Thriving in a Competitive Academic Environment
Especially in Loudoun County, but honestly anywhere, there is intense competition to get the best grades, maintain strong relationships with teachers, and build a flawless resume. There is no worse feeling than failing a test that everyone else aced. For me, I feel like the rest of the class catches on quicker to content than I do. This is where school starts to become toxic and harmful to your mental health. It’s much too late to try to alter these views and unbearable pressures, but what we can do is accept it and work around it. Here are 3 needed reminders that will hopefully help you thrive, even in a stressful academic environment.
1. Do well for yourself: These days it feels like everything’s about college. Sports, clubs, extracurriculars, volunteering. it’s so hard to distinguish what you want to do vs what colleges want to see. In the end, if you’re only doing well for your parents, teachers, or to surpass classmates then you’ll never feel successful or content.
2. Study ‘smart’, not hard: I’m still trying to do this one myself but the concept is to not drain yourself studying for hours upon hours, but instead study for shorter periods of time using more effective methods. I would always be up the night before studying 15 pages of notes and watching Youtube videos trying to better grasp concepts. I figured out this was ‘studying hard’ because I was trying hard. The night before a due date i kept feeling like all my classmates were in a better position than me. To ‘study smart’ means you have to focus on the concepts you know nothing about, rather than piling up a mountain of information.
3. Making mistakes and failing are OKAY: It’s so cliche and overdone, but bottom line is, nobody’s perfect. The pressure to be the perfect student causes us to blow up over small errors. Careless mistakes that lead to failing, it sucks but it feels 100 times better succeeding after you know how bad its felt to fail. Let the low moments fuel you to modify your work ethic and propel you to success.
In the end, no matter how hard you work or try to get ahead of the game, there will always be someone doing better and working harder… not even wasting your summer enrolled in some (fill in the black) summer program will boost you the way you’d like. We’re the most cruel to ourselves and we forget to take a little break. Be proud of your hard work and tremendous effort, but always remember to take care of yourself as well.
