First Tier

17 year old Riley has wanted to go to an Ivy League-caliber university for her whole life. Her parents, Yale alumni, are expecting nothing less from her. She works on 20 college applications while she also juggles dance, an internship, and membership in multiple clubs. As Riley turns to dangerous behaviors to cope that become addictive and destructive, she soon begins to struggle to stay afloat.

TW: self-injury, disordered eating behaviors such as restricting, fasting, and purging

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Yes, Riley is a WASP. She goes to an elite college prep school, her parents went to Yale, and she comes from a very affluent family. Yes, she is privileged. She may even come across as bratty. But yes, I feel like her story needs to be told.

I am partially writing from my own experience. No, I'm not a WASP, and I come from an average middle class family in the South. Yes, I'm very privileged, but I don't live the life that Riley has lived. However, I did attend an elite boarding school for my junior and senior years of high school. I didn't have to pay anything to go, which is why I was able to attend. The level of self-hatred, destructive perfectionism, and mental illness that my peers suffered from at the school was astounding, and so I've chosen to write about mental illness and self-injury in a high-achieving, privileged teenager in a unbearably high-pressure environment. I understand that she may come across as unsympathetic and bratty. Which, in part, is true. However, these kids seriously did struggle in the way Riley did, even to the extend of considering or attempting suicide. This is not to say that people do not have it worse - of course they do. But mental illness does not discriminate based upon social class, race, or gender. Thank you for allowing me to share a story that I feel like needs to be shared!