yet they are splendid. The unedited pictures that best represent student life are ours and are more valuable than any perfectly arranged feed.
The way to stop comparing is not to detach—it is to take ownership. Pamper your version of college. Share that unglamorous photo of your overflowing backpack. Make the 8 a.m. lab coffee smell romantic. Look for meaning in the chaos, the tiredness, the late-night breakthroughs, and the tiny victories that no one sees. Make the whole college thing not just an aesthetic but also a challenge, as it requires so much resilience.
The beauty to me is in the pre-med lectures vs. the baking business balance, volunteering vs. research drafts in the night shifts. That’s what makes this journey mine, even though it might not have the perfect look.
We do not have to discard the notion that college is beautiful—we only need to permit that beauty to exist at the same time as us.
The one where your hair is a mess, your latte is half-cold, and your day didn’t go as planned. The one where you learn, grow, and redefine success through the flawed aspects that make it human.
For real, college—our college—is not perfect. And that is precisely the reason why it is worth romanticizing.
Ishal Chhipa is a writer for the Setonian’s Opinion Section. He can be reached at ishal.chippa@student.shu.edu.
