CalTech Grad Quits $300k Job to Be A YouTuber @wamyy5

she is the number one trendiest academic coach on YouTube getting millions of views telling you how to get straight A's we got wayy in the house yeah thank you for joining us today you're also a product of hyper academic Focus Chinese parents yes indeed but now you're giv free game out to the world right mhm that's what I do uh tell tell tell for tell us what you do okay sure so I'm Amy I'm a YouTuber I graduated from Caltech where I studied chemical engineering and after graduating I worked a couple years in business management consulting but now I help students and you know just young people in general help reach their potential to succeed in academics and Beyond wow Amy you are doing everything I want my kid to do except you are doing it for free why why do you do this for free you could get paid so much money Consulting for college essays yeah for sure for sure so I've considered you know selling this kind of things but YouTube I think is probably the best platform to reach the most people without people caring like who you are to start and I actually started YouTube because I wanted to share about Caltech which is an extremely unique school it's like Hogwarts but you don't see day in the life of Caltech student like for Stanford so I started that first and I got tons of good feedback from students like help me with this help me with that and to feel that fulfillment and direct impact um that was like a positive feedback loop no that's dope I mean you know what the funny thing is in Asia there have always been like Superstar like college Consultants or like these academic Tutors or like famous mathematicians but in the US there are absolutely none yeah oh we that's not cool bro out here we don't care about if you're a tutor bro do you feel like the US in a way is like kind of like a it's it's it's weird I always thought the US was weird because they really value smart people to run Industries here and like come up with new technologies to boost the stock prices and make all these products but on a pop cultural level it's kind of like anti-intellectual yes for sure I think it's only cool if you can make money and they use you to make money right right right right but yeah I can't even name a famous nerd like a famous academic like other than Neil degrass Tyson you know but like really who else can you name that's like a famous nerd after Bill n the Science Guy Neil deg grass Tyson who Oppenheimer but even Oppenheimer he he only was cool after they got Killian Murphy to play him he didn't look like killy and Murphy nobody dude nobody was talking about Opie until the movie dropped all right Opie yeah uh um I guess I want to talk about like are you teaching kids how important are grades nowadays like are you te are do you think you're teaching kids how to be the best student because being the best student is the most important thing in life or what what is your whole view on it because obviously you value academics you achieved a lot on your own without with minimal help you know outside help but like our grades the most important thing that people need to think about where does it rank yeah so the bottom line is that graders are definitely not the most important thing I am a strong believer that with the right work ethic mindsets and techniques you can achieve anything you want in life but the Avenue by which I bring these Concepts and stories is through academics because those are what students latch on to because they're desperate for these tips and I think that's how I can actually reach the people who need that right so do you feel like a lot of your viewership is kids who want to get scholarships go to Elite institutions get Ivy League schools will it work if they're just doing it for their parents or do they have to be intrinsically motivated cuz like for example you yourself you saying that you have a lot of self-discipline right and I don't know if I guess can you get into that like the intrinsic motivation versus I'm just doing this because my parents told me to I don't actually want to do it um yeah there's definitely a lot of people who do well because they're forced to um you know a lot of kids who go to Caltech they're that might be forced as well um but I think that overall my audience is not only people who want to go to Elite institutions they're also just kids who want to please their parents to do what they think is right in life which as a kid that's probably academics outside of being cool so um that's why I think that by giving more of the perspective of intrinsic motivation kids feel less forced and probably happier overall to maybe chase their own dreams with the work ethic right and is there some sense that like if you're helping this person get into the best college possible whether it be Ivy Le maybe it's not whatever even if it's just UCLA or even just their state school right these things still matter like um that you're also just trying to be like a non weird awkward like tutor consultant you know what I mean like you're trying to show that you can be normal and have gotten a 4.0 GP and done all this on your AP test and stuff like that yeah exactly so it's kind of ironic that I'm making academic videos like a nerd but what I'm trying to do is show that you can be anything you want to be being a nerd doesn't mean that you get a 4.0 being having 4.0 can also mean you play sports you can be a YouTuber you can potentially later become uh someone in Media or anything like that and again it just comes from you know like who you are instead of what you do did you get the idea from Asia at all where like there are like Superstar tutors and like mathematicians and stuff like that I did not okay share with us a little bit of content for the people who who haven't watched through all your content what are some Secrets or some tips quickly that uh people should be thinking about more when it comes to like applying for colleges like this is for all the people out there who are like you know didn't go to college yet okay yeah so what I made the mistake of doing is that I was focused too much on what I thought I was good at which was math competitions and I didn't embrace the parts of like being creative like I am now so I think that if I had tried more things and discovered that sooner my life would be on a completely different trajectory and potentially gotten into an IV League per se and yeah right you would have went to Harvard and then been in the creative writing or written for the Harvard newspaper versus like going to Caltech which is like a hyper stem school so sue you doubled down on math club essentially when you could have showed that you had a creative side as well and then maybe cuz you you were a Stanford reject correct yes I was yes no that was uh the first video I've seen of yours uh a couple years ago right that went really viral right yes uhhuh uh I I guess like uh do what is uh why why hold on I got a question oh three two one um being a model minority let's talk about that real quick because I feel like your channel in a comical way I would say is like very model minority right you're teaching kids like the the tips and tricks to to be to get into the best college which is a one of the things that model minorities care about what do you think about the model minority myth do you think it's a myth do you think it's true do you think it's misunderstood how do you feel about it because you made like a video about it yeah so it's actually more of a concept I learned recently and how I how I understand it is that it's categorizing all Asian Americans as a stereotypical successful academically sound person so um the question was like whether it's harmful or like uh how harmful is it yeah so I think that the harm comes from putting all agan Americans together and not looking at us as individuals and related to that the second point would be to make especially young asian-americans feel like they're boxed into this this stereotype that if we don't do well in math then we have not met anyone's expectations but um it kind of goes with like my story where I want to show that our work ethic and our mindsets on all these things and who we are can be more than the stereotype what do you do you think that uh but doesn't it feel like that the model minority a lot there are a lot of Asians that fall under the model minority get like we're we're you would have to say you know you fall under I've even my family I would say the trajectory of what we could have been would fall more into that but I guess like it's true for just a a large number of people right yeah yeah stereotypes all have some truth to it so I wouldn't say it's like a myth completely you know cuz you know a lot of Asians are good at math a lot of Asians go to top schools and things like that so I think it's all about how we use that to still be our own person but to realize that you know as a culture we have these kinds of things we value no for sure I mean I think it's interesting like I guess do you feel like it's just being [Music] chinesee just just Chinese people I'm not saying that other Asians don't value it as well right but they might be at a seven out of 10 6 out of 10 8 out of 10 n out of 10 but I feel like Chinese parents they value the elite academic institution at a 10 out of 10 yeah for sure Chinese are the most hardcore out there man yeah why why why do we think that is like I mean I think we've talked about on this channel a number of times but like I guess your perspective like why do you think Chinese seem to be and not all Chinese this is not all CH we know Chinese who did not grow up thinking about academics as much so it's not every Chinese family of course but it does seem like that as far as the numbers wise Chinese care the most so I don't know like all the history behind you know like Chinese Korean Japanese but I do think that's because of the like government and culture in China that's it's a little more restrictive such that they they can't develop as much autonomy and that autonomy comes from you know uh believing that other things should also be valued in life outside of academics right so my parents when they came from China they kind of were frozen in time with that mindset so they didn't adapt to China um growing and they didn't adapt to the US culture and that's why immigrant Chinese parents are so like hardcore about academics and Harvard and all that stuff yeah I mean I think it's they what they see it as the only way cuz that's all that they know if it's the only thing you know then I guess logically speaking you are going to push your kid into it yeah for sure they see it as the only way to really build a stable life for yourself there because they didn't think about being an entrepreneur when they were growing up in China so do you have a lot of Chinese parents being like Oh my gosh thank you wayy you are making it cool and you're doing my job for me and you're like uh saving me a lot of you're saving me a lot of money on a college consultation for my ches parents must love you right now because they're like yeah oh hey um Charles I just saw this new YouTuber um wayy you should check her out she is my favorite there's definitely some kids that got wayy videos on Loop right now like like that are like six years old yeah no I think some kids probably hate me because their parents put it on in the living room cuz I've heard some parents have called me up and be like hey like we play your videos on the living room T TV and we take notes and stuff and then like other our Chinese parents and I'm like wanted to watch Like The Avengers or animated it's just me on the screen I'm like so embarrassed I'm like bro that's not what I want on my screen kid like Mom I studied 6 hours so I could watch YouTube yes this is YouTube wh is on YouTube watch YouTube that's the whole reason I got the YouTube premium uh I I think that you know what I always wish that I had and I think this would have helped me get into more Elite institutions I ended up getting a small partial scholarship to my state institution but uh I think that had I had a group of friends that were well-rounded that also cared about being cool and fashion and stuff like that but also were really locked into every rep you know treating it like a sport Varsity getting into good schools a Varsity Sport I didn't have that at my high school my score uh I think you're in a similar situation my high school was like super blue collar hypers Sports Centric the richest guy I ever went to school with went to the NBA like there's no like Jeff Bezos or like private Equity guys or like even like obviously all the crypto guys are in jail now but like even anybody from uh the crypto genius world or Zuckerberg that came from my high school you know what I mean so I just don't feel like I had that crowd that made it acceptable to me I was like always fighting my parents exactly cuz I I just saw that it wasn't cool at my high school exactly and that's all kids care about was being cool at that age so like to have an example to look up to someone I try to be and we can see that also in like the media now like with more Asian actors I feel definitely a lot more pride in that yeah I also feeling like yeah basically if you feel like you're Community will ostracize you for doing something you are so much less likely to do it so like if you feel uncool at school you're talking about tribalistic social norms yeah because within your immediate environment an immediate tribe if you feel uncool when you do something you are going to be less likely to do it right every Community has this Dynamic but with different things that's a good point did you have that group at school or were you just the outlier that was like hyper motivated where you didn't need that around you cuz I needed the Gang I needed the ivy league nerd gang and I didn't have it yeah man I wish I had a gang in high school my high school is very very white my two best friends were Asian and um I think they were very studious but I was also involved in sports so I feel like I worked hard knowing that that's what I wanted but I had to hide that from my peers like I wouldn't say I was doing math competitions on a weekend and things like that right you would not tell that to your other teammates like what what sports did you play I played basketball and tennis oh wow so you know when you're on the basketball team you can't tell them you're also going to the math competition did that ever conflict your math competitions in basketball season uh honestly they didn't conflict that much but I think I would actually go to the basketball games over math competitions right right right I'm shocked that you pick basketball over math competition I got a funny story disgrace my national forensics League debate coach I left my final round of impromptu at the state competition essentially I I left I I ended up not making it but I left before it even got announced if I made the final round or not to go to the state championship basketball game and my debate coach never forgave me ever of course not but but I wasn't on the team I played on the sophomore basketball team but I was still watching my friends on Varsity compete for the state championship and I remember I left and uh Miss Dell shout out to miss Dell she never forgave me for that because I was obviously choosing to be cool over being a nerd right right I I guess did you know that you weren't going to make it is that you had a strong feeling so basically I purposely did bad my final round to not have to go to wow wow because first of all it was just impromptu that is considered like the most BS like it's not like Lincoln Douglas within the debate world it's like a very low ranked activity but she was like so she was like anti- jock you know what I mean like some of the teachers at school are like super jockish and some of them are like you who believed in you David you disappointed her it's true the basketball coach has never believed in me as much as my debate coach believed in me and you just went over there to watch I'm just speaking to this like push and pull of what I knew was cool and what I knew was like they ain't got TV cameras at the they that that uh state championship basketball game was on TV oh man they they didn't got the debate championships on TV no it was a big game it was a big game uh you know as a lover of sports I I think people would understand but yeah I mean gez why' you do it David um but yeah overall I guess like how do you feel about now being a full-time Creator when you were a consultant you might go to MIT for NBA right and so are you being a Creator just in this in between time or do you think it's actually going to be a career are you just like this is like a fun phase in my life I got to do this or or you're like hey hold on like this could lead to other things yeah so for context I do have an offer from MIT for an MBA so I'm in the period where I have a full-time job and being a full-time creator has honestly been amazing so far I've met so many amazing people that I think I Vibe with more um and I think that I'm using this deferral period as the chance to grow as much as I can because ultimately I would love to make this a career because I love impacting people directly I'd like to you know expand my brand into potentially more traditional forms of media uh with that being said when I first started fulltime it was a lot of inner conflict cuz I'm like wasting all my tech skills and experience and I'm just pointing my parents this is not stable but I came to terms with that everything in life has struggles but it's about what struggle you're willing to pick and so it's a lot more stressful than my consulting job actually but I enjoy it way more has anybody asked you to start the more modern gen Z Kaplan they're like yeah yeah yeah way me you could be the CEO of a new Kaplan oh my gosh you know I saw I saw the valuations for the this this Educational Learning Company in China it's worth billions yeah definitely some crazy comments like that uhhuh your parents ever be like wh you know uh if you start that that kaplan's competitor we will invest in your company but if you continue to be a YouTuber I cannot say that I will support you yeah no is there some Vibes like that I don't know shout out your par but you know what I I got to give you Kudos though because you you your videos are Eng engaging they're gen Z coded it's going to make it like the information that's out there more fun to watch and you put a lot of unique stories in it right CU you want people to actually enjoy watching it right versus picking up a book and it's dry and you hate it exactly thank you and yeah I didn't watch study videos myself so when I watched one just out of fun I was like oh this is kind of boring you know like why would we want to watch this we already study enough in our textbook so I was like I have a lot to say but I have more fun ways to say say it and yeah I I want to uh we'll probably close it up soon but I do want you to give some basic advice to a kid imagine you're talking to a kid who's from a similar situation in like Virginia like a non fully Asian area doesn't have a big strong Community has parents who expect a lot from them academically um maybe at times feels lonely one of the few Asian kids still a common story nowadays even in 2024 still happens I guess what is some advice to them on how to I guess maintain Focus or you know to live a balanced life I think a lot of it comes from seeing other people like you whether it's in the media um or on YouTube so I grew up watching some like [ __ ] hega or like you guys the fun Bros and that made me feel a lot less alone and more proud of you know my background and in terms of um staying focused and keeping an eye on what you want what your parents want instead of being pressured to be cool I think at the end of the day you want to think about the person you want to be in 10 years because the cool high school people will not be that cool down the road like I can promise you that so it's like would you rather spend 10 years grinding and trying to find out who you are and then live a more comfortable life or would you rather you know be cool and be pressured by other people now and then later be struggling a lot more for way more years down the road so I think that's how I think about it what about advice for a kid this is a funny exercise advice for a kid who doesn't want to focus on academics but their parents are pressuring them but they just know it's not for them and they just it's it's it's eating their soul right now to pretend like they want to be a doctor or go to Caltech or go to MIT man I think sooner or later it's going to blow up because because you want to live your life as you right so even if you become a doctor later you're going to want to quit no matter what if because you already see it's it's not you so you know it's hard to confront your agent parents but it's going to happen sooner or later so you can try sooner and if you're not putting your energy in academics know that you have a lot of potential doing something else everyone has their own strength so find that other thing yet that you can be really good at and once your parents see that you're really good at that thing then they'll probably be excited as long as you're not wasting your time I think that's that's what I would recommend no I think that's really true man like not everybody is going to be successful in the way their parents Envision but it's not necessarily that you're not going to find your own path and whatever you can do where you feel like it's not grueling then you can just keep attacking it and just ride that path up the mountain even though if it's not one of the three or four paths that your parents set in front of you it's always like I always compare it to being like a robot vacuum you know like if the robot vacuum is really like set on its Mission it doesn't matter how many things it hits it's going to find its way and it's going to end up cleaning the room or achieving its Mission and it's just like your parents might may may or may not understand it depending on like how old world they are yeah exactly if you do something you like you're probably going to be better at it anyway so yeah that's true all right everybody uh check out Way's videos down below some of your big hit videos are what how to get straight A's why you got rejected from Stanford yep exactly um there's also you made a video about about Fair admissions so you can see her perspective on that because that was obviously a big issue for a lot of Asians um but yeah check it out hey shout out to way if you were in Asia your face would be like on billboards everywhere oh man that's how they do it that's how they do the All-Star tutors over there you are automatically Chinese parents favorite YouTuber yeah my dad's going to watch this and be like text me hey you know that uh wayy girl is she single Andrew you should all right everybody thank you so much for watching leave it in the comments down below and until next time we out peace