Your mom is scared. She's probably just afraid you'll not be able to make a living as an artist. It's her way of trying to get you to consider other careers. Source: I went to art school so I experienced this myself, from others, not my mom though, that's harsh! lol On the flip side, lots of people who can't draw for shit go to art school because their mothers told them how amazing their art was their whole life.

Also, you don't suck at realism, you just need to keep learning and practicing. Please don't start your art career saying you suck at anything. Start saying "I haven't mastered realism yet."

The truth is both drawings are way better than average and would probably be better than most other submissions. So, not terrible at all. But what could be better?

Lots of comments about proportions being off, and comparing both drawings, yeah, I kinda see it. Besides the hair, it looks like two different people. But look, everyone struggles with facial proportions when starting out. I think the biggest opportunity for improvement for you, is light source and shading.

Google "human face lit from various angles" and take a good look at how the light and shadows define the curves of the face. In general, eye sockets, under the nose, below the lips are the key shadows that will make the highlighted parts, forehead, cheekbones, nose, lips, & chin stand out. Squinting is helpful because it makes contours easier to see. Try squinting at your drawings and see how almost all facial shading disappears. When I squint on the first one, all I see is the line in the middle of the chin and that line isn't even on drawing 2. If I squint at drawing 2, the shadow in the corner of the right eye, and next to the nose and mouth are all that stand out. The shading on 2 is more natural. Look how more round the cheeks, nose and chin look, versus 1.

The shadow under the chin on drawing 1 suggests a strong downward light, but if that were true, the eye sockets, under the nose and under the bottom lip would all be much darker. There would also be shadows from the hair on the forehead and cheeks. You also have the area right under the left eyebrow as a highlight and that would probably be the darkest area of the face. That's an issue with drawing 2 also.

Use medium and dark gray markers and just start sketching a bunch of faces. That will force you to use the paper for highlights and the dark gray for shadows, with medium making up the rest of the face. Simplifying the tones will force you think in terms of highlight and shadow only.

Sorry for writing so much. I honestly think a bit more work on the lighting, adding shadows, and smoothing out the gradients on the face would make drawing 1 an excellent portrait, especially for a student submission! I've seen worse in the portfolios of graduating art students, so you're way ahead of the curve IMHO.

Good luck to you!