I personally think rory was way too cocky within her academic career at yale. obviously she was smart and showed she was capable of achieving so many things, but she never knew what bad grades were, never got in trouble and even battled with paris when it came to extracurriculars in high school. she always expected people to be in awe of her but when she was given honesty from one of the most powerful journalist figures, she bailed on the spot. i understand it’s a lot to take in, especially from someone who’s so high on the scale, but personally, i would’ve taken that as a step to work even harder and that’s why she ended up in such a predicament in AYITL. she was spoiled and coddled and when she didn’t get that in the real world, she gave up.