The Importance Of Academic Overachievers

From staying at school for fourteen hours to doing homework seven days of the week. From having a panic attack over getting anything less than a hundred on an assignment to only getting thirty minutes of sleep. High school students are feeling the stress and pressure to overachieve all over the world, but why do they feel this way and will it really benefit them later in life? Even though they experience debilitating levels of stress and perfectionism, academic overachievers generally do not see huge rewards for the investment they have made in their academic careers.
Overachievers, kids who strive to take the most advanced classes, get straight A’s, and participate in as many extracurricular activities as possible in hopes of getting into or scholarships for the best colleges, are feeling the stress on a whole new level with pressure not only from others to succeed but from themselves. Throughout some student’s career in education, they are expected to do well by others whether that is by parents, grandparents, or teachers. They start off making sure that their student is learning at a sufficient pace or that they learn how to study correctly. Later in their careers, they look that their student is doing well in school academically and are participating in extracurricular activities to boost scholarship opportunities and college resumes. …show more content…
These students have to conform their learning and their lives to accompany the ever-growing demands that are placed on them. Along with many of my peers in school, I have personally felt the pressure to achieve by someone far more important than my family or teachers—I have felt the pressure to achieve from myself. My junior year in high school has been one of the most stressful years of my life. I decided to take AP English III, AP American History, Dual Enrollment Psychology, and Dual Enrollment Pre-Calculus. Dual Enrollment is a program my school offers where I am enrolled in both high school and college and get credit in both schools for that class. These classes tend to be very stressful because the grade you get is the grade you have in college and affects your college GPA. I hold myself to the high standard of getting straight A’s for the entirety of my high school career in hopes of getting a high class rank and thus Optimus Optimorum--the award given to the highest ranking students at my school’s graduation instead of valedictorian or salutatorian. To obtain this goal, I often do work throughout the entire weekend--sometimes only stopping to sleep at night-- along with the work I do throughout the week when I get home from school. Along with this standard I have given myself, I hold the positions of Vice President of my class, Treasurer of National Honor Society, Secretary of Key Club, and an active member in my school’s theatre program having a role in every play this year. This constant pressure from myself has resulted in an dominating, ever-present feeling of stress that follows me with every assignment that I do. The stress often turns debilitating inducing several panic attacks throughout the year and a distorted self-image provoking me to think that I am only as good as my grades …show more content…
Overachieving students commit countless amounts of hours towards studying for tests or completing assignments. Students feel that with the substantial amount of dedication they put towards their success, they should be rewarded with the desired outcome—good