Being a straight-A student is like having a full time job- it's rewarding, but sometimes it just completely sucks. I put so much pressure on myself and for what? Am I really defined by a letter on a report card or a GPA? Many of you probably think that of course we aren't defined by those things, but sometimes that's pretty hard to believe.

So many people look at individuals with straight A's and surmise that they are the Einsteins and Newtons of the world; they think that everything comes to them easily. Of course, there are people where this assumption applies, but for most of us, it could not be further from the truth.

In high school, I worked really hard for my grades. Most people are either math and science oriented, or history and language oriented. I happen to be a part of the latter group. Therefore, while those classes may have been easier for me, I struggled in many of my math and science classes to get the grades that I did. But many people didn't see those struggles, they just saw the grades.

Us straight-A students put a lot of unnecessary pressure on ourselves. For most people, a B would be something to be celebrated. But for us? It represents failure. When I get an assignment back and it is anything less than an A, my stomach drops. It may sound absolutely ridiculous, and admittedly, it is, but how do you combat deep-rooted expectations?

When students receive A's for most of their academic career, it's not only other people who expect good grades from them; they begin expecting A's from themselves. As we get older, more and more people tell us that grades aren't everything. And while that is accurate, it just goes in one ear and out the other.

Personally, I despise when people say "Oh, you're just really smart." When people say this, it takes away from everything I've done to obtain the grades I have. All of the time I've put into studying or doing revisions is ignored. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate being called smart; I just don't like it when people discredit my grades by assuming that all of the information came to me easily.

Sometimes, we're jealous of the slackers we see in class. They're not stressed out about the test they just handed in; meanwhile, we're in the seat next to them freaking out about the one question we know we didn't get right.

But that's what life is like for straight-A students: stressful. We put a crazy amount of importance on our grades; we just can't help it. We set the precedent for getting A's when we were young and this need for academic perfection is something that will continue to follow us throughout our lives.