By Vicki Salemi
March 21, 2016 | 6:02am
When Natalie landed a 1400 on her SAT and later graduated from an Ivy League school in 2010, she assumed it was the golden ticket to a corner office and shares in a Hampton house.
“I was the ultimate high achiever,” says the 28-year-old former National Honor Society member, who asked that her last name not be used for professional reasons. “What I didn’t know is that I was going to get fired from my first job out of college.”
After graduating cum laude from Brown University, Natalie landed a sales job downtown. She found it difficult to socialize with her colleagues and wine-and-dine clients — part of the job requirement — and started falling short of her monthly sales quotas. She was canned 13 months after taking the job.
While she was devastated — this was her first “F,” after all — Natalie bounced back and landed an analytical role in human resources.
But looking back, the Chelsea resident wishes people-skills were part of the curriculum at Brown — or that she’d at least taken classes outside of her major that allowed her to learn new skills and interact with a more diverse group of students. “In hindsight, I would have done things differently and given myself room to socialize,” she says.
Natalie isn’t alone. According to a new report, high-achieving students are at risk of becoming terrible employees.
Welcome to the world.
Once you have been working for about two years nobody cares about college. It is your work skills that earn your reputation. When was the last time someone asked you where you went to college or what your gpa was? They want a resume of accomplishments.
The valedictorian from my high school went to three colleges before graduating. She had a very difficult time finding her place.
Very often, mediocre students with winning personalities are found in hindsight to have been on the right track.
This whole article is absolutely absurd. 1400, Brown, high achiever …for what? And about what? This misfit could not even function outside her sheltered lillywhite world. What are you doing Ridgewood parents? What’s your excuse? What exactly is that your trying to accomplish?