Emotionally well-adjusted students cope better with the stresses of living independently and experience less homesickness. Surely, each area of adjustment impacts the others. At the same time, each area may have a particular dynamic in relation to the college decision-making process. Students may feel pressured by parents to do well academically, but relatively free to decide how to approach their social lives. Because academics is an area where pressure is common and accomplishment is especially important, students' motivation toward their schoolwork can have an enormous effect on their college experiences.
Academic motivation comes naturally for certain students.
In contrast are students who are less curious, but strongly motivated to earn high grades and meet the expectations set by their teachers. These students learn their course material mainly in order to perform well on exams and other assignments. Intrinsically motivated students tend to seek challenges and are persistent and creative in devising ways to meet those challenges. Extrinsically motivated students, on the other hand, are more likely to feel pressured and tense in the face of difficult work, and have more trouble maintaining their motivation. Both types of students are highly invested in their courses, but the intrinsically motivated student is invested more genuinely in the work itself, while the extrinsically motivated student is primarily concerned with the rewards that follow from learning the course material.