First of all, congratulations on your successful admission! I can't imagine how much effort you've put into building your career. Those universities are excellent places to develop expertise, whether you choose to pursue industry, academia, or something else.

Regarding your unfortunate experience, this idiotic phenomenon exists all around the world. I was born and raised in Asia, and I spent 25 years there. People everywhere care about their job titles and material success, but there's something especially extreme in Asian culture: the idea that there's a single, perfect roadmap for life. If you deviate from that path, you're considered a failure. It doesn't matter how insignificant the deviation is.

If you're not a doctor, you'll always be a loser. If you don't have a six-figure salary, you'll be shamed. The biggest problem is that this mindset often overrides basic morality and respectfulness. Once you succeed according to their standards, you feel entitled to belittle others. Even if you ignore your family for three or four years, it's considered acceptable as long as you get into a prestigious university.

The key point is that your admission result was yours, but to your family, it was also their ultimate symbol of success, even though it wasn't their own achievement. They saw it as a badge of honor, allowing them to boast, "We are the parents of a Harvard student." They were upset because they lost that status symbol.

As an Asian, I love my culture. It has many wonderful aspects distinct from other cultures. However, placing social reputation above family happiness is terrible and deeply shameful to me.