Michelle Obama Has Solid Advice for "Crushing It" in College

Over the years, First Lady Michelle Obama has graced the covers of numerous publications, including Vogue (a few times), Essence, Good Housekeeping and many others. Her newest cover? The May issue of Seventeen.

Rocking a pink and red Antonio Berardi dress, FLOTUS is joined by Better Make Room campaign essay winners Gemma Busoni and Zaniya Lewis. Both young women were chosen from a slew of applicants to not only share the stage with FLOTUS, but interview her for the newest issue. 

According to Seventeen, when asked if Mrs. Obama ever believed she would be the country’s first lady, she stressed “no.”

“When I was growing up, the notion that we would have an African-American president, the possibility that we would have a woman president, that wasn’t even on the horizon. I didn’t believe it until we walked into the White House!” she said. 

Mrs. Obama also shared some tips for “crushing it” in college. Her advice? Let your haters be your motivators.  

“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,’” she recalled.

“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,” she added. 

Finally, for all the young women struggling to choose a college or university, FLOTUS believes it’s less about prestige and more about what “works for you.”

“The one thing I’ve been telling my daughters is that I don’t want them to choose a name. 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?” she said. 

FLOTUS is no stranger to empowering and inspiring young people around education. Along with her global school initiative Let Girls Learn, she will be the keynote speaker this spring at graduations for Jackson State University, the Santa Fe Indian School and City College of New York. 

The May issue of Seventeen drops on April 19. 

(Photo: Seventeen Magazine, May 2016)