The Truth about College Admission The Truth About Success - Denise Pope
4 snips
Dec 30, 2025 
Denise Pope, Ph.D., co-founder of Challenge Success and Stanford lecturer, dives deep into student well-being and the realities of college admissions. She reveals how admissions are a major stressor for teenagers, fueled by misconceptions about what colleges truly value. Denise discusses the dangers of a scarcity mindset regarding college fit and how many students overload on AP courses. She advocates for prioritizing personal fit over rankings and emphasizes the importance of authenticity in applications, while encouraging families to support students' mental health.
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Seeing Students 'Doing School'
- Denise observed students 'doing school'—going through motions, cheating, and stressing without real engagement.
- Those early classroom observations sparked her career focus on school change and student well-being.
College Admissions Drives Teen Stress
- College admissions drives consistent high-school stress and shapes course choices.
- Denise Pope shows college pressure ranks among top three stressors for teens.
Awareness Rose But Myths Persist
- Awareness of student mental-health issues has grown but core myths persist.
- The narrow success narrative (grades → elite college → top job) still drives harmful behavior.
