<p>I think right now that I am becoming more open to the Virginia Tech option since it was one of my final two schools, my question is, what do I tell my parents about this corps of cadets business, it’s not something that I personally want to do in college…</p>
<p>I did ROTC at JHU for a year… I mean, do you like to wake up 5:30am every other morning to do PT and go through military training all four years of college. It’s not a very fun experience… I do not know how you will be able to handle it on an engineer’s schedule. It’s going to be rough.</p>
<p>In the end, the person who is paying for college will have the final say. If you really want to go to Clemson, your options include figuring out how to pay for it yourself, and convincing your parents to pay for it.</p>
<p>Your parents may have observed behavior that concerns them beyond a drop in grade in one class. Is there anything else that you have (or haven’t) done lately which could lead them to be concerned about your readiness to be away from home?</p>
<p>I agree I think Purdue would be a good fit for you esp if you’re interested in engineering</p>
<p>happymomof1, I agree that maybe my parents would be concerned about me going too far from home…BUT that does not explain their willingness to let me go to Purdue</p>
<p>I don’t have the 2009 rankings handy but in 2007 Purdue ranked higher than Clemson and VT so they can’t have changed that much. At worst they are about even overall. PU still has a better name nationally than either of the others.</p>
<p>thanks for everyone’s opinions, anybody else?</p>
<p>“every engineer my dad works with says that it is the best place to study engineering”</p>
<p>That is probably why they are willing to have you go to Purdue.</p>
<p>The winter there isn’t any worse than it is in Massachusetts. In fact, since it’s further south, the winter days will be distinctly longer. If won’t be pitch dark at 4 pm in December. Not to mention that it would get you far away from home if that is a major goal of yours.</p>
<p>Purdue.</p>
<p>As a west coaster, I know there is continuing prejudice about the quality of public southern unversities (with the exception of UVA, UNC, Georgia Tech, and maybe Florida (which west coasters don’t really think of as “southern”)). You will have to deal with that prejudice your entire career if you work outside the south.</p>
<p>I’m not condoning this prejudice… it just IS, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you discover that your parents share this prejudice.</p>