<p>I have my college choices down to 2. One is significantly better than the other (constantly featured in top 20 world rankings, excellent research university), but it is out of the country, and therefore incredibly far away. My acceptance is conditional, and I must get a certain test score to secure my place. It had been my first choice for 3 years, and I had originally chosen it because I wanted to get the hell out of here. However, my life has begun to improve and I'm a different person.</p>
<p>The other school is a well-known party school with a very strong and nationally recognized undergrad program for my major of choice. It is a 2 hour plane ride away and in a more rural setting. I am becoming more set on this school by the minute, as I'm realizing it is the classic American college experience and far away from home, but not too far.</p>
<p>My parents think I am choosing the "lesser" school because I do not want to study for the exam that would secure my place and because I am not confident that I can make the grade. This is not true, as I am fully willing to do the work. I'm just not sure I want it enough anymore to get there. They also think I just want to party instead of getting a quality education. This is also untrue. I'm not a big partier. I enjoy going from time to time, but it is definitely not enough to be a reason for choosing a school.</p>
<p>I am planning to transfer to the school that's abroad after my first year when I've gotten used to being away from home and on my own. I'm terrified of being in another country where I know absolutely NO ONE. How can I get my parents to understand? My father is opposed because he thinks the school in this country is mediocre and nothing special. He thinks I'm stupid for passing up this opportunity. My mother doesn't want to talk about it.</p>
<p>Why don’t you study for the exam to give yourself a shot at both of them, then try to visit in April before deciding for sure? Otherwise I would say your dad is right – you are silly to not at least try. Now… my niece had a conditional acceptance at a top uni, and didn’t make the grades she needed in spite of her best efforts. </p>
<p>Also… if you are not a partier (as you say), then you might not be so happy at the heavy duty party school. Work on your exams so you can have a realistic choice between the two of them in the spring.</p>
<p>Might help if you could tell us the two schools, also.</p>
<p>I think we’re talking about the University of Edinburgh and Indiana University-Bloomington(as OOS).</p>
<p>If you’re not sure of your major, then you likely should go to IU and take a year or so to figure it out. You don’t want to get a year or two into the program at Edinburgh, only to find it’s not the program/major for you…However, if you’re confident in your major, then choosing Edinburgh is much more of an option.</p>
<p>Also, IU is such a large school it’s easy to avoid the party scene and find a group of students with other interest (something you’ll need to do at either school).</p>
<p>Do I understand correctly that your plan is to go to the 2nd school for one year and then transfer to the first school? To me that doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’d bite the bullet and go through the bigger transition once rather than go through two transitions. I say this as one who transferred in college. While my experience at my 2nd school was great, I always wished I had been there from the beginning, as there were a lot of established relationships and groups when I got there that had been forged when everyone was new and going through a big transition together. Also, if I was going to go to another country knowing no one, I’d want to do it as part of a college community where I’d quickly know a lot of people.</p>
<p>Planning to transfer is one thing, pulling it off is another. Do think that through very carefully. Anything could happen during your first year to change your mind about the transfer, or to make the transfer impossible.</p>
<p>Why are these two the only ones still on your list? Go back and look at your original list, there may be other options that are good for your major, not so hideously far from home as the foreign university, and not so wildly party-oriented as the US university.</p>
<p>Lastly, think long and hard about that foreign U. How does graduating from that U fit into your long-range plans? If you don’t have citizenship in the country where it is located, you need to know whether or not it has a good career center that will help you find internships here for your vacation periods, and jobs here after you have graduated.</p>
<p>Most jobs are located through personal networks. Yes the degree might be from famous-name-institution, but if the student doesn’t have good access to the network(s) that get people jobs in his/her field, the job hunt will almost certainly be longer and more stressful than it could have been.</p>
<p>Can you pick a 3rd school? If your parents pay, they have final say.</p>
<p>And about your parents trying to force you to leave the country, they should not have moved you to where they live if they are so opposed to you living there. You are just 17/18 yrs old. You need stability, not extreme change. If moving to another country is not something you want to do, the transition will be a nightmare. And it will feel more like a banishment than anything else.</p>
<p>Sadly, I would recommend pretending to try your hardest on those qualifying exams but fail. This is not an issue where they are being reasonable. I rarely say that too, I usually support the parents in everything. But in this case, I think you are in the right.</p>
<p>Also, if you plan to continue living in the US after all is done, then a foreign degree is not likely going to serve you better than one earned here. And it would suck to go to a foreign college, adjust to life there, and then not be able to stay after graduation because you are not a citizen there. Your friends will all be there! That would be so sad to have to leave the life you will build for yourself there. I see no benefit to going.</p>
<p>Is there a committment if you take the test? Because I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just take the test, see how it goes, and have every option you can before you make a final decision.</p>
<p>As a parent, I can easily see through the claim that you will transfer after a year to the college your parents prefer. They probably see through that, too.</p>
<p>If the foreign school is in the UK, it may not allow transfers (there is no real concept of transferring. It is rare and I suspect even rarer from an overseas school). You would very likely have to reapply for admission into the first year, with no guarentee of success.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you would bother with UI if you want to transfer after only one year. People who “plan” to transfer rarely follow through, even when there’s a formal program (e.g, 3/2 for engineering) to do so. Do you want to go to Edinburgh? If no, then say so. If yes, go now. If you don’t feel ready to leave the US, can you take a gap year? I suspect that’s not uncommon in the UK.</p>
<p>If you are truly sincere about wanting to stay in the US, then maybe plan to spend a year abroad at Edinburgh. Plenty of colleges have agreements with the university, but that means you will get a degree from UI, not Edinburgh (don’t know if that’s important to you). I think you may get more opportunities (including career) if you went to Edinburgh. They are a wealthy, well-connected, and well-respected university.</p>
<p>It is is U Edinburgh, it says it takes international transfers for certain programs, but it may be necessary to retake all or most of your courses. </p>
<p>As a parent, there is NO way I’d pay for 5 years of tuition (the Scottish system is 4 years) because you wanted to go to a more local school first. Now, maybe if it was a CC and the extra year wasn’t going to cost me much, in part because you’d be living at home and you were planning to work to pay part of it…well, maybe. </p>