Grittiness: Required by Morgan

Grittiness: Required by Morgan - September 2014 Scholarship Essay

Success in college depends on a number of intrinsic qualities. Most people however, put too much stock in individual intelligence. I believe that the single most important skill a person can have to achieve success in college is their grittiness.

Having grit means that you work hard into the wee hours of the morning, way past your roommate’s bedtime. It means focusing 120% of the time and asking curious questions. It means seeking help when you need it and not feeling ashamed because you are doing everything you can to understand everything. It means never getting too wrapped up in your successes and failures. It means good enough, is never good enough.

Having grit is the most important thing in any person’s college success story because I constantly hear about the really smart kids that thought they could coast through college on their smarts alone, getting a wake-up call when they receive their first grade, and the kids that feel so lucky to have gotten into the one school they never thought they could, feeling the entire time like they don’t belong there, yet working harder than they ever have in their lives to prove to themselves that, yes, they do belong there.

Having grit is a skill that can always be improved upon, and everybody, with a conscious effort, can develop this skill and make him or herself into the greatest force in the classroom. Professors will respond to a student’s grit more than a student’s intelligence or money. Grit is what would makes a student stand out in a sea of students that have some how forgotten what the word means. Grit means success is the only option, and not just an option, but reality.