AITA for wanting to break up with my girlfriend over good grades?
I'm in university right now as a kinesiology major while my girlfriend is doing a biomedical major with two minors (psychology and biochemistry). kinesiology is easy, the professors are great and so are my grades. my girlfriend, on the other hand, also has good grades ... but shes severely cracking under the pressure of being the BEST. Last semester she took five courses and she got the following grades: 100%, 95%, 90%, 95% and 84%. In the summer, she took two courses and got 95% and 89%. Instead of celebrating her super good grades, she got super upset, as 'i was 1% away from 85%' and 'i was really just 1% away from a 90%'. I've seen her panic about getting an 87% on a medical ethics paper and she had to beg the professor to bump it up. She's so lost in the vision of herself being a high 90s student that she's just so negative.
I love her but she doesn't spend time with me as much because 'i know i am ready for the test but i want to be more than ready'. she doesn't eat or use the bathroom when she studies because 'i have to earn it' and it makes me so worried. she grinds her teeth so much and we had to go to the ER once over her lockjaw when studying for an immunology exam. in terms of us, she denies a lot of dinner dates to study. we stopped our movie marathons and stopped playing videogames together. she always has her quizlet on her phone and she studies under the table when we go to weddings or dinner parties. sometimes she's gone for 12hrs on campus to study + work on her thesis + do her tutoring shift which is fine but i just feel like we dont have time together anymore. shes just not the girl i once knew, essentially. we used to do all these cool things like game, go on hikes, try cooking new recipes together, etc. but now she barely has time anymore and i just feel like im dating a stranger. i love her so much but i just feel like there's too big of a disconnect.
for context, her dad died last year and her mom works a 9-5 which is almost minimum wage so she really wants a successful future. i admire her and all her hard work. so in no way am i going to ask her to chill out and reduce her work load/extracurriculars. i feel awful because shes genuinely so kind to everyone, shes hilarious, shes witty and so pretty. i genuinely love her a lot and i also ask that you dont be so harsh on her in the commnets. she didnt do anything wrong, im just not sure if this is going to work out. the lack of contact makes me feel lonely and like im not her partner. but i also cannot tell if im being a baby. my love language really is quality time so not being around each other as much does bother me. AITA?
Posted Sep 3, 2025, 5:10 PM UTC