Parents forcing me to change schools

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello Collegeconfidential, I am in a weird situation. I am from an immigrant Indian family so doing well in school is very important. Im currently a sophomore and I would say I have a pretty difficult schedule. Throughout the first semester I have kind of gotten significant amount of hatred for school and how students are forced to study stuff that is not even helping them in the future (and yes I do know that people often times have to do stuff they hate a lot) I have questioned the importance of school on the future and why stuff like math is being taught when automation is the future of our civilization. I fully accept responsibility of my grades and I am aware that everything I did was my own fault.

My grades
Summer school World History Honors: 98% I found this class pretty interesting so I tried pretty hard to get a good grade in the class

Summer school Online Health: 96% very easy A

English 2H : 83% This class is pretty tough considering that only around 6/30 people got As in my class. I often tried but like the stuff was so annoying and a bit tough for me. We had in class essays and average score would be like Cs and I often tried my best to prepare for them but I guess writing is something not I am very good at and I would also Get C averages. Tests were really specific on the novel and usually i would score around a B- which is the average test grade.

Math analysis/precalculus Honors: 81%
This class was going pretty well for me and I was proud of it because this class was considered one of those GPA killer classes because of how easy it is to do mistakes and how it could take a toll on a person’s grade. A month ago i had a 90% but it dropped a lot because of me just messing up. To be honest I could’ve prevented the mistakes from happening but I guess not everyone is perfect

Chemistry Honors: 85%
This class I found to be extremely boring; our teacher had many lectures that were so boring half the class would just sleep during the lectures. I would often not know anything until the last day in which I would cram everything leading to many silly mistakes on the tests.

AP Human Geo : 96%
Now this class I heavily thrived in because of how interesting I found this class to be. I would say about 75% of people didn’t have an A and Im pretty sure I have the highest grade in this class. This class in our school is actually quite difficult as the teacher can be tedious but fun at times.

French 2: 82%
Now this class kinda makes me mad how hard it is. The class is heavily curved and the 2 fluent students plus a couple of other smart students are the only people that have an A while everyone else has Bs and Cs. The tests are extremely hard for everyone.

PE: 97% Easy class

Now the thing is, my parents always trusted me with grades but this year I have been going through some many hard times questioning myself what I want to do in life and why school was so much emphasized in my life. They are now angry about the situation because they think that I won’t get into a top tier UC anymore like UCI and UCLA (I live in Socal btw). Their high standards are in contrasts with my standards to go to UCR and prolly do medicine. They have been brainwashed that undergraduate prestige matters A LOT for medical school and my dilemma with trying to enjoy life has made them really angry to a point that they want me to switch to a local not so great school so my gpa becomes better. I have recently cried many nights and have been depressed about this because its not like im failing at all, in fact I think im on course to get into UCR if I put a little more effort in the future. I have tried sitting down to talk to them but they do not really understand; they think that a B grade is pretty much a failure and taking a regular class and getting an A is much better.

What are your reccomendations for this problem? Im so sorry I made you guys read so much but I kinda am just sad that I have to leave all my friends and connections from my high school just because my 3.9 weighted wasn’t impressive to my parents.

2

Though Im not sure your parent’s strategy is a good one, I can understand their concerns. It’s not getting into a highly ranked college that is going to be an issue for medical school, but your attitude is concerning if YOU have such goals. Having been in a string premed environment, your attitude is not one that is leading to Med school. Grades are extremely important, especially in STEM courses when you are a premed, regardless of what school you attend.

You feelings about how to pick a college seems exactly in line with how your parents are about high school, so I don’t understand your argument. Yes, I get that you don’t want to transfer schools. But your argument is terrible. You support your parents’ premise even as you dispute it

3

College admissions officers take course rigor into account along with grades. They are typically two of the three most important aspects of admissions.

So taking easier classes or going to an easier school to get better grades isn’t going to make you more attractive to a school.

There are multiple data sources supporting this - perhaps sharing them with your parents can help explain that GPA isn’t looked at in isolation.

Predictions of automation taking over the world a have been going on for decades, if not centuries. And automation doesn’t just spontaneously appear. And those who develop it typically have/need very strong math backgrounds.

4

I don’t know why they assume that switching to a local school will give you a higher GPA. That is very foolish thinking. There are many factors that go into individual grading including how hard individual teachers grade. There are no guarantees that your GPA will go up if you transfer.

As far as questioning the importance of school - don’t. Just do well and appreciate the value of education. Maybe if you stopped questioning it your parents would stop wanting to move you to a different (assuming free) school? I certainly wouldn’t want to pay tuition if my kid was complaining about it.

1 Like
5

IMO the best way to convince your parents to let you stay in your current school is to focus on your academics and get your grades back up.

Your education is your job right now. Yes some classes are more interesting than others but you need to put forth your best effort in ALL your courses, not just the ones you find interesting.

Take a look at the UC forums to see how competitive it has become. What kinds of schools are going to be safeties for you if you are a match for the least competitive schools in the system?

Not to mention that your work ethic in HS sets the foundation for college.

PS If you think automation is the future, why not think about CS or EE for your future?

1 Like
6

Uh, you have good grades. A B is a good grade. The problem is your parents, not you, though I will say that your grades are the result of your work and NOT the other kids in the class, or your mean teachers, etc…

You are not getting into UCLA or UCB if your grades continue like that. If your parents are going to continue to make your life miserable, and it sounds like they will, you have option A, work super hard, get higher grades, possibly stress yourself out and feel awful, or B, continue to get the same grades, causing stress and misery because your parents will continue to make you feel bad about yourself, or C, try the new school…for what reason? Stupid idea. Or D, take regular level courses in your current school and get A’s. I’d go for D.

1 Like