<p>Hi!
So recently i've been doing some college searching. My top choices are Mizzou, Texas a&m, Michigan state, Oklahoma state and a few others. I want to be somewhere where I like the weather, scenery, and I know i want to live for a long time. My parents, especially my dad, are insisting and making it completely mandatory that I apply to schools in California. Call me crazy, but I DO NOT want to be in California or go to a school there. I lived there for a while in middle school and didn't enjoy it, once again call me crazy. No one seems to understand it. </p>
<p>Anyway, my dad gets SO upset when I talk to him about colleges because we always fight and bicker about CA colleges. I don't know how to explain to him that California is not where I want to be. He thinks i'm nuts! Of course i'll apply, but I'm worried that they're going to make me go to a CA school when the time comes :( </p>
<p>Is money a factor? If you get a good scholarship to one of your favorite colleges, and apply to an outrageously competitive expensive California school, maybe in the end you will either not get accepted to the CA university, or you’ll be accepted and the price will be so much more than one of your favorites that your dad will give in for financial reasons. </p>
<p>Tell your Dad that the California UC’s cost approximately $55K/year for Out of state students and $30K/year for Cal States. OOS students receive little to no financial aid to the California publics, so they would be close to full pay. If they are willing to foot the bill, then go ahead and apply. Like @mommyrocks stated above, if money is a factor, they may in the end agree with your choices. </p>
<p>If your parents can’t pay $50k+ per year for a UC, then have them run a NPC on a UC website. That may quickly change their minds about Calif schools. </p>
<p>Money isn’t a factor unless its way too expensive. They don’t like the idea of private schools, I’m guessing because of the cost. My dad wants me to go to a college in California because thats where HE wants me to be. My parents said im going to school where they want me to go. </p>
<p>Also im a junior and i go to a really competitive and one of the top public high schools in the US. I just want to figure out a way to explain to them California is not where i want to be. </p>
<p>Privates many times will come out cheaper since they can offer more merit and need based financial aid than the publics. Have your parents run the Net Price calculator on a variety of schools, so they can get a ballpark of their costs. </p>
<p>You should still have them run net price calculators on all schools so they can see what the cost is. Not many people REALLY have a quarter of a million dollars handy to pay for college (some do, but an awful lot of parents say they will figure it out, then can’t when the actual acceptances come in).</p>
<p>Also, California is a big place. If you don’t like Southern California, how about the Bay area or northern California? And you can always move after you get your degree. Honestly… I’d pick California over anyplace else you listed if someone else would foot the bill for four years to live there (but I’d like the northern part of the state, personally). </p>
<p>Also… middle school is lousy for everyone… are you sure it is the state that was the problem? Middle schoolers are beastly a lot of the time, but they grow out of it everywhere (including California). And if it is the weather you didn’t like, go to another part of the state.</p>
<p>Since you agreed to apply to some CA schools, all you can do is wait and see how things turn out. Once get your acceptances and choose your preferred school, try to think about why that school is truly the best place for you personally as well as for your future course of study – hopefully your dad will listen. </p>
<p>I do agree with @intparent that things will likely be different from your middle school experience and you can choose schools in a different part of CA than you previously lived in to apply to colleges.</p>