<p>When I finish High School I will be 16. I want to study abroad in the States, but my parents are aprehensive to let me leave Canada at 16. How do I conince them that distance makes the heart go fonder and I will be fine?</p>
<p>What are your reasons?</p>
<p>Well, personally I don’t like the programs we have here in Canada for what I want to take. I dislike being around my family ( I love them but they drive me nuts). I would like to go to an Ivy League School. I guess over allI want the best for my future.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>keep in mind that even if you have stellar stats, that doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted to ivies. They reject kids with perfect scores every year.</p>
<p>If my D were to ask for “permission” to study abroad I would expect her to couch the argument in quantitative terms – specifically how would it help her launch her career of choice upon graduation. So to start, if she did not have some very definite, and ideally concrete ideas about her future career her argument is unlikely to convince me. Examples of careers that would sway me include international law, marketing for multinationals based abroad, working for the State Dept. or the United Nations, etc.</p>
<p>Once I accept that her career of choice would benefit measurably from an international education, I would expect her to research the courses available at international universities of interest, and put together a likely course load for two or even three years of her college education. I would expect her to convincingly show that domestic colleges are unlikely to compete with the proposed course load.</p>
<p>Finally I would expect her to provide a convincing story of why her proposed choice of an international university is one that her possible future employers would find impressive.</p>
<p>In the end subjective arguments are unlikely to sway me.</p>
<p>Your parents may be concerned that 16 is too young to be too far away. How far are the Ivies from your home in Canada?</p>
<p>As it stands right now, I am in grade 10 and am upgrading now and over summer school so I am finished High Shool August 2011. Currently my grades range from about 85% to 95%. I know they reject even the most intelligent, but if I don’t try and apply I will never know if I ccould get in.</p>
<p>I am going to pursue a career in archaeology, specifically Historical Archaeology. I believe being able to deal with being away from loved ones at an early age would make certain parts of my career easier. I’ve researched local schools but they just don’t impress me. </p>
<p>I have researched the international schools and I highly believe it would be beneficial for me to attend an International Institution</p>
<p>I suppse to give you a general idea (seeing as I don’t know the actual kilometres/miles) I live in Edmonton, Alberta and I would like to go to Upenn in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania</p>
<p>And how do you plan to pay for an Ivy League school?</p>
<p>Why UPenn? </p>
<p>UPenn doesn’t offer a major in archeology.</p>
<p>Isn’t part of your parents’ attitude due to the huge difference in cost between a Canadian university and an American one, as well as a need to supervise a 16 year old who is spending time with much older students?</p>
<p>You won’t share their perspective until you have a 16 year old of your own, but every parent here will tell you that they have the right to restrict you. </p>
<p>Since you have achieved so much at a young age, plan on doing more than four years of college. You could look to transfer after two years of college, but looking for a graduate program in the USA would be a more realistic prospect.</p>
<p>How about spending most of your years at a university in Canada, but applying for a Killam fellowship that will allow you to spend a year/semester studying abroad in the US? Its a 10,000 per year fellowship (plus 500 to pay for health insurance and a potential 800 to take an “educational field trip” maybe to a dig site somewhere?), and is a prestigious fellowship that looks great on a resume. Do it when you’re 18, by then and your parents might feel more comfortable having you study away. Until then work hard at your Canadian school so that you can qualify academically. If you don’t get the undergrad fellowship, you can also apply for the graduate Killam fellowship. </p>
<p>Why not also research universities in other provinces in Canada? Maybe near towns or areas where you have other family members nearby like aunts or uncles who could help you if needed, but aren’t your mom or dad, so you’d have some more independence. </p>
<p>As things stand, I think it’s pretty reasonable for your parents to not go in for this plan. Not only are Ivies expensive (and just because they are Ivies does not mean they have good archaeology programs, or an archaeology program at all), but there are a lot of obstacles to being 16 in the states and trying to live on your own. What if you get sick, who will make your medical decisions when your parents are not available to give consent (you need to be 18 to give consent). It will be hard to get a credit card or open a bank account. You’ll be much younger than the other students and your age will keep you out of most of their social activities. It also doesn’t sound like you have a very compelling NEED to study in the US, or a good grasp of what that means for you and your future. If you’re still set on this, you’re going to need to do a LOT more research.</p>
<p>@Olive: Penn has a distinguished program in Anthropology, with achaeology being one of its subfields. It would be a very good place for an undergraduate with an interest in archaeology to study.</p>
<p>In the U.S. it is very common to see archeology as a subfield within anthropology, while most European universities consider it a major area of study and they wonder why we combine it with anthropology. </p>
<p>If the student has a strong interest in the field, finding a college that has the full support and resources of a dedicated department would seem important, not that UPenn doesn’t provide a good program.</p>
<p>It’s pretty common for people to study different things in undergrad than in grad - a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, biochem, or anthropology will provide a solid background to someone interested in archaeology in grad school. Most colleges don’t have undergrad programs in archaeology, and I doubt most archaeologists have bachelor’s degrees in that field.</p>
<p>You mentioned you wanted to go to an impressive university away from home. Have you considered McGill University or University of Toronto? Your parents are probably concerned about cost and letting you go abroad so young. This way, you’ll be in Canada, you’ll have Canadian healthcare, and those 2 are top Canadian colleges that are far less expensive than ivies.</p>
<p>I am in grade 10 and am upgrading now and over summer school so I am finished High Shool August 2011.</p>
<p>Hmmmm… Since you won’t really be finished with high school officially until Aug 2011, I don’t think top schools are going to accept you when they’ll have no idea of how you’ll do in the classes that you’ll be taking and completing just weeks before college classes begin.</p>
<p>I do plan on getting my PhD, a bachelors is to litlle for my expectations.</p>
<p>^ I understand you’ll probably go to grad school for a phd, but what I’m saying is don’t limit yourself to an undergrad with archaeology. It’s pretty common for people with phd’s in archaeology, anthropology, paleontology and the like to have bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, etc. I’m not saying don’t study archaeology if you can find a program, but most colleges won’t have it for undergraduate studies. </p>
<p>If money isn’t an issue, then what is it, distance? Right now just keep working hard, get good grades, and see if you can get into Penn. Look into other American colleges which are less selective as well, since Penn will probably be a reach school. UPenn is impressive, but it’s not like all the universities in Canada suck. 
if your parents are paying for college, you have to take their opinions into consideration…so find some Canadian schools to apply to as well.</p>
<p>Pokey, a Canadian whose “grades range from about 85% to 95%” and who graduates in 3 years from high school doesn’t have the slightest chance of getting into an Ivy League school. The worst thing a kid can do for elite school admissions is to skip a year of high school, especially if grades are not outstanding – you are throwing away the opportunity to build a stronger academic record. </p>
<p>I think that you really need to focus on improving your grades now and look for more realistic options. I don’t know if you are just a poor typist, but there are very glaring spelling and grammatical errors in every single post you have made, so I think that your goals are quite unrealistic. Have you even taken the SAT yet? </p>
<p>And you didn’t answer my question above about who is going to pay for college in the US. If I lived in Canada I would have budgeted for a Canadian university and would certainly not be willing to pay US tuitions. </p>
<p>Your posts strike me as naive, immature, and unrealistic – all of which would be good reasons for your parents to be unsupportive. So I can easily see why your parents are not on board with your plans. </p>
<p>If you are so interested in archeology, why don’t you look for opportunities to explore that interest now? I see the goals but not the passion, and I’m pretty sure that a college ad com would see things the same way. They don’t want students who say they have a specific interest or goal; they want students with a demonstrated record of taking initiative to pursue their interests along the way. </p>
<p>Here’s a web site with some good suggestions of things that you can do in that area:
[Studying</a> Archaeology in High School](<a href=“http://archaeology.about.com/cs/curricula/a/highschool.htm]Studying”>How to Study Archaeology in High School)</p>
<p>I think it will a problem that the OP is trying to graduate early, AND that she’ll finish in August. I don’t think many schools will accept a student when she still has classes to take during the summer before college starts.</p>