I got accepted into both, UCSB with Regents and UCLA with nothing. I’m really happy and grateful about getting into UCLA when so many smart people at my school got rejected, but I have my heart set on UCSB. It’s right by the beach, ranked within the top 50 in the nation, and provides an amazing social life–I couldn’t ask for more. The problem is, however, my parents are forcing me to go to UCLA simply because it has more prestige and reputation. If I don’t listen to them, they said they won’t pay for my college. I’ve tried telling them that about how I like the area, the social life, and most importantly that it’s MY future that I’m deciding on but they won’t back off. Please guys, what are some legitimate reasons that someone would choose UCSB over UCLA–if there are any. I really hope I don’t sound like a moron for thinking like this. Thanks.
Sux for you. I think that is a really unreasonable position to take. One legit reason is the College of Creative Studies but you have to apply. Look into it. Another is the Regents advantage, they already know about the price break but getting the advantage of priority registration is huge. You will get the classes you want. Not at UCLA, you will find yourself having to sub classes. You will be in the honors program. Also you will get extra advising and leadership opportunities with Regents that will let your resume stand out from a sea of people, along with Regent’s scholar on your resume. Your scholarship funds will apply for UC sponsored abroad and US programs.
https://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/docs/default-source/PDFs/regents-scholars-program-2015.pdf?sfvrsn=18
That’s all I can think of offhand, maybe if you told your intended major others could add. But start to resign yourself that you will make the best of it wherever you end up. UCLA has a good social life too and it is a short bus ride to the beach. They sound adamant, that is something I wouldn’t have done, unless there was a much much larger difference between colleges, or price.
UCSB has some majors that are stronger than at UCLA… what majors are you considering?
It’s probably too late to change their minds, sad to say. There is a great book about negotiating called “Getting More” by Stuart Diamond. Its a well written book, you could probably get thru it in a few hours if a local library has it. As Diamond notes, logic almost never works in a negotiation. You are not in a debate tournament trying to win on points. Furthermore emotion is the enemy of negotiation, and I bet plenty of emotion has already been stirred up trying to get them to yield.
Does that mean you could never have persuaded them? No. When you’re dealing with a more powerful party, a good tactic is to agree on standards for deciding. If you had sat down months ago to talk about where you should apply and how to pick from your acceptances, maybe they would have just taken the hard line “we’ll tell you what’s best” or “if you get into UCLA, that’s where you’ll go”. You can’t win every negotiation. But perhaps you and they could have come up with a way of deciding, and they’d have a much harder time today going back on what they already agreed to.
That’s all water under the bridge. Throwing reasons at them isn’t going to change their minds, and at this point they’ve probably dug in their heels and know anything you say has an ulterior motive. You could try a “how should we decide?” approach but they already know where you want it to go so I don’t think it will go far. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, though.
Unless you have a full ride merit scholarship, your parents have complete veto power over your college choices. That’s what it all comes down to.
Of course, parents who take a hard line without an obvious good reason (usually affordability-related) risk endangering their future relationship with their kids after they graduate and become fully independent of their control. This is especially the case if the parents force the kid to enroll in a more expensive school and expect the kid to take on additional debt for the higher cost.