For most students, a college acceptance letter is the pinnacle of their high school experience. Holding a packet, pamphlet, or brochure from their dream school solidifies the fact that all those sleepless nights, last-minute cramming, pointless papers, and hours spent with teachers one could not stand were worthwhile.

But what happens after a student receives their acceptance letter? What happens when the hype of being accepted dies down?

A whole new type of excitement sets in: the “after-admission” hype.

When I received my acceptance letter from my dream school, Penn State, I experienced severe “after-admission” hype. I was not expecting to become so obsessed and excited after I received my letter, I thought the only exciting part came from getting into the school, but I was wrong.

It all starts with harmless Google searches. Looking at photos of the campus, a potential dorm, and other key buildings on campus help the accepted student to fantasize their future at said university.

I obsessed over campus photos and fantasized wandering around campus with a group of friends, enjoying the college lifestyle.

The next stage of the hype includes social media frenzy: following that school on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On Facebook, the accepted student normally follows a Facebook group of other accepted students in order to network with their future classmates and hopefully find a roommate.

I follow Penn State on every social media site. My biggest obsession is with the Facebook group of accepted students where I constantly look into potential roommates or other students that are in my major.

The idea of a roommate triggers an obsession with dorm décor. Making sure your room is the trendiest on campus is crucial to most accepted students. Constant thoughts about color schemes, personal touches, bedding, and wall decorations lead students to go online to start looking for what they are going to put in their dorm.

I have already started shopping for all of my dorm decorations. Also, I have looked at the layout of the typical freshman dorms and even started planning how I am going to organize my half of the room.

Next, students want to flaunt their acceptance through wearing or anything resembling the school they will be attending. From collegiate water bottles, lanyards, and bumper stickers to tee-shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants, no college gear is safe from the hands of a student experiencing “after-admission” hype.

On Amazon.com, I already have a plethora of Penn State gear in my shopping cart to buy. My obsession has gotten so bad that just wearing blue is enough to get me excited for Penn State since one of their school colors is blue.

The excitement of getting in is not even close to the excitement of realizing one is actually going to that college. Planning it all helps it sink in that college is really going to happen and that it is not too far off in the future.