<p>Two more questions for OP:</p>
<p>Are you the oldest child in your family?</p>
<p>Have your parents ever lived or visited Chicago?</p>
<p>Being able to apply south to Virginia, west to the Penn border and north to New Hampshire allows the OP to apply to hundreds of colleges including many of the country’s best. It also encompasses driving distancesof more than 3 hours, so it seems very reasonable to me. </p>
<p>Fine to suggest that the OP explore their parents’ reasons for this. Still, the parents already are loosening the apron strings far more than many parents do. Most students in the U.S. go to college within 250 miles of their home.</p>
<p>Sure, I’ll bite cottonwood.</p>
<p>1) How did you guess? Yes, I am the oldest child in my family. Yes, my parents are super-protective.
2) My parents have never lived in or visited Chicago. </p>
<p>I will also put this more into context by saying</p>
<p>A )my parents are immigrants, it makes them more overprotective</p>
<p>B) My parents regularly visit New York city, Newark and Philadelphia every other Sunday. Ergo if I went to college around there, my parents would have no problem dropping by.</p>
<p>I hope I answered your questions sufficiently.</p>
<p>Your parents don’t sound that overprotective to me. As I mentioned earlier, I know many nonimmigrant parents who require that their kids go to school in state. I’ve seen students – particularly immigrants’ kids – posting here that their parents insist that they live at home and go to the local college even if that college is mediocre and the student is outstanding.</p>
<p>If you don’t want your parents dropping by, then don’t go to school near NYC, Newark or Philadelphia. That still leaves hundreds of excellent college options.</p>
<p>I guessed because parents are more careful with their firstborn. Maybe they will warm up to the idea before it’s time
for your application.</p>
<p>I don’t see what the big deal is about your parents stopping by to see you even weekly. You’ll be on your own at least 6.5 days a week. What’s the problem? Believe it or not, there are some college students who choose to go home every week.</p>
<p>I’ve been debating whether i should or should not answer northstarmom; but in the end I felt like I needed to post more of my rationale. Otherwise, I seem illogical.</p>
<p>See, it’s not like i don’t want to see my parents ever again. But, at 17: I worry about being able to grow up and be independent. And my parents are really protective and sometimes I feel like I need to get away and try to figure out who I am and whether I can go it alone. If my parents visit every week; it will be like i never really moved out, and i won’t be able to evaluate whether I can survive without my family. The whole University issue wouldn’t be such a big deal, if I felt like I was growing up; but lately i feel quite stagnant as if I haven’t grown or matured. For others who are used to more freedom and feel more secure in their ability to be an adult, being close enough for parental visits every week isn’t such a big deal. For me, I feel like I need to be able to make my own decisions independent of my parents, in a place where I can’t just fall back on them so I can believe in my own abilities.
I hope this post helps.nil.</p>
<p>I’m surprised by the amount of conservative advices being given here. I assume that the OP is eighteen (Edit: seventeen), and some day, as a parent, you’ll have to let your child go out of your embrace to seek out the opportunities in the world. Unless the OP has some kind of medical problem that make it probable for him to land in an emergency visit to the hospital, I don’t think there’re that many circumstances where a parent would need to drop by to see him immediately. Also, Chicago is a fairly large metropolitan area with plenty of flights going back and forth to the northeast. Not only that, there are students at UChicago who come from other countries— imagine how far they have to travel to see their family!</p>
<p>If an 18 year old wants to go seek opprotunties in the world with no restrictions, they can pay for it themselves. Further, abiding by the rules of the person paying is not conservative or liberal, it just is if one wants their way paid for. It’s also a lousy, ungrateful thing to do something behind their backs. Yes, talk to them but if the answer is “no”, then the answer is no.</p>
<p>Comfort level varies widely. I spent a lot of my marriage with my husband half a world away (he is a US Marine) and my family several thousands miles away. I’ve had times where I needed their help but had to make do and vise versa. It’s not the end of the world but it is far more difficult in practice than in theory. </p>
<p>I’m letting my son go to college half a country away from us. But I find the idea that these parents are somehow over-protective or unreasonable for making a different decision to be rather insulting to them. Especially when they are being so generous in so many ways.</p>
<p>My parents didn’t approve of a couple of my college choices, but I paid so I got to decide. I would rather have not had that choice and had it paid for, frankly. They gave you a pretty wide radius.</p>
<p>OP, U of Chicago really is a unique school in my opinion. It is not for everyone, but if you fit there and can get in, I can see why you would want to go. We live in the Midwest, but D1 visited 20 colleges in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and U of C has a unique vibe. I can say that your parents might be concerned about the area of Chicago it is in. But we were pleasantly surprised when we visited that the campus was really nice, and felt very safe to us. D1 did not apply; I think she was a little overwhelmed by the intense academics. D2 also went on that visit, and was smitten. It is at the top of her list (she is currently 10th grade). She is just their type of kid, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she ends up there. So a key question for you:</p>
<p>How are your stats? REALLY, do you have a good chance of getting in? It is quite competitive, and more so now that they finally started accepting the Common App. Are your stats in their top 50%, or do you have a hook (sports, minority status, etc.)? If not, it might not be a battle worth fighting with your parents.</p>
<p>If your stats are in line, then why don’t you propose to your parents that you pay for the application process there. That way no loss to them financially, and maybe you won’t even get in… end of story. Also, it would be a good idea if you can show them some info about how prestigious U of C is (the Nobel laureat count is always good for that :)). I would not apply without telling them, though.</p>
<p>If you get in, then the fun begins 
Then you have to get them there for a visit. Cuz you shouldn’t go if you don’t visit, period. But I would see if you can get through the app process first. Maybe they will warm up to the idea over time, you have many months until acceptances come in. And… show them your maturity by seriously looking at other schools. After all, you might not get in anyway.</p>
<p>Here is another idea: parents are no different from anyone else. They like to triangulate with multiple sources of data. If you can find other people (relatives, teachers, family friends) who know about U of C and can say good things about it, enlist their help in convincing your parents.</p>
<p>But… all that said, don’t get your little heart set on any one school. There are probably a lot of places where you could be happy. Although D2 loves U of C, I know (and I think she knows) that she can and will find other colleges that are a good fit for her.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You could go to college in Europe and you will still not know for sure if you can make it on your own because you are not doing it on your own. Your parents are paying.</p>
<p>If you want to know if you can make it on your own, then take a gap year, get a job, move out and support yourself. That’s when you know you are independent and an adult. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Again, by virtue of not supporting yourself your opportunity to grown and mature in college is limited to some extent. Geography and an absence of your parents physical presense is not what matures a person, it only gives that illusion. </p>
<p>Lastly, if you truly believe that your parents stopping by once a week is virtually the same as not moving out, then save them a lot of money and live at home. I’ll bet seroiusly considering that option will help you put the weekly visits into a more realistic perspective.</p>
<p>I would urge the OP not to hide an application to UChicago. It is not the way to build trust.</p>
<p>I would work on getting your parents to verbalize exactly why they want you within a 5 or 6 hour driving range. I don’t really think the “driving distance in case of an emergency” reason holds up well if analyzed logically - the odds of you having an emergency where they need to come to you are quite small, and I think it is overly restrictive to limit someone’s choices based on such a small chance (IMO). But I’m guessing there is a large emotional component on your parents’ part, which you need to overcome with reason.</p>
<p>
There’s a big difference between parents dropping in, and the kid going home on the weekend. And every week? I would have hated it if my parents were there all the time. My S would hate it if I was at his school all the time.</p>
<p>If I was faced with this, I would only be looking at schools where this wouldn’t happen.</p>
<p>Ask your parents if you can apply just to see if you could get in. Lots of kids do that, I know. Then, if you do get in a majorly competetive school, you can address the situation from a stronger negotiating position. That way you are staying honest and not worrying about something that may not even happen. suzanne</p>
<p>If my parents visited every weekend that would take a SERIOUS chunk out of my study and free time. I don’t have time to see anyone every single week. My mom visits like once every two or three months, and I live 20 minutes away. She could visit more than that if she wanted to but every week would be excessive.</p>
<p>Nre, I don’t think it usually works to try to overcome someone’s emotional reaction with reason…</p>
<p>OP, another suggestion besides finding others (relatives, parents of friends, teachers) who can talk about U of C is to get those other people to just tell stories about it being okay to go to school farther away than 5-6 hours. Again, your parents may need some time to get used to the idea, and more people than just you approaching the topic with them.</p>
<p>Also, maybe I missed this, but is cost part of the factor? Sometimes parents are not realistic with their oldest kid about the real cost of college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What in the world does that have to do with parenting? That you are comfortable with something does not mean someone else is and that’s completely normal.</p>
<p>I’ll also add that if these parents have ever been in the position of not being able to get to someone they love in a crisis, it will very much effect their perspective. People are not statistics, they are either going fine or they are not. You either just miss them or you are frantically trying to get to them.</p>
<p>intparent: my stats are as follows
GPA: 3.6 or 3.7 weighted; I’ll know by the beginning of senior year. 96.75( i think) on a numerical scale.
top 10% in my class last time I checked
SATs: I took twice
CR:800 M:570 WR: 640 1st try
Cr: 760 M:590 Wr:760 2nd time
will take one more time,will studying more extensively for math.
Took: 3 aps, Bio, USH, Lang, 5’s on all of them
USH SAT 2: 760</p>
<p>I am what I consider, the mushy middle. Not quite the 3.0/3.5 for state college nor the 4.0 for ivies.
I probably won’t hide a U Chicago application; I was considering it; hoping my parents would think applying to a college on my own would show that I was mature enough to go there on my own since I would be paying for the app and everything. I’ve begged my parents to just let me apply but they have been unyielding.</p>
<p>
I have found that, if you can get someone to examine the underlying reasons for why they are having a particular emotional reaction, they will sometimes reevaluate their position. It may also solidify their feeling. “What are you afraid of?” is a very effective question.</p>
<p>Besides, what’s the alternative to having a calm, rational discussion? Give up? Throw a tantrum?</p>
<p>
I try not to parent based only on emotion. I like to have a logical basis for the decisions I make. I find that being able to articulate reasons to my kids works much better than just saying “because I feel this way” or “because I said so”. Doesn’t always work, of course. It goes both ways, too. I can change my mind if presented with a good reason.</p>
<p>As others have advised you need to get your facts together and present a logical argument, not an emotional one. You also need to be fully aware of the financial situation, in case that comes into question. If you apply behind their back it will only create tension and it might cause your parents to not trust you as much. </p>
<p>Personally, I think it is a shame to limit a child based on proximity, but we all parent differently and for whatever reason, the drive time is important to them.</p>