Hi everyone, I want to go to University of Arizona as a Biology major, but my parents want me to go to Michigan State University. I like UArizona because its a research school and is good in the science field. It also has a good lacrosse team which I am looking for. UArizona has a good reputation and has many things to offer. Please help. I need to convince my parents. Thanks.
Why do your parents prefer MSU ?
Is it an issue regarding COA ?
My parents want me to go to MSU because I live in Michigan and the campus is 15 minutes away from home. They think if I go out of state, I won’t be able to take care of myself. My parents are Indian and they think that they have to move with me. I want to go because my parents will annoy me if I am closer to home. I am able to take care of myself and they know that because I do most of the chores and manage everything around my house. My parents worked hard while I was a kid, so I had to be responsible and mature to take care of my siblings when they would go to work. I think they want me to stay because they can’t live without me. What is COA?
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COA is cost of attendance.
It sounds like this is much more of an issue with location than the school itself. Trying to make an argument on the quality of the school probably isn’t going to get you very far. I’m sorry you have to deal with this.
@Johnny523 Thank you for your response. Is UArizona a good school for biology? If you were to decide, would it be MSU or UArizona?
I really can’t say. My son is going to be a freshman at Arizona this fall in environmental science, which looks like a pretty good program. There probably isn’t a whole lot of difference between Arizona and MSU as far as academics.
@Johnny523 Congrats to you and your son. Is your son going out of state or in-state? Why did your son choose UArizona?
@NaturalBrother He’s going out of state. He picked it because he likes the environmental science program (we met with an advisor and she totally sold him on it), he likes the campus and location, and the weather is a big plus (we live in Colorado).
Are you sure they want MSU because they don’t think you can take care of yourself? MSU is a higher ranked school and probably cheaper for you/them because it’s in state. As a parent, those are two strong reasons.
@BMC9670 Yes, my parents do want MSU. They want me to stay close to home and are worried that I can’t take care of myself and that I would end up becoming an unhealthy person such as drug usage. They know that I have never used drugs or anything and I know I’m not going to do that because its not good for my health as I do have asthma. MSU is a little cheaper, but I did get a scholarship for UArizona that makes it 5k more than MSU to attend. MSU is a higher ranked school, but UArizona is in the top 20 for research schools for Biology. UArizona has better professors than MSU which is a good thing. Also, I feel like MSU is a big party school than UArizona because of Greek Life.
I’m a parent, and I firmly believe that going to college is your best opportunity to cut the umbilical cord. Do you want to have the same issue before your grad school (not to mention other most important life decisions)?
I’m sympathetic to your reasons for wanting UA, but also concerned about the way financial decisions are trending there as we head into very lean times economically.
UA already rescinded funding for accepted PhD students who had not yet committed, more than a week before their deadline to commit. To me, this looks like the leading edge of a wave of fiscal ruthlessness that could affect your ability to renew your merit scholarship. I’d be worried about this. The whole research environment that you hope to be a part of will be affected. (I’m sure MSU won’t be untouched either; but they haven’t already started throwing grad students under the bus.)
I’d also be concerned about the travel aspect. Lansing to Tucson is a long haul.
I totally get, though, how 15 minutes from home feels too close.
Is there any way you can leverage the UA option to secure an explicit agreement from your parents, to hold a boundary and let you live your life as an MSU student as if they were not so close?
So, in which school did you enroll? I hope it worked out for you.
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@BMC9670 I enrolled in University of Arizona. Thank you.
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@NaturalBrother Congrats! And welcome to AZ.
Has anyone graduated from UA with an online engineering master’s degree or know someone who has in recent years? I am just wondering if there’s a designation on your transcript that it’s an online degree. Also, I am curious to know how effectively the thesis can be completed in an engineering online program within a reasonable period of time. Any information that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
@NaturalBrother - How has your experience been so far at U of A? Our senior is deciding between MSU and U of A as well for biomedical engineering. We are from MI.
@NaturalBrother If you were to decide now, would it be MSU or UArizona? Thank you.