Asians and College Prestige.

<p>post WW1 with a 33 billion war debt and post WW2... when there was no germany practically</p>

<p>Germany hasn't been a backwater since the collapse of the Roman Empire. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>
[quote]
post WW1 with a 33 billion war debt and post WW2... when there was no germany practically

[/quote]
</p>

<p>In case you missed it, even then Germany was watched as a barometer for Europe. </p>

<p>Seriously, Germany as a backwater? Even at its lowest point, even as PRUSSIA, it was an important European power.</p>

<p>I'm Asian and chose a liberal arts college over an Ivy (Amherst vs. Yale). It took a long time to convince my parents but ultimately they wanted me to make my own decision and then take responsibility for it. I think Asian parents, like all parents, want their kids to be happy and succeed. However, they also need to give their kids some independence in making important decisions in their life. I think in this regard, American families generally give their kids more freedom. In any event, I am glad my parents did support my decision to go to a LAC. It was a wonderful experience for me and an excellent preparation for my future career.</p>

<p>I'm Asian and my mom is so insistent I've given up on her. I don't care what she says, because I'm doing what I want to do, and that's that. Case Closed. Period. No Exceptions. It seems like my mom is against everything I want to do. Examples:</p>

<ol>
<li>I want to do business. She wants me to do econ. (***? Business IS econ in practice.)</li>
<li>I want to become a Foreign Exchange Trader. She wants me to become a doctor/engineer/scientist.</li>
<li>For some reason, everything I screw up seems to be related to business. "C+ in physics?!?!?!!? You know physics is related to business!!!!!"</li>
</ol>

<p>Hahahaha.. anyway i am in a similar case to you</p>

<p>1) i wanted to do only physics, but my mum doesnt let me... so i told her i would do mechanical engineering, and she doenst let me either... she tried to push me into doing nanotechnology but i said no way in hell... i ended up doing double major electrical engineering/physics</p>

<p>2) i am from thailand, and so my mum insists that i stay in thailand for college... she kept saying how good it is and stuff.. whens its not even in the top 1000!! she says if you are truely good, you will succeed no matter what, but OMG i mean if i go to a crap college it probably be even easier than my high school!! (cuz in doing IB)</p>

<p>3) I got a level 5 for my economics, which is bad, but some people get level 3 or 4..... my mum just keeps on saying how bad i am about economics, without complementing how good i am in math and science</p>

<p>arghh she is dominating my life!!!</p>

<ol>
<li>I want to stay in the US and work and get my MBA, but my mom insists that I go straight to grad school, then go work in Korea. Ugh.</li>
</ol>

<p>Well sucks for her because:
1. I'm going to major finance.
2. I'm going to become a Foreign Exchange Trader.
3. Business is an acquired skill more than anything.
4. I'm working in New York after undergrad, and I'm getting my MBA after I work for 2-3 years.</p>

<p>She can't control my life. One reason I'm only applying to schools that are more than 4 hours by flight away: so she can't dominate my life.</p>

<p>haha yeah, freedom of choice</p>

<p>Stop the complaining, people. Good work with the "parents won't dominate my life", though.</p>

<p>haha. freedom of choice.</p>

<p>umm dude i saw in ure other post dat u can speak proper english.... anyway nice try... lol</p>

<p>Asian people tend to be a lot more obssessed with prestige than anyone else. There is this false perception that prestige automatically makes you successful.</p>

<p>I have many friends who are black or Hispanic, and for them, just getting into COLLEGE is a huge accomplishment for them and their families. These people are so happy that they made just to college alone. And they work hard at it and don't care about prestige--just finding a good job and raising a family. </p>

<p>On the other hand, I have several Asian friends who go to UC Irvine, and despite it being a Top 50 school, these people are so unhappy, insecure, and jealous of those who go to UCLA and Berkeley, and even USC!</p>

<p>"On the other hand, I have several Asian friends who go to UC Irvine, and despite it being a Top 50 school, these people are so unhappy, insecure, and jealous of those who go to UCLA and Berkeley, and even USC!"</p>

<p>Yea, this happens and I've seen it from my friends.</p>

<p>I'm personally curious as to why UC Irvine gets a very bad reputation (especially among Asians). Talking to my Asian friends at UC Irvine, you would think they were attending UC Riverside or a Cal State!!! </p>

<p>I actually had a couple of other friends (yes, both Asians) who got in the low 1300s and 3.8 GPAs. They both got rejected from UCLA, but since UCLA was their dream school, they turned down UC Irvine and UC Davis (schools they were accepted to) for junior college in hopes of transferring to UCLA.</p>

<p>That also seems to be a trend among Asian people too: turning down mid-level UC schools to go to junior colleges with the hopes of transferring to UCLA or UC Berkeley (or in the worst case scenario, UCSD).</p>

<p>Which brings me to another question: why does UCSD get so much more respect than UC Irvine? I always get the impression that the gap those two schools was analogous to the gap between UC Berekeley and UCLA, yet most ppl don't seem to distinguish btwn Berkeley and UCLA while ppl treat UCSD as if it were Berkeley and Irvine as it if were a Cal State.</p>

<p>hey fellow asian friends, so where you guys applying?? i;m getting a headache just looking thru the colleges...well parents do pay the fees arent they?? where are you guys from? saswadeekap anonamous...((wonder he/she is still active in the thread?))</p>

<p>I went to PSU undergrad, and actually turned down NYU b/c of financial considerations. My father lost his job and it hit my family pretty hard. </p>

<p>I love PSU and felt I made so many great friends there. Also felt I received a great education and am doing well for myself. With that said, in terms of prestige among Asian people (particularly Chinese and Koreans), PSU is more like fourth tier. Asians don't respect PSU at all; they think it's a stupid school for rednecks. </p>

<p>It's funny b/c when people tell others they went to UPenn (the Ivy), ppl think: "Oh, Joe Paterno and football". For me, when I say Penn State, I get that "Oh, so Penn (sic) is an Ivy League school, right?" I kindly correct them and say that I went to Penn State, and they start making derogatory comments about me and my alma mater. And there are times when I actually came close to punching someone in the face b/c of those comments. </p>

<p>I do regret the fact that MAYBE if I went to NYU, I would gain a bit more respect prestige wise b/c apparently NYU earns a lot more Asian prestige than Penn State. NYU is certainly a great school, but I think it gets a lot more prestige relative to its actual academic quality. Sometimes I wonder why PSU never garners the prestige respect of NYU or some of its other public school peers (hell, even UNC-Chapel Hill gets much more respect than PSU). I know that Stern and Tisch are both remarkable schools, and NYU has some great graduate programs. However, NYU has its shortcomings. It doesn't have much of a campus, the school spirit is lacking, and there is generally a lot of unhappiness going around. At PSU, students LOVE it there. They study hard, but party harder. </p>

<p>But to the Asian people I know, you'd think that NYU was an Ivy League school and Penn State was some third tier toilet. :(</p>

<p>If I lose this desire for prestige in college, what will I be? I'm not better than a bum on the street. </p>

<p>=====================================</p>

<p>oh man, seriously, that is about the most disgusting things i've ever read. i seriously had to keep myself from vomiting.</p>

<p>How did the thread get this long? Wasn't the original point that asians only go for brand name schools? The answers obvious, most are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Obviously, their parents and them haven't heard of the so-called lesser known schools.
It's like if you're not a track athlete you probably wouldn't associate any brands besides nike and addidas with track when there are other company like asics which makes equally high end products if not better. duh ... wow 18 pgs</p>

<p>I've actually heard of some of the less common schools that are supposedly good like harvey mudd, but it sounds bad to asian parents so I won't apply. Besides, liberal arts sucks and Harvey Mudd has the word mud in it.</p>