According to Vogue, high school TikTok influencers are increasingly choosing schools based on how they’ll present on social media content.

TikTok ranks among the most popular social platforms, with Pew Research’s 2023 data revealing it’s the second most-used app among those ages 13 to 17 (YouTube takes the top spot). One in five teens say they’re on TikTok “almost constantly,” with college-related content becoming a major genre on both TikTok and YouTube. On TikTok alone, there are more than 8.3 million posts tagged with #college, alongside thousands more under hashtags like #dorm and #backtoschool. These platforms now serve as unofficial guides to higher education, where creators offer everything from college-decision reveals to insider tips—and make money doing it.