<p>My family isn't letting me go to UChicago. It's not the finances so much as they want me to stay at a state college and go for three years (since UChicago doesn't accept AP/IB credits), get out and go to med school to become a doctor to support the family. I'm not bashing state schools, they are all great and fantastic universities (and I would be proud of myself to go anywhere), but I'm having the opportunity to go to the best university in the midwest, and one of the top schools in the world!! Now, I'm the youngest of six children that still live at home. I would understand it if they were all younger than me, and that my parents relied on me, but they aren't. They are all in their mid-20s!!! Living at home, not paying rent, not paying bills. And they have the audacity to tell me that I'M BEING SELFISH?? ***.</p>
<p>They don't appreciate a liberal arts education. They value money, quick. That's understandable. I value stability, but it should be for me by me, and I value knowledge and the ability to think more. They don't appreciate how great UChicago is. Even if it were Harvard, they would still want me to go to local state school. They don't value an education like this for undergrad. I got 45,000 grand as an estimate, without work study, summer employment, extra scholarships, and I can get more than this. It's not like I'm asking for them to pay everything, I'm just asking for like 3,000 a year!! And that's just to sit on my ass, having food and shelter provided for me. They would have to pay that for me going to a local college, it's not like I'm not gonna eat if I stay at home. It's not like I'm asking them for a lot of money, they are already estimated to pay for half of room and board combined. I would work and study and do summer employment. They say that I won't be able to handle work study, because I will be studying at the same time and they couldn't handle it at college. I currently work 15 hours a week in the IB program. I manage. ***.</p>
<p>Also, I hate being at home, with my four older ***** sisters. They are always talking bad and gossiping yelling, hollering, telling me what to do, to cut my hair (that's really annoying, it's my hair) and I can never study well. I love UChicago, I've researched it for over three years. It's the perfect university. They keep saying how I'm so young, and that 18 isn't old enough to leave home. My parents want me to leave when I'm 25, and then I'm ready to leave home. ***.</p>
<p>Well, you got a good aid estimate, and you can probably pay for this by yourself. Maybe it’s time to act by yourself and make your own decisions, whether your parents are on board or not.</p>
<p>Congratulation on your success. It is time to move out. Judging from what you said you seem like a very mutual young man. I would go for it. Good luck.</p>
<p>jtm2292, is it possible that for your parents this is more about separation than about the money? As you point out, they’d still need to pay for state college and your food if you stayed at home.</p>
<p>I don’t know your background, jtm, so please forgive me if I make some presumptuous assumptions. It’s not uncommon for relatively recent immigrants to value an education primarily for its instrumental value in getting a job. My parents were Cuban exiles, so I know this territory pretty well. (I couldn’t help noticing that you’re in Miami, so I wonder if you might be Latino). Most countries, including those in Europe and Latin America, don’t offer a liberal arts education; the concept is foreign to many, and people often don’t understand its value until they see the outcome. </p>
<p>Also, certain cultures (Latino ones, for sure) promote family unity by delaying separation and individuation as much as possible. However, in the United States college is the time that most people spread their wings and leave home. So perhaps (with apologies if I am mistaken in my guesses) you are running up against a conflict of cultures.</p>
<p>If this is the case, I’d encourage you to lay all of these things out for your parents. Perhaps you already have. If not, I’d tell them that you are now a man, and that it’s important for you to make your own decisions. Introduce them to Skype, tell them that you’ll call home often, and reassure them that you love them as much as ever. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if they understood that your chances of getting into medical school and becoming a good doctor are much higher if you go to a university of the caliber of Chicago’s (but I’m sure that you’ve told them already). </p>
<p>If they don’t relent, I’d add my voice to those others here who have counseled you, with the wisdom of Nike, to Just Do It.</p>
<p>Thanks you guys, I’ll do that. I really appreciate all of your advice. My parents are afraid to let me go, but I mean, I am 18 and this is good opportunity to show independence and maturity.</p>
<p>They do give credit for AP/IB, but I only receive credit for AP Stats and a few other exams I’m taking this year, because all the exams I got 4’s on, and they mostly accept fives. The point with that is that I couldn’t get sophomore standing.</p>
<p>I think I will definitely have to do this on my own. I’m fine with taking responsibility and making my own budget, working my butt off, thanks guys. I want this so badly!! I don’t mind making these sacrifices.</p>