My daughter is amazing. She never got less than an A since pre-school, was the lead in all the school plays and was active in all sorts of other things. She graduated third in her class and gave the best commencement speech ever. And she did this all on her own...we are not helicopter parents or tiger moms.
Her dream was to go to CMU - a top University with selective admission and a low acceptance rate. She killed the ACT and SAT and was accepted through early admission with no problem, and she got enough of a financial package to make it happen. She even got the best Freshman apartment on campus with great roommates.
Like any Dad, I was worried about her first semester. No matter how good of a student you are, there are lots of distractions once on your own. She stayed active in the student theater group and met some great people there. They are social and have some parties, but not the kind of fraternity debauchery that I was known for back in the day. (Thank goodness.) She recognized that her classes were quite difficult, and some were designed to weed out the weak, but for the first time ever she was OK with getting a B to avoid excessive stress and lack of sleep. I was very proud of her attitude and outlook.
She got her grades back, and she achieved straight As, a 4.0 her first semester! I couldn't be more proud of her.
