I just finished a family dinner with my niece and her family.
She was returning from a morning of university classes, an afternoon shift at her waitressing job, and a 5 pm meeting to plan a women in sciences conference.
She’s a fantastic kid, hoping desperately to get into medical school in a couple of years. But I fear the journey there may destroy her.
There were two things I noticed over our dinner together that worried me:
The amount of work she is doing now is staggering. She has a full science course load of six classes and a lab; she works hard at each, maintaining a perfect 4.3 GPA. In addition to this, she holds a part-time job at a restaurant, volunteers at the hospital, and serves on two student clubs. She doesn’t work because she needs the money (she is on a major scholarship and her parents are more than willing to support her), and she doesn’t volunteer because she either enjoys it or feels a need to contribute. She does all of these things because she is convinced that these resume add-ons are necessary for her medical school application.
The focus the family places on her ambition is equally staggering. My brother is a really great guy, and he is certainly not one to put pressure on his kids… but they are obsessed with…
