Meet Jesse, Lexa, Amani and Cherie. One about to graduate college, one with two years left to go-due to two separate gap years-one who left college after her first year and one who has been out of college for a few years.

We had a fascinating conversation. Here are some the key takeaways:

• Success seems to be defined only by how much esteem, recognition and money you will have in your chosen profession.
• The only definition of success that has ever really been presented to us in the academic world is based on grade point average and how many extra curricular activities you have participated in.
• Having time outside of/after school helped me to find myself. Now success=being happy, having close friendships and feeling that I am evolving and growing as a human being.  It's about how I feel rather than what I can present to people.
• The more well-off my friends are, the more stress they feel about achieving great things as defined by society.
• The anxiety about achievement starts in Middle School-you feel you have to start getting serious about grades and assessments. No time to do things that are just for fun or to just be a kid.
• They feel much less pressure now in their 20s than they felt at 16-they don't feel they need to have everything figured out.
• Parents should put trust in their kids that they’ll figure it out.