First Lady Michelle Obama is opening up about life in the White House on the latest cover of “Seventeen” magazine.
Obama discusses her “best advice” to her daughters Sasha and Malia, as well as her methods for not giving haters the time of day.
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The first lady reveals she was not always praised for ambition but urges girls not to let the doubters get them down.
“When it was time for me to apply to colleges there were some counselors who said, ‘Maybe, with Princeton, you’re reaching a little high,” Obama said. “And I thought, ‘You really don’t think I can do it?’ But here’s what I did: I decided to ignore the doubters. I plunged ahead and I got in. I went on to Harvard Law School and every step of the way I used those doubting voices as motivation.”
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As for college advice, the First Lady said she focused on simply supporting her daughters and helping them make a decision that was right for them – not one that conformed to outside pressures or other’s expectations for their life.
“The one thing I’ve been telling my daughters is that I don’t want them to choose a name,” the first lady said. “I don’t want them to think, ‘Oh I should go to these top schools.’ We live in a country where there are thousands of amazing universities. So, the question is: What’s going to work for you?”
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Read the rest of the first lady’s interview here.