WORK
The Path To Success Isn’t A Race
How I learned that patience is the key to success
“Did you hear back yet from the summer research apprenticeship?”, Paul asked me. I was a little annoyed by that question for two reasons. The first being that I was in the middle of a conversation with someone else. He couldn’t even bother to wait politely for an appropriate moment to ask me, which leads me to my second reason for being annoyed. He must have gotten it.
I worked really hard to apply for that research apprenticeship. I discovered it online, got recommendations from my professors, and wrote my personal statement. Then I mentioned it to Paul off-hand one day, surprised he hadn’t heard of it himself. Once he did know about it, he applied too.
I turned to him and answered, “No, have you?” He nodded meekly. “Did you get it?” I asked. He nodded meekly again. I responded, “Well then, congratulations.” And turned around to continue the conversation he had interrupted.
I could tell he felt guilty. But honestly, I knew I wouldn’t have gotten it whether he had applied or not. My grades really suffered because of the undiagnosed learning disabilities I had. And although my geology and geography grades were good, some of the other courses I took really brought down my GPA.
