TikTok can’t get enough of the way UCLA students behave during finals week

A TikToker’s college tradition during finals week has gone viral for resonating with students who regularly experience stress and anxiety while studying for exams.

On Dec. 16, Vedant Sahu, a student at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) posted a clip in which students across the school’s campus can be heard doing a “midnight yell.”

“So I go to UCLA, and it’s finals week right now, which means every single night, we have what’s called the midnight yell, which sounds like this,” he says at the beginning of the clip.

@sahu_vedant

emily in westwood ##ucla ##finals ##finalsweek ##findemily ##westwood ##fyp ##foryou

♬ original sound – Vedant Sahu

The video then cuts to a view of multiple dorms across from Sahu, who records students screaming and yelling.

“You know, sad, lonely, anxious, depressed college students letting their frustrations out by screaming into the empty void of nothingness,” Sahu says. “You know, the usual stuff, you get it.”

Funny enough, amid all the yelling, Sahu also managed to record “something super weird.” Apparently, a heartbroken student decided to also share his feelings with the rest of campus.

“Why did you leave me, Emily?” the unidentified student yells at one point. “Please come back.”

The hilarious TikTok has since received nearly 190,000 likes and plenty of comments.

“It’s always the Emily’s,” one person joked.

“Homie rly lost his GPA and emily,” another said.

Others were more intrigued by Sahu’s school tradition.

“Wait why is actually this so healthy tho,” one fellow TikToker asked. “Normalize this.”

“Seems cathartic …” another wrote. “Also like someone’s getting murdered … or losing an Emily.”

“This is incredible,” a third added.

According to the UCLA Bruin Blog, the “midnight yell” usually takes place during finals week and begins on a Sunday. The Daily Bruin further notes that the tradition dates back to 1982 and, at one point, led to controversy for being a distraction.

If you liked this story, check out this article on a college student who earned praise for her list of “worst” part-time jobs.

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