<p>Hey guys. I'm a senior in high school and I'm considering spending a year abroad with Rotary's Youth Exchange program. Thing is...my mom is Asian, and she is so convinced that things like this should only be done for graduate school, which I bed to differ. So it would be great if you guys can list the good things that might help me convince my mother. Also since she is one of those typical Asian people to whom getting into HYPS is always of the highest priority, arguments in that direction would be even better. </p>
<p>Just a few things I think I should mention:
I'm Chinese (speaks it)
I want to go to Japan
I want to use this as an opportunity to further improve my self intellectually and ultimately my chances at my top schools (Stanford, Penn, and Duke)</p>
<p>If you think it's actually bad for me please also state your reasons, since there might be things I don't know about.</p>
<p>Its not good to do something so that the ultimate goal is to get into college, that is bad way to look at hs years. Instead, you should want to go for others reasons, not the sole reason of getting into HYPS.</p>
<p>There is a nice forum on study abroad that you can reach by clicking on "Discussion Home" in the upper left of this screen, and then scrolling down. You could go there for ideas.</p>
<p>A year abroad with Rotary, AFS, YFU, or one of the other well-respected student exchange programs will not hurt your college applications. If anything, it will give you a bit of a boost. </p>
<p>I understand your problems with your mother because many immigrant parents (not just Asian ones) don't really get how things work here. Unless she has had an opportunity to learn about student exchange programs before now, she has no reason to understand what a HUGE honor it is to be selected for the Rotary program! If you are offered this kind of opportunity, I think you would be a fool to turn it down. You will have a chance to travel to another country and to study there for very little money. You will come back competent, if not fully fluent, in another language and culture. It really is the chance of a lifetime.</p>
<p>If you wait to travel until you finish college it will be much harder for you to find a home-stay program that is the equivalent of Rotary, and your choices will be much more expensive. Not to mention that you won't be able to travel in the first place because you will have to be working to pay off your college debts.</p>
<p>Where is your dad on all of this? What about your school counselor? </p>
<p>If you were my kid, your bags would already be packed.</p>
<p>vasudevank: I thought I didn't have to get into my hopes and dreams on CC, but here's the short version. I had a bad culture shock when I came to the US. After I finally got out of it I became interested traveling and knowing other cultures, living in different countries, doing international business, etc. Now with all that said, I don't think anybody can deny that going to HYPS is probably the best medium to achieve my goals, or anybody's for that case. But thanks anyways, I know what you mean.</p>
<p>happymomof1: Thanks! My school councelor is with me on this one. My dad is in China, I haven't talked to him about this idea yet but I have a feeling he won't like it so much.</p>