TikTok teenagers choose colleges based on which campus offers the best video background
How did you choose a college: academics, cost, campus? For today’s high school students, a new metric has entered the conversation—what college will look like on TikTok.
In accordance with Vogue YouthHigh school TikTok influencers are increasingly choosing schools based on how they will present content on social media. “Part of Morgan McGuire’s equation as she decides where to go to college is what will look good on TikTok,” wrote journalist Fortesa Latifi. “You want to make sure that the campus is beautiful and that there are exciting events like football games that will be recorded in bite-sized videos.” For these students who have built an online following, choosing a college is probably about more than education. It is a workflow strategy.
It’s not surprising given how much of young people’s lives are spent online. TikTok ranks among the most popular social networks, Pew Research data for 2023 reveals that it is the second most used application among those 13 to 17 years (YouTube takes the top spot). One in five teens say they’re on TikTok “almost always,” with college-related content becoming the top genre on TikTok and YouTube. On TikTok alone, there are over 8.3 million posts tagged with #college, alongside thousands more under hashtags like #dorm and #backtoschool. These forums now serve as unofficial guides to higher education, where creators offer everything from college decision making to insider tips—and make money doing it.
Mia Aston chronicles her days as a film student at New York University to her 10,000-plus TikTok followers, sharing everything from the stories she writes to the amazing views she gets on her way to class. Others like Elise Pham, a Harvard student with 155,000 TikTok followers, sponsored posts like “decorate my dorm with me” and “morning how-to” videos, with brands like Command and Keurig. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual salary of a TikTok influencer is over $130,000. This can be achieved through lucrative product deals, the TikTok store, or through affiliate marketing. Influencers can also earn money through the TikTok Creator Fund, which offers payments to creators based on their content views and engagement.
For influencers who attend elite schools, the name of the college becomes a powerful marketing tool, drawing tens of thousands of fans who are curious to peek behind the gates of the world’s most exclusive institutions.
Honestly, there are very bad reasons to back up your college decision.
