@Tobster18 I’m in the exact same situation! The only two schools that I like that would fit my parents’ standards are Stanford and MIT. I’m Nigerian.
@Tobster18 Me too!!! :)>-
@Tobster18 That’s basically how my parents are. That’s pretty much how all African immigrant parents are! :)) At this point, they don’t really focus on me when it comes to school, they just focus on my two younger brothers.
The only expectations my parents put on me is that I must go to a four-year university and get a lot of scholarships!
@kassh4 A CC class probably wouldn’t, but filling in gaps is easier than learning something unfamiliar. I’m taking dual credit U.S. Government and Macroeconomics online for the first half of next semester and will sit for the Macro/Gov exams to get credit w/ less paperwork and hassle.
Which class did you want to take?
@ak2018 @Tobster18 So glad I’m not the only one, omg.
@ak2018 @Tobster18 @cliffnotes My parents are pretty chill about this stuff in comparison to other Nigerian parents (already one of the most highly-educated ethnic groups in the US—> self-selecting). If they actively pushed me to do well in school, I’d probably have resisted and done poorly on purpose. They don’t know a lot about the college application process, but trust me enough to be fine on my own. No one is telling me to take APs, study for the SAT, or research schools for next year. I do simply because my parents raised me to not put limitations on myself or my abilities. My dad used to joke about us going to Harvard/Yale, but would always let us know it’s our choice in the end. I’m free to do whatever so long as it has some form of stability. They just want me to be happy.
Many parents put so much pressure on their children because they want us to fulfill their unaccomplished dreams. Pretty harmful to me. You are the only one living your life and you decide your future. Otherwise, you’ll have regrets which will be passed onto your children in some shape or form.
I read an interesting article about the traits of immigrant children (to the US). They tend to be statistically more successful than their peers, but the phenomenon only lasts for one generation. I don’t know why though.
My parents also tried to pull the ‘look at the African boy who got into every Ivy League’ thing and I wasn’t having any of it. [-(
@Hamlon The one generation thing might be because we don’t want to put our children through the same stress our parents did, you know? That’s why I don’t want to have children, because I don’t know how to push them to reach for the stars but not stress them out at the same time. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand it if my child strove to just pass his/her classes, but I don’t want to be the parent that makes my child feel miserable, either.
@cliffnotes Same! I feel like it would be easier if my kids were the nerdy, but slightly social type. I would want them to do well, but I feel like I might push them too hard to be someone they’re not.
@ak2018 Exactly! I always wonder how different I would be if my parents didn’t have such high standards.
Same actually. My mom doesn’t care so much about what college I go to, but she has insanely high standards about grades and pretty much being a perfect child in general. She was so mad when I got an A-. (She’s from Russia.)
@Hamlon I want to take AP Stats.
I was thinking about self studying ap stats over the summer but i came up with a better idea today.
So I took a full schedule this year so I’m going to have two periods that i need to fill up with regular classes becuase we dont have many honors/ap classes and i really don’t want to do that. So with the two free periods i was thinking about taking one study hall and then the second free period i would be placed in my Stats teacher’s prep period or study hall where i could do my online class and get help if i needed to. The reason I want to take a class approved by CB is so that i can convince my school to put AP Stats on my transcript instead of 2 study halls.
Nobody has self studied any APs at my school before so idk how my school is going to react to my plan. Its still a plan in the making.
I wish my parents were more involved. I’ve always been hard working in school, probably too much, so they just assume that I’ll have all A’s. They don’t understand that I work hard for the grade and sometimes I need them to recognize that. They never do. I know that they care, but I guess I just need a “pat on the back” once in a while. I guess I’ve continued to try because they might be slightly amazed eventually.
Did anyone else’s parents do the thing where if you got a 99, they’d ask you ‘where did the other 1 point go?’ Exaggerating, but still that used to annoy the crap out of me.
@kassh4 Stats is doable in a semester. Get Barron’s and you’ll be fine for the exam.
@sewin2music My parents are like a hybrid of both extremes. They care about an end result of me being happy/successful (whatever that means), but it’s hard to get them to give me the support I need right now. Common questions are why I devote so much time to ECs, ask for prep books, or even pick up my instrument to practice so much. My parents aren’t the type to come to school events/parent meetings unless they are extremely important or required too. I often used to envy the PTA kids whose parents wanted to be involved any way they could. Not anymore after seeing the parent threads…Hang in there though, we’re almost done.
@Hamlon omg yea. Me: “Look mom! I got a 97% on this test, its the highest grade in my class!!” Mom: “97? Why not 100?”
@Hamlon My parents never really did that, but when I was younger, they’d take me out for pizza if I got good grades. Now all I get is a “Really Good. Keep up the good work” text whenever I send a picture of my report card to my parents. I miss getting pizza! :))
When I get good grades, My parents are like “were you the highest grade, who got a higher grade, is he/she smarter than you, how will you get into Harvard?”
@Tobster18 Seriously though tell them they need to chill. Recipe for a mental breakdown.
A little late to the party, but here’s my list:
Reaches: UPitt Bradford, Robert Morris University
Matches: Kent State
Safeties: SUNY Delhi, MCC, GCC (last two are local community colleges)
For the most part it’s sorted by price, but also my mom is an alum of Kent, and because of that and the fact that they have lots of scholarships, Kent is at a little lower price range then the PA colleges I’m considering.
@ak2018 I feel that so hard, I tell my dad I got a 98 on my APUSH final and he’s like “WHERE DID THOSE TWO POINTS GO”
like chill…