We all remember how our experiences in high school were hardly similar to what Hollywood portrays — pulling all-nighters doing homework, taking abundant AP classes, studying for the dreaded SAT and aiming to do our best for the colleges we applied to is not as glamorous as the movies made them out to be. However, the college application experience proved to be a dice roll: even having a perfect GPA and constant extracurricular involvement could not guarantee your acceptance into your dream college, let alone earn you the scholarships to afford it. When we made our college decisions, some of us may have felt liberated from the high school work we accomplished to get into college. Yet, many students at Lewis & Clark continue to put more pressure on themselves than they need for success.
It is not surprising that many students continue to pursue competitive endeavors at college because it is the time in their lives to prepare for future careers. However, there are some students who are especially hard on themselves in college because they grew up in that kind of environment. Furthermore, classes at LC have higher expectations on students since it is college, not high school.
I grew up in an affluent area in San Diego County with top-rated public schools where children and adolescents endured parental pressure to earn straight-As. This intense pressure was widespread in enough families to manifest in the school environment and the neighborhood’s society. While my parents were not nearly as strict as others, they would get extremely disappointed in me whenever I got a C on a test in middle or high school. At my high school, it was not uncommon for students to take all four AP classes per semester, which my parents thought was too much to take on. I took six AP classes in total from sophomore to senior year, and even that was tough.
While I find LC to be less competitive than my high school, no one should underestimate LC’s rigorous academics. In fact, I personally find college to be more challenging than high school since the workload is heavier and final exams matter more here than in high school. Unlike in high school, however, I usually do not expect myself to earn an A in many of my more difficult classes. I still aim for at least a B in them to maintain a good GPA. Furthermore, I usually feel grateful to at least pass a test in my more difficult classes, even if it slightly disappoints my parents.
Yet, numerous students, including myself, continue to be hard on themselves like in high school, possibly due to both parental pressure and rigorous college classes. This is especially the case during finals, when it is common for students to work on their final papers and study for final exams all night. Even before the dreaded final exams and papers, many students will study overnight for a test the next day and flip out if they earn a C instead of an A. I have even heard absurd claims from some students that they would drop out of college if they earned a bad score on a test. In many of my classes, students including myself often remain silent despite the professor encouraging us to actively participate as many of us are more scared of saying something incorrect than saying nothing at all.
My advice to all students is: while getting good scores is important for graduating college, perfectionism hurts us more than it helps us. It causes us to think that we are not good enough for this world unless we get everything right, which makes us afraid to try or think what we want to, as so many of us would rather do nothing than make an incorrect guess. However, we must remember that we are all strong and can make our dreams come true as long as we try.
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