<p>My D is a freshman at a school that has competitive admissions standards and is known for challenging grading. At orientation, this past semester, they addressed this phenomenon with the students. Let me see if I can articulate how she recounted it to me:</p>
<p>-Students here come from the top strata of the general population with regards to academic capabilities. </p>
<p>-While here, variations in the abilities of that top strata will be in evidence as your performance is evaluated. (Think of a rubber band with pencil point marks on it being streched so that the marks are more readily differentiated.)</p>
<p>-When you are done here, you will go back out into the top strata of the population. (Think of that rubber band now being relaxed back to its original size.)</p>
<p>-So, don’t sweat it. You will do just fine in life. And–as a dividend, you will have been challenged and responded to the challenge so that you can do so in the future.</p>