<p>BelatedMidnight, did your parents react badly to Penn State because of its immense party-school reputation? They could perhaps be talked down from the ledge with mentions of its very well-respected Honors College.</p>
<p>And as for Canada, we toured U of Toronto with our son...Toronto is like New York, if NYC was cleaner with really, really bad weather.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure they're all Stanford rejects. Hah.</p>
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New Englanders at all the Boston-area colleges really get their fill of people from the un-holy alliance of NY/NJ constantly comparing Boston to NYC. I was a local Boston-area guy, and during my years at Boston College, about 10 times per day I wanted to shout, "LOOK, if New York City is so great, why didn't you go to one of the 50 colleges THERE??"
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<p>TourGuide, plenty of non-New England, non-NY/NJ transplants who go to the Boston area colleges get annoyed by the same thing. Also by when the people from the West Coast do something similar. I speak from experience, as a transplant from the South. ;)</p>
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Seriously, though. I'm in Philly and like clockwork the California kids start getting depressed and whiny about cold weather and how great it is in California.
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<p>Hmm...not a Californian, but as a transplant to New England from the South, I still whine about the winter weather, and this is my fifth winter up here. :) I put up with it because I love most other things about metro Boston so much. I didn't whine about how much better home was, I whined about "Why can't the awesomeness that is Boston be some place with weather that doesn't suck?"</p>
<p>On the other hand, when the summer rolls around, I get a nice laugh at the people who have never lived in a humid area before, and at the people from really cold areas who think that 80 degrees is hot. ;)</p>
<p>Let's start off by saying that I'm from Baltimore and have never been away from home for much longer than two weeks.</p>
<p>It came as a huge surprise to my parents (my mother especially) that I am applying to schools almost solely in New York and California. Except for a safety, Hood College in MD, they're all QUITE far away from home. My mom is hoping that I get rejected from my other schools (2 in the Claremont Consortium, Vassar, Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, and Hofstra) just so that I am forced to stay somewhat close to home.</p>
<p>The thing is, I really DON'T want to stay close. My parents don't understand WHY that is, especially considering there are great schools in Baltimore. They feel like it's because of them and me wanting to leave them.</p>
<p>we'll see what happens if i get into those schools and get to choose between them!</p>
<p>haha..my parents indirectly told me to take a year off if i only get into not-so-prestigious colleges.</p>
<p>ittknee...Vassar, St. Lawrence, Barnard, Hofstra - all a 3+ Amtrak ride away. Probably easier for you to get home frequently than my son at Penn State which is a 4 hour drive or 2 inconvenient bus stop changes to NJ. Too many gay guys with orange spiked hair at St. Lawrence, but Vassar, Barnard, Hofstra have normal kids - whatever that means.</p>
<p>My parents didn't want me to go to college anywhere in the Northeast. In a strange moment of contrasting emotions, they were really happy when I got rejected from MIT.</p>
<p>My parents also forbid me from applying to Iowa and Notre Dame. Sometimes parents have strange biases (well my dad was UIUC alum, so actually it kind of made sense).</p>
<p>You know you're aclimated to a new place when you whine about something you would have taken in stride at the old. I knew I was aclimated to Oregon when I whined about 20-degree weather (moved from Alaska). Maybe a Californian has become a Bostonian when he gripes about lack of snow in winter.</p>
<p>I would like my daughter close enough to come home for a weekend if she wants. If not home, then to a close family member. She wants to far enough that I can't just stop by without warning.</p>
<p>yeah, they are quite easy to get to. i would be taking my car with me if i attend vassar, slc, or hofstra. if i attend barnard it'll be the amtrak for me. :)</p>
<p>Eh... one of the many things I plan to learn in college is how not to rely on a car.</p>
<p>my parents are discouraging me from applying to princeton next year... they want me to go to the cheap in-state UW in seattle.... so that i can live at home....</p>
<p>I guess it's understandable that they don't want you to go all the way across the country to Princeton. Nevertheless, I would still say you should try to get away from home for college.</p>
<p>My parents hated the fact that I'm applying to Cornell. My dad especially abhors Dartmouth for whatever reason (he says it's super conservative; I disagree.) </p>
<p>My parents also want me to apply to Stanford, and I don't even want to bother, but I'll do it to appease them (which is just annoying considering how much writing is involved.)</p>
<p>They don't want me to go anywhere cold, which doesn't make sense considering we formerly lived in New York.</p>
<p>My mom had never heard of Vanderbilt so she wasn't too happy about it until she read some guides and did some research and now she thinks it's a great school and would be happy enough if I ended up there. Same with UNC - Chapel Hill, except that she originally was opposed to it because it's an OOS public. Hooray for that.</p>
<p>She still has no idea why I'm applying to Sewanee because it's not prestigious and in the middle of nowhere. Even after I visited and loved it she still doesn't get it. Thankfully their online app has no application fee--otherwise I wouldn't be applying there, since my parents are paying.</p>
<p>On the otherhand, my mom spent forever trying to convince me to apply to Stanford and still doesn't get why I don't want to go there.</p>
<p>My dad, I don't even think he has really figured out that I'm applying to college.</p>
<p>And my grandparents think I only need to apply to one college. Ha!</p>
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I understand your irritation, bagels. You want to say something like "Did you guys look at a map before you applied here? Did you notice that Philadelphia is in the NORTHEast?"
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<p>The best quote is from a girl at BU. She saw it was snowing out and asked someone: "So when the snow lands in your hand, does it, like, melt?"</p>
<p>Anyway, my parents had no problems with me applying anywhere, except they originally didnt want me to apply to Indiana. When I explained to them that besides the fact that it's in Indiana, there's a large Jewish population, not THAT far from home, great sports, great business and on the rise academics, they were fine with me applying.</p>
<p>I live in Oregon. When I got accepted into UPenn a few days ago, my mother started weeping and begging me not to go. It's not like she didn't know where it was when I applied there ED. have to cut the apron strings sometime</p>
<p>My parents made an agreement with each other that they'd stay entirely out of my college decisionmaking process, and support me wherever I chose to look at or apply to.</p>
<p>That's not to say they weren't a little surprised when I started looking at Alaska Fairbanks :) but they funded my college visit trip up there just the same.</p>
<p>They told me they'd cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and such wherever I went, but if I chose to go out of area/out of state, I'd have to cover room/board. That's because I could have gone to San Francisco State and just commuted - but I wanted the heck away from home for college. Any financial aid I receive is mine to apply to those room and board costs. The rest will come from loans, on-campus work, my (small) college fund, etc.</p>
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I live in Oregon. When I got accepted into UPenn a few days ago, my mother started weeping and begging me not to go. It's not like she didn't know where it was when I applied there ED. have to cut the apron strings sometime
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<p>Congrats and welcome to the area and the greatest city on earth :)</p>
<p>Atomic, </p>
<p>Dartmouth is overwhelmingly liberal. Last election it was 85% Kerry, less than 12% Bush. There is a strong but conservative minority, but its hardly the campus overall.</p>