Parents and Picking Colleges

<p>Wow, you guys are really making me appreciate my parents. I'm a second generation so they didn't really go to college here so they don't have any "preferencees" for me, and their gonna pay full for me for up tp eight years :). My parents didn't put any restrictions on location, but im gonna probably choose to stay within like five hours. CMU and Cornell, my favorite schools, are a good distance away, not too close, not too far (I live in Maryland).</p>

<p>Absolutely not.</p>

<p>Anyways my list looks like a random compilation of big and small schools where you can't really tell what I want. So far I have:</p>

<ol>
<li>NYU (Stern)-I'm applying ED</li>
<li>McGill (Management)</li>
<li>Michigan-Ann Arbor</li>
<li>Wesleyan</li>
</ol>

<p>Well they're my first choices anyway.</p>

<p>My dad is retiring when I graduate and my parents are going to move to a small town near a train station, so my mother's dream is that I go to NYU and take the train home every week...</p>

<p>My dream is that I get far away enough that I can't see them except at Thanksgiving break, etc.</p>

<p>My father would like me to go to a famous college.</p>

<p>Both my parents want me to be somewhere I can study English and writing, and I have to be within an hour's drive of an airport.</p>

<p>Personally, I want to go someplace where I can study English and theatre (preferably musical theatre), in or near a city, most likely on the East Coast or in New England.</p>

<p>I just want to go to:</p>

<p>Princeton</p>

<p>Stanford</p>

<p>Yale</p>

<p>Amherst</p>

<p>UPenn</p>

<p>Oxford</p>

<p>Harvard</p>

<p>My parents were annoyed when I become adamant to attend Berkeley when I was accepted to and live two miles from the campus of UCSD. Only when they went to Berkeley for Cal Day did they change their minds and support my decision.</p>

<p>My parents really don't care where I go to college. They'd like me to go to Eastern Illinois b/c that's where both of them went as well as a sister who works at EIU and another sister currently there.</p>

<p>So far, they've pretty well been letting me do my own thing. I've got a file box containing folders for Private Schools, Illinois State Schools, Missouri State Schools, Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, and Military Academy.</p>

<p>I've applied to three schools so far:
-Eastern Illinois
-Southeast Missouri State
-Blackburn College</p>

<p>I think Eastern and SEMO are similar and are actually in the same athletics conference. I think SEMO will be cheaper so that will probably be my 4th choice and possibly my first depending on what happens with the Service Academies.</p>

<p>They don't really care because I'm paying for college-- not them.</p>

<p>My dad has so far refused to consider filling out the FAFSA....that could be a problem since we definitely can't pay full freight at any private schools.
His criteria:
1. In CA
2. Cheap
3. Alternative - University of Colorado at Boulder, his alma mater</p>

<p>Hasn't mentioned anything about the academic strength of certain schools yet...</p>

<p>My criteria:
1. LAC
2. Out-of-state
3. Good in poli-sci
4. Liberal</p>

<p>I need to earn some money!</p>

<p>OP - we're looking for really similar schools! Let me know if you find any good ways to convince the parents.</p>

<p>So I've thought about it, and my battle plan is going to be to talk to my guidance counselor. So far she's been really supportive of the schools I've mentioned (Vassar and Amherst). I'm going to get her to suggest a "reliable" resource on colleges, like a good guidebook or something. She loves me and tells my mom that and my mom eats that up, so my mom will listen to her.</p>

<p>Also, my parents have so far taken a "no promises either way" stance on financial aid, which in other words means "we're not paying but we won't admit it until you actually ask us for money." So I think I may ultimately win the finaid side of the battle.</p>

<p>my mom wants me to go to CSUN (CSU Northridge) with a passion. my dad doesnt care as long as my mom pays for it XD. i want a UC school. oy vey</p>

<p>Boston College, Catholic University, Unc-Chapel Hill, Yale, NYU, Connecticut College all have strong Theatre Programs and are on east coast.
CMU, Northwestern and Syracuse are also good, but not on the Coast.<br>
Good Luck.
Also, many Musical Theatre programs require on campus auditions prior to acceptance, so accomodating parent is more than helpful. Some, BC, Northwestern and possibly more, do not require audition.</p>

<p>My mom's plans: Harvard.</p>

<p>My parents dont care where I go as long as:</p>

<p>it's not west of IL., it's prestigious, it has a good Jewish population.</p>

<p>Cost, being their alma maters, etc., etc. dont matter.</p>

<p>Lucky for them I picked a school they both loved. They didnt mind footing the bill for $45K a year :P</p>

<p>BU2011!</p>

<p>My parents don't really care, as long as they can come with me. Yes, my parents want to come with me. Okay, not really. My dad wants my mom to come with me, my mom would prefer staying here. So, yeah, as long as my dad can find an apartment or house around campus, it's all good for me. </p>

<p>I'm just a rising junior, so I still have some time to change this. Just give me a few more months and he'll WANT to let me go alone. He's just "MEGA PARANOID", like my brother would say.</p>

<p>Anyway, other than that, my parents are giving me total control over where I'm going. The only person who is demanding that I go to Harvard or Yale is my uncle.</p>

<p>Mine are being totally stupid. Especially my father, who told me today that he would not pay tuition for me to go anywhere other than the Engineering school at UIUC.</p>

<p>I hate science. I would probably end up doing something drastic.</p>

<p>But does he care? Nope.</p>

<p>There's my life for you.</p>

<p>My parents are all like "We accept any decision that you make. We're not going to force you to go anywhere. It's all up to you." My dad says that he wants me to go to an out of state school because what he cares about most is the life experience that I gain. But he also doesn't want me to go to some rinkydink, unknown college. </p>

<p>I need SOME direction, at least. I guess it's because they didn't go to college. And I'm so very indecisive.</p>

<p>CheshireStripes, same situation...same problem. I'm kinda hoping that i only get into one of the schools i like so that i don't have to do any thinking. I probably wont even be able to ed anywhere cuz i wont be able to pick my favorite school and my parents are def. gonna make me decide for myself.</p>

<p>My mom is the only one really involved, my dad doesn't really give a **** about what I do ( he's a crappy dad anyways... he really only cares about how much its gonna cost him). My mom relaly has no set of rules for colelge choices, but I sometimes feel she's really into the whole prestige thing.</p>

<p>My parents are more or less trying to restrict my decisions. I don't really want to go to any of the Ivies, but they're making me apply because "what if you get a scholarship?"</p>

<p>Also, I want to go to school on the opposite coast. They want me to to somewhere in the same state.</p>

<p>To me, it's kind of amazing how supportive my folks are. I want to go out of state & I'm the only child too. Mom likes UConn really well- ok, except the 700 mile distance from OH. Dad likes pretty much whatever I like. He knows & understands that I don't want to be like the rest of my class and go to the usual in state schools (even if Miami is the 'family school') & as long as I have good reasons for liking the school, he's fine with it-- then again I really haven't thrown a questionable one at him yet. I think he's pushing for Duke though & really have no idea why. But he's not obnoxious with it, so it's ok with me.</p>