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Overachieving: Is it Narcissism?
"Ms. Miller, can you tell me more about your achievements?" the college admissions officer says. "Oh yes, indeed! I was the cross country captain, took at least 13 AP's in high school, had a perfect SAT score, a 4.5 GPA, and built a clinic in Africa for the needy," Miller says. Some six months later, she gets an acceptance letter to Cornell. The pressure of getting admission to a stellar college just gets more tense each year, but that shows the snotty side of college admissions. Therefore, whenever we are finding a cure to cerebral palsy or visiting slums in Africa, the passion seems to be lost. We don't care what happens to those with cerebral palsy, as long as we recieve the Nobel Peace Prize, we're happy. I remember getting awards when I was a little girl which would then help me as a positive reinforcement or a way of telling me to keep up the good work. However, I feel there is a fine line when overachieving becomes narcissism. Therefore, we need awards and recognition to get into a stellar college so our self-confidence and happiness can boost. However, this puts pressure on those individuals who want to enjoy their high school years because they will have to work twice as hard to reach the bar that was set high by overachieving kids. The real problem is that we indulge ourselves into achieving and scholarships and medals during our high school so much that we are missing the bigger picture of childhood. In my opinion, childhood is a gift that can only appear once in our life before we are stuck onto raising a family, house, and paying endless bills. Sooner or later, when we face life's cut-throat realities, we'll be crawling back to our childhood.
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