<p>My parents don't seem to understand the concept of a "best fit" school. I think that I would feel more comfortable at a large public school with a lot of school spirit and many opportunities for research and study abroad (and I would like a chance to go to D1 athletics). However my parents swear by the US News Rankings and constantly question my college choices just because "it isn't ranked as high as schools as I can get into." How do I defend my college choices? I've tried and we've gotten into quite a few fights already to the point that I've been forced to pay for half of my college applications.</p>
<p>If your parents are into rankings, you might try showing them a different set using criteria they think are important (e.g., one based on pure academics like the NRC, one that includes employer review like the THES, or one that indicates international prestige like the ARWU). In order to persuade them, you need to find out what their concerns are. Size of school? Job prospects? Quality of teaching? Ask them to be as specific as possible.</p>
<p>You're applying to engineering schools, right? Show them the overall and specialty engineering rankings from USNWR, where the large public unis dominate!</p>
<p>Are you first generation college-bound or first generation in the US? Lots of parents dealing with those situations don't quite get it about the merits of the big cheap public Us. Is there anyone whose judgement on these issues they would respect? For example, can you get a meeting with your college placement advisor/guidance counselor to talk this through?</p>
<p>And, since you are paying for a lot of the applications yourself, have you had the money talk with your parents? Who exactly is going to pay for your college education? Will they refuse to pay if you choose Big State U over Famous Private U? In the end, the money could trump all other factors. Be sure that you have a plan for dealing with it.</p>
<p>my parents moved here from Hong Kong and I am the first of their kids to apply to college so I don't think they know a lot (if anything) about the majority of colleges in the US</p>
<p>in that case I think your best bet is to get them to talk to someone else whose opinion they'd rely on, just like happymom suggested. Also, talk them through how the rankings are caluculated ( you can find this in the rankings magazine ). Some of the factors used in calculating the number may not be the most important to you or them.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Well, for what it's worth, our D just got into Brown e.d. She was valedictorian, brilliant, etc., blah blah blah but she had very individualistic choices and tell your parents this: we have strong connections at Harvard, Swarthmore and Dartmouth, PLUS Mom's an NYU alumnus and D refused to apply to ANY of those for various reasons, not the least of which is just to "go by the numbers" from a list doesn't address the question of which college or univ. is best for YOU. Anyway, we're pretty sure she would have gotten into at least some of the above, BUT here are the schools she would (have) applied to: Oberlin, Cornell, U Chicago, Tufts, State U. Not a Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia in the bunch. So, I say, find a TOP large, sporty school for yourself and make that your reach. There are plenty of them--c/o some Midwest schools--and stop relying on "lists." And tell them there are plenty of Nobel, Pulitzer, etc. winners who got their BA's at Penn State and the like (and if you are smarter, U Mich and its like) and their PhD's at Harvard.</p>
<p>Check to see if any of the state schools have honors colleges within them that you could apply to. That might be a worthwhile compromise with your folks.</p>
<p>All Chinese parents want their kids to apply to IVY league schools...
it's just their philosophy, I'm glad that my parents don't really care where do I apply to.
Both my parents are Chinese btw</p>
<p>Probably because international rankings focus a lot more on graduate schools, which Princeton is highly lacking in comparison to other Ivies. USNWR and the rest of America are very undergraduate-focused and seem to highlight undergraduate programs/experiences more so than graduate schools (relatively speaking in comparison to international rankings, at least), and under such a criteria, Princeton shines a lot and therefore is ranked very highly.</p>
<p>I assume some of your big public schools have honors programs, whose goal is to recruit high achieving students. They're good at that, try to get some information from them to show your parents how great publics can be.</p>
<p>For instance, Ohio State has a few honors programs, one of which produced a Rhodes scholar last year. I know many other large universities have similar programs - see if the people who run them host any prospective student information days that could win your parents over.</p>
<p>Rankings, such as U.S. News and World Report, are inherently phony and a disservice. Their way of judging the quality of a college by the grades and scores of the freshmen it selects is like judging the quallity of a hospital by the health of the patiens it admits. What happens during the stay is what counts. Choose wisely.</p>
<p>Purdue University
Virginia Tech
University Of Washington
Texas A&M
University Of Michigan
University Of Pittsburgh - (Accepted)
Clemson University
North Carolina State University
University Of Massachusetts - Amherst (In-state)
Northeastern University (Right next door literally)</p>
<p>any of those schools have good honors programs? also I'm planning on majoring in engineering</p>