<p>I hate the University of Rochester. My parents made me apply because my mom works here and she gets a tuition waiver. I live here and have hated Rochester for years ever since I moved from Texas; the school's academics are sub-par, the students are inadequate, and the social scene does not suit me. I received a merit scholarship on top of the tuition waiver, so it will cost 80,000 after all four years.</p>
<p>I got into Rice University and Emory University, which I love with all my heart, but my parents are obstinate in not taking out 140,000 in loans. Rice has been my top choice my whole life. I could still deposit today (yes, it is after may 1st, I am aware. I was admitted, and they still would take me today, nonetheless).</p>
<p>My question is, what do I do? Suck it up at U of R, hate my life, do poorly (can't really do that because I'm going to medical school...if I hate college and am resentful, I will do poorly in college, hate it and not get into medical school? ouch). OR do I transfer after 1st semester? Even so, where would I transfer? I can't transfer to better schools because I already got accepted to my dream school and can't go because of money. So do I transfer to worse schools or schools equal to U of R to get merit scholarships? I hate the American educational system. It is preposterous how upper-middle class students whose parents make much on paper but can't afford college have to jeopardize their education and all their hard work and attend a bad school due to money.</p>
<p>It’s a problem that so many of you students feel entitled about going away to college. It’s like boarding school. Your parents have to pay for your living expenses as well as the private tuition unless you get a scholarship. Rice and Emory are both private schools and they both give out merit money for those they most want along with financial aid for those who truly could not afford going there. Basically the test for that is if your parents made the money or lived like those getting aid there, you would get it. I don’t think you’d want to trade places with those qualifying for full aid.</p>
<p>You are one of the lucky ones in that you do have the option of going to an outstanding school without going into big debt or putting your parents out. </p>
<p>Though you are not looking at it that way, you are upset the same way someone would be who wanted a Ferari or Mercedes and was awarded a brand new Toyota. Your parents cannot comfortably afford private college away, but can give you a great education at a great school. Please try to look at this a little differently. It’s really the sense of entitlement that is getting to you. Many high schoolers who are great about not feeling they need certain luxuries their families cannot afford feel that they are entitled to one of the most expensive of all–a private college experience away from home. It’s like wanting a multi stone, large Karat super diamond necklace instead of a simple one stone one.</p>
<p>This is unfortunately the way a lot of great kids, great students feel. Many of them are much loved chidlren who have been given every advantage and everything they could want by parents who adore them. ANd they, in kind, have reciprocated by doing everything right and gaining acceptance to premier colleges. But then, for the first time, mom and dad have to say, no, we can’t afford it. We were able to afford the AMerican Girl dolls, the vacations, the private lessons, the clothes, the rides, the dinners out, the experiences,all that you wanted, but $60K a year is more than we can possibly pay. Congratulations for getting accepted, but we don’t have the money to pay for the experience. It’s like winning the lottery for a spot on the space ship to the moon, a life long wish, but can’t pay the millions to actually be able to go.</p>
<p>Premed girl, I know a great guy who goes there, good friend of my son. A wonderful young man who is so grateful Rochester gave him a package to make it possible to go there. He is not hard on the eyes either.</p>
<p>premed girl: The Devils aren’t playing but, fwiw, the entitled tone of your posts is making me want to watch the replay of last night’s debacle…
have a nice life; you should be happy and grateful that you can attend a top notch college with a tuition waiver, if for no other reason that you will have more $$ for med school (unless of course you decide to intentionally tank your college career to “punish” your parents</p>
<p>Look. You know the answers that you are going to get:
take a gap year and apply to places where it will cost less than UR
move out, get a job, save up for your education and pay for it without help from your parents
commute to the closest CC and transfer into the SUNY/CUNY system after two years
or
thank your mom for having the good sense to take a job at a half-way decent university that offers such a big tuition break so that your family can afford your undergrad education.</p>
<p>Puffs Plus. They are the softest. Get an extra box.</p>
<p>Then when the boxes are empty, go wash your face, pull yourself together, and go out and make a new and better plan for your life.</p>
<p>You don’t want to go to UR. OK, don’t. You want to be in a more socially conservative environment. Fine, if that is what works best for you. You do have options, just not the ones that you want most right now. Take the time to look at all of your options. Maybe, just maybe it would be best for you to move back to Texas and work there long enough to establish in-state residence for the public colleges and universities. You could read all about that tonight. I understand that for some of the publics in Texas, you can be a resident even if your parents aren’t. Not Rice, of course, but definitely not UR either.</p>
<p>I think others have outlined your practical options. Merit aid is not likely be as good for a transfer student as it is for an incoming freshman, so if you want to come up with a new list of colleges to which to apply, take a gap year and start again. I would assume your chances of getting re-admitted to URochester if you reapplied next year would still be good, so you’d have that as a back-up.</p>
<p>You sound very angry with your parents, among other people and institutions. This is disappointment playing out. Your disappointment is very understandable, but be careful with the way you express it. It does come off as very spoiled and arrogant, and I don’t think that’s your intention.</p>
<p>What schools give good merit scholarships to transfer students?
“good” as in no lower than top 40</p>
<p>From your other thread ^^^</p>
<p>Answer…probably none. None of those schools (or others within the top 100) will give much/any merit to transfer students…why would they? Schools give merit to attract the best FRESHMAN class because that help with rankings. Transfer students do NOTHING for a school…so they don’t offer much/anything. </p>
<p>I find it hilarious that you don’t think URoch has very good academics and doesn’t have excellent students. It does. I can’t speak to the area or the social life in the area, so if it’s a horrible fit, then take a gap year.</p>
<p>Since you’ll be miserable, take a gap year and apply to schools that will give you HUGE merit that will leave you with about $20k per year (which is what URoch would cost you.)</p>
<p>Rice and similar schools are OUT, since you won’t be able to afford them.</p>
<p>BTW…if you truly are pre-med, then the idea of taking out much/any debt as an undergrad is truly unwise. </p>
<p>And, at virtually all schools except bible colleges, you’re going to find liberals and others who don’t hold your outlook on life, so learn some tolerance. After all, they will expected to be tolerant of you.</p>
<p>BTW…Rice is quite liberal even tho it’s in Texas, so it wouldn’t have been the dreamland that you think it would be.</p>
<p>Oh goodness me, I truly hope you’re never a doctor one day. </p>
<p>You’ll probably be along the same lines as the doctor who called me hysterical when I went to the ER with “woman pains”. Two excruciating hours later and they found my hemorrhaging cyst.</p>
<p>As a parent, my advice to you would be to seriously change your attitude. Hard to do at the moment, but it has to be done! UnivRoch is a fabulous school! We looked at it for S1, who was seriously considering it as a second choice, but applied and got into his first choice, Tufts. Btw: He is also very conservative and going to a very liberal college…he found his group of friends to hang out with. There are gay people at all colleges, lots.</p>
<p>You need to understand how to effectively change your attitude so that you have a positive college experience. URoch is an excellent school for pre-med. This is undergrad, girl! You’ll be going to college for a long time if you want to be a doctor! Do the very best you can there and then hopefully with your grades, you’ll be able to get into other programs with scholarships! We have a friend who just graduated from URoch a year or so ago and earned a full scholarship for a PhD program at UPenn!</p>
<p>Your parents are doing the very best they can for you and this is undergrad we’re talking about! URoch is a fine, private college. You could have ended up at a SUNY or similar bigger school. This is a very manageable 5,000 students and you will find your group of friends to hang out with!</p>
<p>Seriously, please work on changing your attitude. Keep a gratitude journal, write all the pros of going there…once you see all the positive there is you will have a much better college experience. Good luck.</p>
<p>U of R’s Strong Memorial Hospital saved my niece’s life when she was born with brain cancer. </p>
<p>Why in the world should your parents borrow nearly $200,000 when your odds of getting into med school (for which you will expect them to shell out another $200K) are maybe 50-50? </p>
<p>College is an investment. Consider your great sacrifice of having to go to a school many people would love to attend but can’t afford as balancing your parent’s sacrifice of paying out $80K for that privilege. Knock the chip off your shoulder and get in there and do the best you can.</p>
<p>I can guarantee that if you go in with your current attitude you will prove yourself correct - you will be miserable. But if you start looking for the young republicans’ organization, the conservative Christian organization, and such, you will find plenty of friends. Heck, maybe you can organize a protest in front of the Susan B. Anthony House (lousy neighborhood, though). </p>
<p>I remember driving past campus as a kid and observing a naked volleyball tournement in the rain (my dad even backed up to get a second look).</p>
<p>To compound this poor student’s problems, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, neither Emory nor Rice is accepting applications any more. She can only take a year off and apply all over again next year.</p>
<p>She doesn’t need to APPLY to Rice or Emory…she already did and was accepted. It sounds like she’s been in contact with the schools and they will allow her to still atttend if she desires.</p>
<p>The problem is that she doesn’t have the means to pay for those schools.</p>
<p>Her biggest hurdle will be finding a school that she considers to be better than URoch that will cost about the same (after merit). That’s not going to happen. So, it’s either URoch or a LESSER school.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse, I had few luxuries growing up. My parents are immigrants and my mom came from Poland to become a doctor here, and we are still suffering from debt. I had a limited childhood, and now they are better off. Which is why I even considered applying to expensive private schools.</p>