<p>So I'm currently at UMich and I reallllly don't like it. I spent 6 weeks here this summer and it was awful. I thought it would get better in the fall but it hasn't. I do not like football at all, and I don't drink/smoke/part which is essentially all anyone does on the weekend. I want to transfer to Michigan Tech. I love camping, hiking, biking, snow, etc. I would study a custom curriculum in engineering that is ABET accredited in a mix of ecology and geological engineering. If I stayed at Michigann, I guess I would study computer science. My real interest is something related to bioengineering, but Michigan doesn't have that. When I told my parents I want to transfer, they flipped out. I have a $10k scholarship /year at Michigan so money is the biggest issue. My dad even went as far as to pull the "if you transfer, we won't help you anymore" thing. How can I convince them to let me change schools?</p>
<p>The only thing you can do is to come up with another $10k per year scholarship at Michigan Tech. You cannot borrow that much on your own and it’s not fair for you to expect your parents to provide an extra $40k for your education because you changed your mind and you don’t like football. That is not a good reason to change schools.</p>
<p>University of Michigan is an excellent school and I just don’t buy that you can’t find whatever you need academically there. You’ve been there for 2 months which is no time at all so you really need to adjust your attitude.</p>
<p>I don’t drink, I don’t party, I’m from a farm. I don’t fit in here and don’t say just look for people, trust me I’ve tried. I know it would be up to me to make up the difference. I know michigan is a great school but everything the school promotes/stands for, I don’t agree with. I came here hoping to have fun and trying but it’s not working very well. So I don’t think my “attitude” needs adjusting, I already tried that.</p>
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<p>You seem to be implying that everything that the University of Michigan stands for is drinking and partying and that no one from a farm could possibly be happy or succeed there. Sorry but I don’t trust that you’ve tried in any meaningful way. Do you know how many students are enrolled at UMICH-AA? Just shy of 28,000 according to Princeton Review. I have absolutely no doubt that there are a significant number of those students who share your values and interests and if you haven’t found them yet, you haven’t been trying hard or long enough.</p>
<p>Do you seriously think that there are no kids at Michigan Tech who drink and party? You are extremely lucky to be receiving scholarship money from a school many kids would give their right arm to attend and you want your parents to come up with extra cash to attend a school that doesn’t begin to be in the same league. No wonder your parents flipped out; I would think that most would.</p>
<p>Look, if you can figure out a way to pay all your expenses at Michigan Tech I’m sure they’d be happy to admit you. You need to realize how entitled and childish you sound right now and you also need to realize that as a legal adult, you don’t get to demand that your parents support you in any way if you want to do something they think is stupid. You say you are really interested in bioengineering but that if you went to Tech you would study a custom mix of ecology and geological engineering. You don’t sound very solid in your understanding of your academic goals which is fine as a freshman but if you think that you can get a better education at Tech in engineering of any kind than what’s available at UMCH, you are sadly mistaken. </p>
<p>If you want to throw away the great opportunities available to you where you are, you are free to do so. Your parents are under no obligation to agree with you or support this decision.</p>
<p>and here I was considering U mich. If what you said was true, then I’ll just say no to it. </p>
<p>I hate drinking/smoking as well. and Football? Hell no. It sickens me when people asks me if I watched the game last night.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I just don’t see much point in things until I find a reason. A reason not dictated by social pressure and the public. </p>
<p>Having your college experience restricted by people you don’t really go along with isn’t a very nice experience to have. Everyone is different, do what you think is best.</p>
<p>Thank you!! I have had people tell me they came here specifically for the football. It’s crazy! And JoBlue, I didn’t imply the school stands for drinking and smoking, I meant other things. They only seem to care about money and how great they are. Just because you go here doesn’t make you great or the best. I know I’m not the best at anything so why pretend!? I don’t believe this is being “childish.” I’ve come up with suitable reasons. Also I don’t know if you weren’t aware, but ecology is usually considered an aspect of biology :)</p>
<p>Yes, kaimills I do know that ecology is closely related to biology. I’ve also actually gone to the trouble of going to both schools engineering websites and it’s clear that your options for both research and majors is greater at UMICH but whatever; it doesn’t matter if you think your reasons are “suitable” (I don’t) if your parents don’t agree.</p>
<p>I believe that your real problem is culture shock and that you are grossly mischaracterizing the entire student body at UMICH. You obviously feel socially intimidated by some of the other students you’ve encountered and you are searching for reasons to leave. No one can stop you from withdrawing or applying to transfer. What you still don’t seem to get is that you can’t get your parents to support this decision.</p>
<p>Wasn’t your original question
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<p>The answer is, you probably can’t.</p>
<p>Kai: I totally get where you are coming from. My daughter had a similar experience at her school; she is a non-drinker, non-smoker, non-druggie and non partier. She was given a room at the last second, not her fault-the school FORGOT to give her a room, and she had morons for RA’s who didn’t do SQUAT to limit the weed and parti’er mentality. Our daughter had roommates who didn’t speak to her, and my daughter was miserable: calling us at 1 am crying that she was so lonely and had no one to eat with, no one to talk to, etc. We told her to study and focus on school. So she found some tutoring groups that she could attend. Thus Avoiding her hall by doing so. </p>
<p>Then, she’s never been a very religious child, she joined a welcoming non-denominational christian group. We were very surprised, but she explained to us: "Mom, they don’t drink, they don’t party and they don’t put pressure on me to be ‘religious’ ".<br>
At first, she felt very uncomfortable attending by herself, but she noticed that they were all inclusive and divided their activities according to names of freshman (assigning them to groups for travel, board game teams, etc.). </p>
<p>Additionally, a number of the upperclassmen in this group were volunteers for all kinds of groups and they recruited her to volunteer for the school tour groups. So, by December, she was feeling better and the BEST thing she did for herself was to find the commuter lounge. She discovered this area by biking around the campus and noticed that the commuter lounge had huge sofas, comfy chairs and, it felt like a huge coffee house. The students seem to not care about eating by themselves and/or occupying themselves by reading the school or local newspaper, watching the tv monitors, listening to music, going to the gaming systems etc. So, she ate her meals there, studied there, met some local students and felt better about being by herself.</p>
<p>Your job, is to find your niche at your campus. You are at a good school; it would be a mistake to give up, so soon, on a school that has a good academic reputation because the university hasn’t gotten rid of the non-serious students around you. Oh and those partyers will be dropping soon because they won’t be able to get off of academic probation.</p>
<p>Thank you for some good, non condescending advice. Your daughters story sounds exactly like me right now. I’m really trying hard to find a group it’s just been extremely difficult. I’ve never been super religious, but I joined a youth group as well and they seem very nice! I’ll will try to take a lot if your advice. Thank you!</p>
<p>How about apply there, and see if you can get a scholarship/financial aid there as well? If you can, then everything’s taken care of. You parents will probably be more receptive once you have actually been accepted and you know exactly what your financial situation would be. Or maybe they won’t, but at least it’s worth a shot I think. Good luck, it sounds like a tricky situation.</p>
<p>Good Luck Kai! Know that while you will be graduating, some of your so-called drinking peers, wont! </p>
<p>Take it ONE day at a time. See if it gets better by finding some mature groups. If you’ve given it a good amount of time, and it’s still not working, then, by all means fill out your FAFSA in January and put both schools on the app!</p>