Parents: "You're applying WHERE?"

<p>My parents desperately want me to go to BYU because it is just so inexpensive and they think it would be a "good environment" for me. They have still let me apply to 9 other schools, though. I am one to just sort of do my own thing and its their job to get all the information out of me. They never told me not to apply to a certain school. They only told me I had to apply to BYU. </p>

<p>My mom is a little worried that my first choice is Barnard in NYC, though I think DC is a lot more dangerous and she hasn't expressed any conern over my Georgetown acceptance. But once decisions roll around she will definitely be supporting the schools in rural areas like Smith and Williams.</p>

<p>parents can be so ridiculous when they don't know anything about the college process. my dad told me today that he didn't understand why i didn't have just as good a chance at getting into cornell as i do at getting into colgate because their median ACT scores are the same. ugh. i wish my parents were like some of the savvy CC parents here!</p>

<p>I did not know how good my daughter has it compared to many others. I will be happy (and sad!) to see her go wherever she wants. </p>

<p>The only exception might be if she wants to go to a really bad school for really bad reasons. e.g, I will put my foot down if she wants to go to Univ. of Baghdad, Iraq.</p>

<p>inspiration08, I know how that is. My dad was not surprised in the slightest when I got into Georgetown. He's sure I'll get into everywhere I apply, even Columbia and Brown. When I throw out acceptance rates he goes "that's for the average applicant and you're not average". I guess I prefer that to parents who think I'm awful and can't get in anywhere, but then when I get into places like Georgetown I want my parents to think of it as a big deal and not just roll their eyes and say "of course you got in". My scores are awful compared to most people on CC, by the way. It's not like I'm amazing. Oh, well.</p>

<p>I think my dad just doesn't want me to go to Dartmouth (if I am accepted that is) because this</a> guy went there. He doesn't want me to become the next Ann Coulter. Lol.</p>

<p>I told my parents I wanted to go to Pomona and my dad immediately hated the idea of it. He doesn't want me to appl to any LACs. He feels they are a waste of money and you can only get what he calls "Seinfeld degrees".</p>

<p>Dinesh D'Souza is a fellow at Stanford, so I guess he wouldn't want you applying there either.</p>

<p>I told my son he could apply wherever he wanted, but if he actually got in and it was too expensive, he'd have to deal with it, not me. My husband said "over my dead body" to Pepperdine, only because they lean too far to the right for his comfort level. And although we both said "ok" to USC, since both husband and I are UCLA graduates -- uh, well, it had that stake through the heart feel for both of us! (On the other hand, my dad went there, who can account for taste).</p>

<p>Ha ha. That's the funny thing too- he wants me to go to Stanford. I don't even want to go to Stanford and I'm just applying to appease him. </p>

<p>Either way, I'm not really going into English/political science, so I wouldn't be taught by him. It just seems kind of odd.</p>

<p>My parents are paranoid too. =/ But they knew college was expensive in general...just don't know how much more expensive the schools I'm applying to are compared to like state schools and such...</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses. =] I'm going to try and tell my parents tomorrow that I want to apply to Stanford. Hopefully they won't freak out since it's farther away than Cornell and it's way harder to get into.</p>

<p>I was surprised when my mom knew what boston college was.</p>

<p>My parents are weird - they didn't freak out about the far-away or the costly schools .. but they did freak out when I said I WASN'T applying to Georgia Tech, their alma mater. Silly parents.</p>

<p>To be brutally honest, the cost for most LACs are very high. I'm not surprised that many folks think it's not worth the money. But if you think you can obtain substantial aid (be it need based or merit based), you should still apply to LACs. The good ones give you an outstanding all-rounded education in an intimate environment. A "Seinfeld degree" can be a very good preparation for the uncertainties of the workplace.</p>

<p>My parents were most surprised by me wanting to apply to Johns Hopkins. Like nearly everyone, they only knew it as the med school capital of the nation. They were like, "You have no interest in being a doctor, so why go there?" I just told them not to worry about it, there's other stuff to do there too.</p>

<p>Be aware that if your father knows one of your mother's old boyfriends went to a certain college, he's probably not going to want to hear the name of that college, much less have you attend it. Just accept it, don't try to understand it. It's a guy thing, and has to do with a primal urge to mark one's territory, etc.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Yeah, parental support in my case was inversely proportional with the distance from home. I think this is the case in most instances.

[/quote]

In my case, it was directly proportional. ;)</p>

<p>Nah, just kidding. My parents had some reservations when the subject turned to stereotypically "hippie" schools (e.g. Reed), but that was about it. I guess they know I'm sensitive to family burdens.</p>

<p>Atomic,</p>

<p>A great majority of Dartmouth alums respectfully disagree with that guy. Dartmouth also has produced prominent liberals like Robert Reich. </p>

<p>Gub, DC is dangerous in parts but the crime is very isolated to a few areas. The area surrounding georgetown is safer than the area surrounding barnard.</p>

<p>My dad had a coronary when I said I might want to apply to Berkeley--thinks it's WAY too liberal.</p>

<p>Both of my parents were against any ivies, because they said it's only for extremely wealthy men whose parents went there (which I understand, because that's what they were when my parents went to school).</p>

<p>They also freaked out when I mentioned Swarthmore (they had never heard of it) and asked why I would want to apply to such an unknown school, and my dad found this brochure about diversity and one of the sections was "Queers at Swat." Yeah, after that Swarthmore wasn't really an option.</p>

<p>I thought they were going to disown me when I said I wasn't going to apply to Auburn (where they both went and where my brother currently goes).</p>

<p>Anyways, surprisingly enough Berkeley and Swarthmore are off my lists and Auburn found its way on... Luckily, I convinced them to change their minds about the ivies...</p>

<p>Worst of all, however, is how they confuse different schools. If you ask my mom where I'm applying somehow BU, Penn State, and NC State replace BC, UPenn, and UNC...</p>

<p>My parents told me not to apply to Rice. I don't think they have anything against the school-- they just really hate Houston or something.</p>