This film is a must watch for every high schoolers and tiger moms of all races. It focuses primarily on Asian-American kids in a highly competitive high schools and the first intention was to show the racism these kids suffer from at College admissions: they are doing beyond what is expected of them, excel in academics, pass the hardest APs, attend all clubs, and volunteer in their free-time to be, after four years of extenuating studies, rejected by the top universities of their choice.
This could be interpreted as institutionalized racism, yet, the director also rightly shows the devastating impact of the parents overbearing expectations - almost always the mothers. These kids are deeply unhappy and emotionally damaged by their mothers who literally do not let them grow. A very attaching kid admits that he prefers a College far from his family so his mother doesn't visit him every week-end and you feel for him. "Tigermomming" is not the privilege of Asian mothers as you see a Black mother doing as badly for her daughter - with similar disastrous results, while another Asian mom refuses to put undue pressure on her son who ultimately will be very happy in his mid-tiers College.
These over-pressured kids are all bright but at the same time emotionally immature. Colleges understand that and in the end, the one kid who is accepted in his dream College is the one who had to deal with a drugged-addict father, has been evicted from his house, and from cooking to housing is fully taking care of himself with no mom in view.