“Most students most of the time just don’t put in the effort it takes to do academic work really well, even when they have the ability.”
- I absolutely agree from the parents’ prospective. D. kept saying that the step up in efforts from HS to college is absolutely needed. She saw that good number of HS valedictorians (in Honors college) were derailed from their initial track because they simply did not realize that having the same level of academic effort that they had in HS simply is not enough at college. D. actually was shocked by the gap, but as she did not want to be derailed from her path, she stepped up and endured. She still think of herself as an average person with great work ethic and she absolutely could not afford many B’s at college, so she made sure to do enough work to get an A in every class. She achieved her goal. I cannot say that her work was outstanding or impressive or whatever, it was simply enough to get an A. She never aimed at any higher as she was extremely busy at college pursuing many non-academic interests and making sure that she participated in certain ECs that were required for med. school application.
As for reading, she has been slower reader, which I believe improved in med. school. it did not drag her down at all. She also mentioned that she was never impressed by fast readers as they seem not to absorb as deep and needed help even after they read material.