<p>I'm sure this happens to a lot of us on CC. You have one idea of which schools you'd prefer to go to, your parents have another.
So, spill.</p>
<p>For me, I'm going to Harvard or Yale if I get in. I've applied to 5 other schools in the states, plus U of Edinburgh and U of St Andrews in Scotland.
I'd really like to go to Scotland, but my parents (apart from being certain that I'll be accepted to HY... I'd like to know where they get that sort of confidence) think that my preference after that should be Georgetown or Tufts, or Northeastern. I've applied to Columbia but they don't want me to go to New York, and even though I'm iffy about Tufts, they seem to think its a perfect match for me.</p>
<p>So far, I've been accepted to St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Wesleyan and Northeastern. The acceptances came in in exactly that order, and my dad said, "funny the order these have come in... first the UK schools which you almost certainly won't go to, then your safety, then one you'd actually go to..."</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>So everyone, who's parents have some twisted perceptions?</p>
Lets see, my parents' dream school for me is whatever costs them least.</p>
<p>Mine, on the other hand, costs about 45K a year.
</p>
<p>story of my life (or really, just the past year and a half, haha). originally my dream school was NYU, but i've taken a liking to Northeastern. Still, my parents are more than ecstatic for me to go to UCONN. it's not even the fact that it's a state school that bothers me, i just didn't like the atmosphere as much as i thought i would.</p>
<p>Obviously, your parents preferences are much better yours, both in terms of ranking and actual quality. Your parents' choices seems to be more sensible. why are you so fond of scotland?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Obviously, your parents preferences are much better yours, both in terms of ranking and actual quality.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Edinburgh has world-class departments in various languages and literatures, theoretical math, and EECS, and very solid departments in most of the sciences. St Andrews has world-class psych and English departments and is quite highly-regarded overall.*</p>
<p>Just because it's in Scotland and you've never heard of it doesn't mean it's bad. Maybe the poster really wants to experience Scottish culture while going to a very prestigious university there.</p>
<p>munchkin, please consider the financial ramifications of going to school in Scotland. Not only is there no financial aid for internationals, but the cost of living in Scotland is much higher than you might expect, and with the falling dollar, costs will only go up. Not to mention the costs of transportation (one airline just announced an increase to its fuel surcharge, so that its ticket to London is something like $140, but the fuel surcharge is $260!).</p>
<p>While I'm all for "study abroad", I know that, had my wanted to go to school all four years abroad, my response would have been, "Sorry. Can't afford it."</p>
<p>Schools like Georgetown and Tufts offer and emphasize a great deal of "internationality" at their campuses, and Tufts especially is ga-ga over study abroad and being a globally-accessible university. I think that your parents are trying to hint that there are better (read: cheaper) ways of experiencing other cultures than flying half a world away.</p>
<p>Don't know why they'd put so much emphasis on Northeastern, though... It's a good school, but it doesn't have the resources of Tufts or Gerogetown.</p>
<p>kinda similar. I've taken a liking to northeastern. But my dad wants me to go to georgia tech since its much higher ranked. Prices are similar, in fact NEU is even a little cheaper, since I got a 14k scholarship to NEU and gtech is a public and has lower tuition even OoS than the 50k of privates. Anyway coming from a suburb of Boston, I'm not sure if I want to go that far away/deal with the culture shock/crazy heat, and I love the city of Boston, like their co-op program(gtech has one too though, but since NEU's is mandatory I'd still graduate with the same class). NEU is only 20 min away so its convient when I go home for break, but my parents wouldn't visit me unexpectedly or much more than if I was farther away. Also NEU has a 1:1 male to female ratio vs Gtechs 3:1 And Gtech is supposed to be crazy difficult and I'd on the lazy side. Majoring in Ece btw. Also in the mix is wpi since yesterday they sent me something which said listed financial aid(which I don't qualify for but applied anyway as my dad told me to) and it listed twice as much merit money as they had previously told me I had gotten. However its on the small side and I kind of wanted to go to a larger school. And Cornell and CMU but I don't think i'll get into either of them and they are a bit pricey since I wouldn't get any merit money if I did get in.</p>
<p>My parents are completely out of the loop as far as colleges go. (Which is good and bad. Mostly bad). Well, my mom wants me to attend Georgetown, which isn't happening as I didn't even apply there (I'd never get in)</p>
<p>I want to go to an LAC, and my parents want me to go to an Ivy. We sort of met halfway on Williams (top LAC in USNews did it for them, bleh) and HMC, (hardcore math and science) but they still dislike the idea of me going to Carleton or Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm having this problem with just about every school I'm interested in. </p>
<p>You try talking but they are all very stubborn and not willing to listen. If you really want to go to a UK school, I believe some of them offer financial assistance to whomever is accepted, as a last resort.</p>