Hypothetical scenario - want to know what you guys think about this

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
1

<p>Suppose you’re a high school student. (Okay, dumb line.) Now to the real stuff.</p>

<p>Suppose you have an exceptional academic record. Almost all A’s. Exceptional SAT I & SAT II scores. All the teachers are amazed at what you can do and reason through. You’re in the race to be valedictorian your Senior year. You have taken the hardest schedule that anyone has taken in your school since it was built 15 years ago. Not only that, you have amazing EC’s. You love to help other people, because you’re just like that. You’ve volunteered over 500 hours in various activities outside school, which you are committed to. You’ve tutored and are president of Key Club. You are just that good. Meanwhile, your name sounds Hispanic (even though you’re Asian) and your family’s so poor that when you first saw a one dollar coin you thought it was a piece of chocolate!</p>

<p>But you have a darker side. You have an intense passion in… underwater basket weaving! You just love that type of stuff. You spend much of your free time refining underwater basket weaving techniques, and post on underwater basket weaving forums. You’ve interned with the top underwater basket weavers in the world, talked to them, worked with them. You want to become a very good underwater basket weaver when you grow up. Although you’re not the top weaver in the world, all your online friends at the underwater basket weaving forums say that it would be a shame if you did not get a degree in underwater basket weaving when you grow up, and that you are one of the best ones they’ve seen for your age.</p>

<p>Here’s the kicker. Your parents have no idea that you’re good at underwater basket weaving. It’s obscure enough of a sport that nobody gives a darn if you were number 1 in the universe. They know you’re interested but they don’t know you’re that good at it. Furthermore, they’re the stereotypical Asian parents - “you have to go to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UC Berkeley or (insert top school here)!” In fact, they want you to become a lawyer or doctor so you can earn big bucks and take care of them when you’re old. You’re not interested though, even though you’re perfectly capable of going to HYPS. They’ve already signed you up for an intern at a doctor’s office - EWW, you say! Your parents constantly brag about your accomplishments and stats, saying that “you were destined for Harvard”. All your parents’ coworkers, friends, and your entire extended family are all convinced that you are going to Harvard or something equivalent, and are all VERY proud of you. This all could’ve been prevented if you told your parents you didn’t want to go - but NOOOO - you knew that your parents would not accept that fact.</p>

<p>This wouldn’t all matter if the top schools have underwater basket weaving. BUT THEY DON’T. Only schools that have it… are the so-called “trash schools”. They now joke about it, after they overheard you talk about the “trash school” which has the top underwater basket weaving team and program in the world. The worst thing is that underwater basket weavers don’t make a lot of money - certainly not enough to take care of more than yourself, let alone your parents, future wife, and future children.</p>

<p>So now you’re a rising Senior. What do you do come admissions time? Do you go with your passions and dissapoint your parents, or do you follow them and hope that you’ll find a new passion?</p>

<p>OK, this might be a hyperbole to a great extent. But for some, this may be a metaphor for what they are going through as they begin their admissions process. Decision time.</p>

2

<p>hahahahahaha i dont know</p>

3

<p>I edited the third paragraph. If you were a top underwater basket weaver in the country, I think everyone would say to go with that. So I edited that part out. Ha… I’ve like edited the original post 45 times now. Should be good now. Curious to what the responses are, hopefully this doesn’t go down too quickly</p>

4

<p>wow r u serious dude? do whatever you want.</p>

5

<p>Apply to colleges that make your parents happy, and apply to the ones that makes you happy. Then pretend to get rejection letters from the ones your parents want you to go to and you get to go to the school you want to without ****ing off your parents directly.</p>

6

<p>I forgot one very important thing - will edit my post again - this should make things A LOT harder.</p>

7

<p>Um…money doesn’t buy happiness dude.</p>

8

<p>haha I stopped reading at “the hardest calsses since your school was built 15 years ago.” My school is like 50, maybe even 60 or more years old! :/</p>

<p>Okay now I’ll go back and read the rest…</p>

9

<p>I think that I would try and go to the top schools. Im my spare time I would still underwater basket weave, and then sell them in flee markets! The people looking at your booth aren’t going to care if you have a degree in it or not as long as they’re nice baskets. Well unless this basketweaving thing is like a full time job. But I haven’t really a clue about underwater basket weaving.</p>

10

<p>he’s referring to something else more practical then underwater basket weaving like…?</p>

11

<p>Our next door neighbor is a plastic surgeon. He has told me that he never wanted to be a physician but did so out of practicality and to please his parents. He happily only works three days a week now, and the rest of the time (four days a week) he pursues his passion for . . . . well, it is very much like underwater basket weaving. He’s in his mid-40s.</p>

<p>So, that is an option.</p>

<p>But, you only have one life. You might die in 10 years and still be in residency, never having pursued your dream. </p>

<p>Only the person involved can make the choice.</p>

<p>Maybe the loss of the family wouldn’t be so catastrophic. . . perhaps their form of love isn’t wanted.</p>

12

<p>hello my fellow underwater basket weaver! :)</p>

<p>ok neways, i think you should do what u want. its ur life and yes, ur parents may be disappointed that ur not going to a top tier school but it makes u happy. theyll eventually get over it</p>

13

<p>Well, first I’d go to a good college and get a reasonable education, and if in the end, my passion were still underwater basketweaving, I’d move onto it. But not if something else caught my fancy. It’s college, for Pete’s sake, you’ll get something from it!</p>

14

<p>Who says you have to MAJOR in underwater basket weaving? Just do it secretly on the weekends.</p>

15

<p>i wish my last name sounded mexican…yes i do</p>

16

<p>^^^ what does that have to do with ANYTHING?</p>

17

<p>It was part of the original post.</p>

18

<p>…my analogy should’ve been better.</p>

<p>I couldn’t care less about underwater basketweaving, and in fact the story is not totally about me. My situation is somewhat similar but quite different in many aspects. It’s a hypothetical scenario.</p>

<p>Basically, what I’m asking, is if you were able to get into HYPS, and your parents were dying for you to go, but your interest was in something else, and that something else was a narrow field that HYPS did not offer a degree in, would you choose HYPS or your passion?</p>

<p>I should’ve been more concise.</p>

19

<p>Haha… this is one of most hilarious post I’ve seen in a LONG time.</p>

<p>Ok, The kid could get a really great scholarship to the so called “trash schools” and if there was a REAL underwater basket weaving degree… then that kid could minor in it? and still do pre-med or pre-law. Then the kid doesn’t really have to tell his parents about his passion? Or during free time sounds good too. I mean hopefully this kid gets to stay in the dorms or something…</p>

20

<p>Uh… Why don’t you just tell us what your passion is? </p>

<p>It’s hard to take you seriously or to have a clear view of your situation. All I can think of is agriculture. I dunno… </p>

<p>Just tell us what it really is. We won’t laugh…</p>

<p>BTW, what does having a Mexican sounding last name have to do with anything?</p>