Also, you are very young. You would be, what 17, if and when you transfer to Berkeley as a sophomore/junior?!
There is no rush to get out of CC, make sure you communicate that effectively to your parents, if possible. You are so young and will likely get more out of a full university experience as an older and more mature person.
Thanks for the comments, guys. I don’t really do anything for fun (I read sci-if books and watch Netflix.) I don’t know why my mom is so intent on saving time, but I intend to try and change her mind.
By “slacking off” I mean that my study habits are kind of erratic. For example, i start studying a couple hours before an exam, or do my homework the day that it is due. I’m trying my best to try and change my habits, because I know that being ‘smart’ or even a genius wouldn’t be enough to guarantee success at university without a lot of hard work. The only problem is that I’ve been doing this for so long, and yet I still ace my classes (4.2 GPA in High School, and i took all my AP classes when I was 14, and 4 A’s and 1 B this semester.)
What are you doing for the summer? Taking more classes?
Snowball City: Yup. My CC has only 6 weeks classes, and my mom wants me to take 8 units (Calc I or Physics, and English Literature.)
I’m also going to be taking an internship during summer, which means that I’m probably going to become certifiably insane.
Unbelievable. You definitely need some allies at your college, family, and community.
What I don’t get is all the pushing even after you having a major health scare. The parents I know who went through that with the kid are all about balance and happiness.
Is the internship actually interesting or was it picked out for you?
Snowball City: I don’t really want to do it, but I know that it’ll look good on my university applications. I just want to take one class in summer (English Literature), but I only have a few days left to pick my classes, and I can’t manage to convince my mom to allow me to do this.
Snowball City: And my mom is convinced that I’m some sort of genius (or near), so she doesn’t want me to ‘waste any time.’ Maybe I should have purposefully gotten lower grades in High School in order to have lowered her expectations.
Around Here: Sorry I didn’t make it clear; she isn’t punishing me for slacking off. She’s convinced that if I can put in so little effort and get a 3.75 whilst taking 18 units, if I actually tried, I’d find my classes as a joke. What she doesn’t understand that it isn’t about the difficulty of the classes (I can definitely handle it), it’s about the amount of time that I have to put in. I don’t want to spend 6 hours a day going to school, only to get home and spend 12 hours a day studying. I don’t think that even Berkeley would approve of that.
"And my mom is convinced that I’m some sort of genius (or near), so she doesn’t want me to ‘waste any time.’ Maybe I should have purposefully gotten lower grades in High School in order to have lowered her expectations. "
I know a lot of geniuses (literally). IT IS NOT EASY BEING A GENIUS! One of the hardest things for very smart people to learn is that there are still limits, and that nearly all very smart people are only smart in some things, not every thing. It is rather clear that your mother is not accepting the fact that there has to be some limit on how much you can do. It sounds like she wants to keep pushing until you collapse. This would be a far greater waste.
The most certain way to waste your time is to be so busy that you never figure out what you WANT to do with your life.
DadTwoGirls: I still haven’t really reached my limits yet (I know that I could have gotten a 4.0 quite easily this semester if I had actually put much effort in), but I can sense that if I follow the path that my mom wants me to take, I’m going to hit a wall quite soon. My idea was that I should transition slowly into the more time-consuming subjects, like only taking 15 units (Physics, General Chem and Biology), before starting to take 19 or 20 units a semester. Before I thought that Community College would be a breeze, because I had taken AP and Honors in High School and aced them. What they don’t tell you though, is that Community College classes are a lot more time-consuming, and even a little more difficult than High School Classes.
"What they don’t tell you though, is that Community College classes are a lot more time-consuming, and even a little more difficult than High School Classes. "
A lot of very smart people are surprised when they get to a top university and find out how hard it really is.
What is the rest of the family dynamic like? Is there no one she listens to that can explain to her about social development?
Anyone know any good academic articles that could be used in support of giving this student a more balanced life?
Snowball City: My dad knows how stubborn my mom is, and doesn’t really fight her decisions. My brother will be happy attending UC Davis, as his GPA is like a 3.2. My relatives live abroad, and don’t really know what’s going on with our lives.
DadTwoGirls: I know that I am going to be surprised at how top universities are difficult. I dont really doubt that I can compete with UC Berkeley students intellectually (a lot of people say that if you can get in, you’re smart enough to be there.) I’m hoping that being in the companionship of all those driven people will allow me to obtain their studying habits.
Do you have a major in mind or a program at Caltech that you are interested in? If you said so before I apologize.
I didnt, haha. I’m planning to do BioChemistry, and to be specific probably something along the lines of Pharmaceutical Engineering. I know that Caltech only accepts top people from great universities, and I’m afraid UC Davis doesn’t quite cut it.
For sure then you need to slow the express train and start being intentional on how to position yourself for programs such as these:
https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.jsp?unitid=5047
Other people will need to chime in as to whether or not your young age will be a barrier to significant research opportunities.
edited to add:
https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.jsp?unitid=5048
Are you doing dual enrollment or are you considered to have graduated high school already?
Ive finished High School. I have a certificate of completion and everything
And thank you for the site. It looks like it’ll be really helpful.
Your mother cares for you and prioritizes you education which are good things. However getting into a biomedical type grad school requires a lot of forethought and strategy which she may not be familiar with if she is an immigrant.
I suggest you look regularly through the graduate sub forum here to begin to understand the process.