<p>whoaa. i understand lots of people dont like new york city, and even if you like it you might not want to go to college here. but it's the safest major city in america and there are some amazing institutions here - why is your dad flat-out against you going to college in new york?
regardless, i hope you and your dad figure out some ways to compromise and it sounds like you will :) good luck!</p>
<p>To TheAnalyst: Whoa...I didn't even know my website was still up...and I was just re-reading it myself, and I have realized that I have changed a lot. The last time I wrote was around this time LAST YEAR. Here is an update...I decided to quit the drill team, because the drill team instructor picked who would dance by favoritism. Not trying to make any excuses, but it's true, the officers of the team all have a say in who dances in which dances (althought not weighted heavily), and each came up to me privately and told me that I should've been in every dance. But not to worry, I was dancing in a professional dance troupe (oustide of school) while doing drill team at the same time, and I haved continued to stay with the dance troupe. </p>
<p>The counselors told me that I will be the valedictorian of the class of '07 (originally from class of '08, but they are ranking me with the juniors, because I will be graduating early, and there is a big gap between the current valedictorian of '07... unless I start getting D's). Grades are weighed, so don't worry, I didn't skate through the whole ranking system. I was surprised about this, really didn't expect to ranked so high, because I am determined to take the challenging and courses in which I am interested (see how that correlates with with the whole college thing?), rather than taking courses that are weighted to improve their rank (I see this a lot at my school). I have maintaned my social life (the bf that I was talking about in my website, is still my current bf).</p>
<p>As you can see from last year's college list...my list hasn't really changed (I'm one of those type of people, who are open-minded, but don't change their minds very often). I was still experiencinig the same issues with my dad back then...except not as extreme as it is now.</p>
<p>To scarfmadness: My dad isn't against the state of NY by istelf, but he is against the idea of going to college in NYC, because he feels it's like a rat race. I had NYU (Tisch) on my list (I had to take it out, not good with financial aid..it was my personal choice) and was considering Fordham (has a required religion class, and is religiously affiliated..both things I don't like). I know I sound extremely picky, but there are so many amazing colleges out there that if I weren't so picky, I wouldn't have come down to six. I think that I am doing my dad a favor by saving him money by ACTUALLY wanting to apply to only six schools, which give out generous merit aid...but he's all about prestige despite the cost.</p>
<p>With your interest in dance, theater and volunteering, you may have described Barnard. Barnard/Columbia is in Manhattan at about 116th to 120th or so. Dance and theater are centered largely on the Barnard side of Broadway and are very strong. The campus has a suburban feel (except when you're standing on Broadway). The 116th St subway station is right outside the dorms that make up the "quad". That is the route 1 subway which can take you to Lincoln center. My daughter who not in theater or dance (more Bio or Econ) saw six operas, five Musicals and two plays in the first semester,(and yes she passed all of her classes).
I was not thrilled with NYC when we started the process in junior year, but as one of the previous posters pointed out NYC is now one of the safest cities in the country. The Morningside precinct has one of the lowest crime rates in the city and has the additional safety factor of being patrolled by the University's security force as well.<br>
There is strong diversity as well. My daughter has several friends who are the first in their family to go to college, so there is an economic mix as well as an ethnic mix.</p>
<p>Siren, As uncomfortable as it may be, you must make a stand with your dad. As an overboard dad myself, I was pushing my S too much as well. I had to be reminded that this is his college search process, not mine. My S sat me down this past summer and we had a great down to earth talk. Since then, life has been much better between us. I do not agree with all his college choices, but I also don't give him a hard time about it.
It won't be fun, but do your best to have a down to earth talk with your dad. He just wants what is best for you. Tell him you "need him" to be your project manager, but the process and final decisions will be yours. I also recommend that you two (three including mom) have a realistic talk about money. That was crucial in our process. You have to have boundaries on what financial limits there will be in the college selection process. My two cents.</p>
<p>TheSiren: Just to add a little different voice, hoping to not thereby cause confusion.</p>
<p>You're thinking seriously quite early about college, which means that you're worrying quite early about it too. At this time most people are just sitting down to try to figure out where they will make their college visits; you've already made many.</p>
<p>Be aware that at this time in your life you will be going through changes in thinking and attitude. Today you want a big-city campus; in six months you may want the reverse. Today X is important to you, next January it could be Y. So be prepared to be a bit flexible. Our S is now at a college that is great for him (he agrees) but when he first saw it he was not especially impressed. However, on thinking through things and talking to people, from April 1st to April 30 it moved from an OK place to go to becoming his top choice among the eight schools where he was accepted.</p>
<p>I'm not going to say whether Houston or Yale is best for you, but I will say that what looks best to you now may or may not look best to you a year from now.</p>
<p>So keep plugging away, but keep an open mind. The plugging may help you convince your father that he needs to take your ideas seriously; the open mind will keep you from freezing your ideas when you may need to be able to change them.</p>
<p>And be good to your father; no doubt he loves you and wants the best for you, even though at the moment you two don't agree as to what it is (nothing unusual in that, either, by the way).</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice! I'm sorry that I have not replied earlier, but this week was quite a busy week.</p>
<p>To Mardad: I looked up Barnard...even though I do have to admit that I was kind of skeptical since it's an all-women's school, and I have more friends that are guys than girls, but the more I read about it, the more I got excited about it. I read that Barnard students have cross-registration privileges at Columbia (without even have having to take Columbia's core).Barnard's general education requirements seem to be flexible enough, and I heard with their affiliation with Columbia, guys aren't that hard to meet and at times it feels like it's co-ed (can you shed some insight into this???)</p>
<p>NYU was on my list once, but I read they weren't so great with financial aid, but now that I have read about Barnard...good possibilities...now to convince my dad about the city of New York as a whole.</p>
<p>To Lukestar: I have down to eart talks with my dad all the time, it's just htat whenever it concerns college or education...that's when the tension and conflict comes in. My dad has helped people who had no idea about the financial aid process, but when it comes to my case, he just loses his practical sense when it comes to money. I know my dad doesn't have a secret college fund stashed away somewhere, and he doesn't make enough for us to be able to pay without any financial aid...but whenever I mention anything financial about college and how it will be a big factor in my decision, he tells me it's the name on the degree and that when I get a good job; I can pay back the school. The problem is that I don't want to be over 40 still paying off my loans (which my dad was doing all the way up 2003...and he went to grad. school in the '80's!!)</p>
<p>To dadofsam: Thanks for shedding your insight. I kind of didn't have a choice about when I would start thinking about college, with my dad's career...college has always been a constant in my life. I'll try to keep an open mind with the schools that I have already visited (we'll visit them again, I was 12 and 13 when we visited them, but I'm almost 16...hopefully I'll be wiser about college than I was back then).</p>
<p>Have you looked at U Chicago or Penn? They fit your likes and your dad's prestige angle--</p>
<p>Barnard and Columbia students can cross register. It is difficult for Barnard students to take the Columbia core even if they want to. Both sides of the street have your basic college classes: Bio, English, History etc. Some departments run as one. For instance in Math whether you get a Barnard or Columbia faculty member has more to do with the time of day that you want to take the class. For economies of scale some unusual classes are given on only one campus, for example Zulu and Serbocroat are taught only on Columbia's campus while Spanish will be on both. Drama and Architecture tend to be on the Barnard Campus.
So, you may start your day at Barnard in Biology with two males and 179 women, continue with Calculus which will be 50-50 and located anywhere, go to your Barnard Seminar which will be all women and end with your language which may be any combination of men and women.<br>
ECs are usually coed often with officers who are Barnard students.</p>
<p>This might sound a bit incisive but...</p>
<p>how could ANYONE who could get into UT-Austin rather go to UHouston?</p>
<p>closer to home, smaller, cheaper (charges on per credit basis), better for those interested in hotel/hospitality business... lots of reasons!</p>
<p>"I do have to admit that I was kind of skeptical since it's an all-women's school, and I have more friends that are guys than girls"</p>
<p>This exact same comment appeared in a recent thread about Wellesley! You might be pleasantly surprised at some of what you read in this thread:</p>
<p>Greetings, fellow Houstonian.</p>
<p>I know you said that you are not as close to your dad as your mom. But I am wondering if your mom is more flexible in terms of college options. If so, could you enlist her in your cause and have her talk to your dad? This can be done in a subtle way if you (and she) are careful. Obviously, she doesn't have a job in college admissions so your dad may dismiss her as "unqualified". Still, one parent may have the standing to influence another.</p>
<p>I am very curious about why you have Rice and U of H on the same list. I am very familiar with both schools (worked at UH as an adjunct prof and librarian plus my husband got a degree there so I know that school especially well). They are both urban, especially strong in the sciences, and have very pleasant campuses. Beyond that, there are many differences. You had said you did not like larger schools yet UH has over 26,000 students. It is true that the school is racially and economically diverse (about %60 minority, %40 white). USC also has more than 16,000 so I'm not sure what you mean by a smaller school. </p>
<p>There is a huge difference between Rice and UH in terms of student body. UH is a commuter school with very few resident on campus. As a result it has virtually no party life on campus. Yet, you had said that you wanted a school where you could work and party hard. Most kids at UH are very practical, oriented to getting out as soon as they can and getting a good job. Most of them have part-time jobs. Some work full-time and attend school on a part-time basis. (My husband did this for law school.) UH has a large number of older and/or non-traditional students. I know lots of students who went to community college for two years and then trasnferred over to UH. In general, however, there is an absence of college hi-jinx or intellectual discussion, since they just don't have time for such things. </p>
<p>You also mentioned that you would like the chance to walk to an urban area. That's not possible at UH. It is a nice campus but very isolated unless you have a car. It is surrounded by a low-income neighborhood, which unfortunately has high crime. Students (especially girls) do not go out on the campus at night without using the escort service. Several of my employees had problems with purses being stolen in the parking lots. We had two incidents in the library where someone threatened someone else with a gun. One time, driving to work, we had our car shot at in one of the surrounding neighborhoods. They weren't actually shooting at us. They were shooting at each other, but the bullets went astray. </p>
<p>I won't go into Rice because it is much better known on these boards. But there is a huge discrepency between the two schools in terms of SAT scores. UH average is 534(math)/508 (verbal). Rice, I believe, averages about 700 each. That is an awfully wide gap.</p>
<p>UH is a growing school, with strong programs in fields like chemistry and hotel admin, and it is an enormous resource for the people who live in Houston. It provides quality education for thousands of undergrad students who would not otherwise have been able to go to college. But are you sure it is a match for you, even as a safety? </p>
<p>For the most part, your list seems to have reaches and safeties. (I would consider USC a safety given your high credentials.) If I was your parent, I would suggest that you look for some good match schools. How about U Rochester (similar to Brown) or Brandeis? Or how about Emory in Atlanta which does have requirements but not a complete core? I am sure there are others. You need to so some digging. Don't discard a school automatically just because it has a religious affiliation. Sometimes that means very little and sometimes a lot.</p>
<p>Good luck, and hope you resolve your dilemma.</p>
<p>show your dad Berkeley's full price tag for OOS....at $42k, it ain't a good deal. If you make NMSF, USC would offer a huge tuition discount (used to be 50%), but I don't know how/if it works when you graduate early.</p>
<p>You know, in defense of your dad the one school I told my kids I would refuse to pay for is U.S.C. University of Spoiled Children. It' s in a rotten section of L.A. It's full of rich, not particularly driven kids. Heavy Republican/frat/sorority scene.</p>
<p>I know there are exceptions to this stereotype, but EVERY kid I have known that has gone there has fit the stereotype. We are on the west coast and a fair number of students around here head to USC. It's terribly expensive and I just do not think you would recieve the quality education that you would at another school.</p>
<p>Check out McGill. Doesn't fit in your father's "must be in US" but it's close enough. My daughter loves it. It and the Univ. of Toronto are the two best schools in Canada. Would definitely be a top 20 in US. Price is right - tuition is about 11,000 USD per year. Montreal is a college town - lots of universities there. Lots of partying - if you want it. Drinking age is 18 - so, interestingly enough, the kids don't binge when they are exposed to alcohol, since they can go to any bar anytime. And the academics are immensely challenging. Great theatre and dance program.</p>
<p>siren...Is your dad an immigrant? Immigrants tend to have these obsessive desires about prestige. They get over them. Follow your heart. Your father will love you no matter where you go to school. If he says that he does not care if you are unhappy, obviously he has not had to cope with unhappy children. That is pure, unadulterated misery. He would hate it.</p>
<p>My father told me that the cream of the crop will rise to the top no matter what the background of the cream. That has been the case in my experience. With your backgorund, you will probably do well at any of the schools on any of the lists!</p>
<p>Now...USC...</p>
<p>Frank Gehry,currently the world's most influential architect, graduated from USC. So did my DH. He got a great architectural education even though he was a frat boy. Among other accomplishments, his frat friends have co-founded leading software and investment companies, all brand names you'd recognize. Their drive is way above average and so are their successes. Half are republican and conservative but half are not.</p>
<p>For future reference, mombot, CC parent posters usually refrain from ripping apart schools because they know there are thousands of student lurkers reading these posts. But if you feel the need to rip into USC, you can always PM TheDad (a reformed USC ripper). ;)</p>
<p>Cheers, I'm not reformed, but I only do it in a good and salient cause. In the OP's case, USC is a valid choice as a what I'm guessing would be a demi-Safety for the OP, above Houston, below the others, imnsvho. And my objections aren't <em>quite</em> what Mombot's are, though I share some of the prejudices; in fact, my biggest objections are those who are pretentious about USC, making an equivalence between SC and the Ivies or the top LAC's. And I lift my objections entirely for certain programs. More to the point for the OP, I am in great sympathy with her against her prestige-focused father. And, oddly enough, reading between the OP's lines, I think she might be very successful at USC on terms with which even I could not quibble.</p>
<p>To kcircsh: I would rather go to UH than UT, basically because of most of the reasons Raindrop stated (slightly smaller, less expensive, and etc.)</p>
<p>Cami215: Greetings to you fellow Houstonian!! My mom isn't really involved with the college admissions process; her only request is that the college cannot be outside of the U.S. My mom is very traditional, so she wouldn't even bother to try and persuade my dad about anything, because it just isn't done in their culture. I'm aware that UH is a commuter school and that it is located near Third Ward (not so great neighborhood). UH has it's issues, but out of UT-Austin and Texas A&M, I would gladly choose UH over them as a safety school (yeah I know I sound crazy.) If I stay in Houston, I will have access to my car, and depending on what city I go to for college, my dad might send my car. For example, he would probably send my car to me, if I went to California..but if I were to go to Chicago, he would not bother sending it. I don't want a super small school where everyone knows one another, but at the same time, I don't want a school where the school population exceeds the population of some towns. Even though, UH doesn't have the same atmosphere or type of students that Rice has, I still felt comfortable there, it was very odd, and it is hard to explain, but I liked it well enough. I'm reconsidering Emory, because I saw the thread about the JBHE rankings (I know trivial reason to reconsider), but it's on the "maybe" list. I didn't consider U of Rochester and Brandeis, because of their locations and their lack of racial diversity.</p>
<p>Bluebayou: lol..that is a very good idea, but he would probably shrug off the price tag and say it's worth it. I don't know whether I would qualify for the RHP program at USC or would have to apply with the freshmen (RHP is for people who would study concurrently on their high school diploma and college diploma, but I will be graduating with a high school diploma), I will be sure to make inquiries...one way or another I will be elgible for the merit scholarships.</p>
<p>ToMomBot: I don't mind that you bashed USC, I haven't officially visited the school, so all opinions are welcomed and I know that it is ultimately up to make my own opinion about the school. I know USC is in a rotten part of LA, but the school is helping to actually make it better. Some people's idea of "rotten" my differ from my opinion of "rotten". When I was younger and my dad was still climbing up in his career, we didn't really live in an all that great place, but I didn't really see it as bad, it was just a way of life. Now years later I know many people would consider it a "rotten" neighborhood, but I see it as my first neighborhood. Yeah, I've heard the stereotype of the student body,and I've heard it so many times that it just could possibly be valid, but I read their statistics on their student body and about 52% of the school is composed of minorities. You are right, USC is terribly expensive, but they give out merit scholarships that can be renewed each year for full tuition and half-tuition...to possibly go to college that will pay full-tuition/half-tution ocated in LA, seems like a pretty good deal. But, I know that I will have to visit it either before or after I apply, because if the student body is how you have described, then not even their half/full paid tuition or Thematic Option program would be able to get me to go there. Thank you for the heads up about USC,though.</p>
<p>BigGreen: I actually did check out McGill, because I love the city of Montreal (I used to live up north). I liked wht I read about the the school, but I knew my dad wouldn't be ready for the idea, so I kind of brought it up with my mom about going to college in Canada. She flat out refused to hear anything about going to college out of the U.S., so I figured that my dad wouldn't really go for the idea. Is McGill diverse? I tried researching that statistic and by looking at their website..and 83% of the student population was unreported...kind of makes me wonder.</p>
<p>Cheers: As a matter of fact, my dad is an immigrant (from Africa). Thanks for the encouragement about me doing well on any of my all my college lists! I know that I may be one of the underdogs when college admissions time comes rolling around, simply because I'm graduating early. Yeah, I read lots of posts from TheDad about USC and I read opposing posts that challenged TheDad about USC, it was an interesting read, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and I enjoyed reading opposing viewpoints about USC. It just makes USC seem more real, because no college is perfect. What someone might see as a flaw may be interpreted as perfection by another person. Thanks for your own take on USC.</p>
<p>TheDad: I agree USC is not on par with the Ivies or the top LACs, but it's a pretty good school. I don't know if it will be a safety for me, I might not be elgible to apply to RHP, and that might count as a strike against me. Even though, my dad is prestige-focused, I still love him, I just wish he wouldn't try to try to take over my college admissions process (even though his help is welcome) or force the concept of a "prestigious school being the only way to succeed" on me . By the way, what lines are you reading in between?</p>