I will never understand parents who think their teenagers should only care about academics. It’s so counterintuitive to the way the college admissions process has worked for the past 10 years. There isn’t a highly ranked college in America that wants to admit a student with perfect grades, flawless SAT scores, and no interests outside of school. Even state schools want you to be a part of at least the Key Club. This reality can discourage teens for whom academic achievement is their passion, but it’s even harder for kids who are good (but not perfect) students whose parents can’t understand why they’d want to do anything outside of the classroom. The latter student is the subject of this story. Her mom has incredibly high expectations for her academically and criticized her for entering a cooking contest and placing 2nd, saying she should abandon all hobbies to solely focus on school.