<p>How much influence do your parents have on what you do in college? Did they influence what school you went to, what your major was, where you live? When you have to make big decisions, like staying on campus or moving off-campus, do you have to have their approval? If your parents pay for college, does this have an effect on how much influence they have?</p>
<p>My parents get zero input into my decisions. (I did move out of home when I was 15 though.)</p>
<p>I keep them updated on what I am up to, they give me the money they save on taxes by declaring me a dependent. That’s all of the interactions we have had for several years.</p>
<p>I get the occasional phone call, but that’s usually about it. I had choice of whatever school I could afford, so I was able to go to my first choice, which my parents also liked (my mom visited with me and liked it, my dad is a lifetime fan of the football program). The major is my choice, and my parents don’t mind it, though they have urged me to keep an open mind for as long as possible. My parents don’t pay for my college, but they do help with plane tickets for breaks, and handle most expenses when I’m back at home.</p>
<p>My parents are barely involved. They have never cared about my grades or performance, so it’s all up to me. Choosing colleges, majors, figuring out most of the payment. Anyway, wish me luck for NYU!</p>
<p>My parents pay for my college (well, half of it - the rest is scholarships) so I do think that I owe to them to keep them involved. They let me pick among the schools I was accepted to, but urged me to choose between the 2 that were top ranked. They have no preference about my major and I have to live on campus. Otherwise, they aren’t really involved that much, except if I really need help picking a class I might consult them.</p>
<p>My mother sends me $200 per month for food. My dad will send me any food money I need on top of that, and occasional money if I need something. Everything else is covered by financial aid. They call once in a blue moon, I’ll call them if I remember. They have no role in my decision making and know very little about my life. I decide where I live, but I think they figure I have the best information about my life and know the best choice for me, and I agree.</p>
<p>They let me apply wherever I wanted, major in whatever I wanted, etc. They figured the decision was mine to make, and I agree - I find it odd when parents try to control what school or major their kids choose. I suppose my parents don’t pay for my education though…though I think if I didn’t have financial aid they would help out as best they could. My parents always let me make my own decisions about where I wanted my life to go, though.</p>
<p>Well, when I did live on campus, I talked to my mother every day because she is a worrier. They were really brief conversations – rarely longer than fifteen or twenty minutes unless I was really bored or getting caught up on family gossip.</p>
<p>I make the decisions about my classes and major on my own. I rant every now and again about something to her and she’ll ask how things are going, but that’s as far as it goes. She doesn’t pay for anything so even if she did want me to change my major to engineering or something, I wouldn’t really pay much attention to it because it’s not on her dime. I went through a period of about a week or two of complete frustration with a class related to my major and all but quit and switched to something else and we talked about it, but her opinion wasn’t a deal breaker for anything, really.</p>
<p>IDK, my family knows as much as they need too — which is enough to get them off my back when my aunt or a family friend decides it’s time to bug me about my future plans after college. “Uh…grad school?” The end. That’s rarely happened, though.</p>
<p>Oh, and I got cash when I lived in the dorms whenever I asked even though I worked for emergencies.</p>
<p>My parents pay for college and I make the decisions. It’s pretty much a win-win, as long as I keep up the good grades and generally don’t screw up badly.</p>
<p>I did the college search stuff mostly on my own and planned the tour schedules, and gave it to dad to book hotels. I got to pick what school, as long as they all were reasonably affordable (had to discuss with parents). They tried to keep me from going out of state, but I decided I wanted to go to IWU so it ended up being out of state. They’d just like to have me come home more often. I decided to major in Piano Performance, and they’re fine with that, but highly ‘encouraged’ me to also have a second major because they’d like me to have some other skills/classes too. I like other subjects also, but piano was first choice, and the second one is my choice too, but they just wanted me to have something so I chose History, which I like. Preferably, they’d rather have me doing math for the second major but tough luck for them. Where I live is my decision…unless I would try to ask them to move off campus to something super expensive then they might say no, not sure. They pay for all of my college expenses that’s not covered by my scholarship, so they pay the rest of tuition, room, board, fees, books, etc. plus groceries and whatever else I have to buy. So because they pay for a lot of it, they have some say in it I guess. I let them know what I have to put on their credit card for things like books and stuff before I do that, just so they’re aware of it and stuff, and always call dad and ask before I buy a flight to get home for breaks. I pick all my classes…they have no say in that nor do they care. They also pay for extra lessons on other instruments not required by my major that I just want to take.</p>
<p>As long as I’m not pregnant, in jail, and keep a 3.0 for my scholarship, my parents don’t care. I picked my school and my major. They went with me on visits, but all of the decisions were basically up to me.</p>
<p>My parents pay for school (tuition and room and board), but I am free to make my own choices, major and otherwise. I imagine that this is contingent on maintaining decent (maybe >3.0) grades, but we haven’t discussed it. My parents and I talk maybe once every few weeks, with the occasional texts and emails in between. My dad and I communicate almost exclusively through emailing one another links to article we found interesting, lol.</p>
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<p>My parents didn’t care if I went to college or not. They just made sure I graduated high school. So the whole college process was really left up to me.</p>
<p>My parents support me emotionally and they do what they can financially, but I am paying for the majority of my schooling. My parents gave me about $850 for first semester total, but the rest is on me including all of this semester’s bills and books.</p>
<p>I don’t get my parent’s approval for anything school-related, but I definitely ask them for their advice and I value it. Sometimes I follow it and other times I don’t.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’m double majoring in French and Theatre, so my parents definitely didn’t tell me what I could or couldn’t major in.</p>
<p>I’ve decided to live on campus next year, but that had nothing to do with my parents and everything to do with cost and convenience. I don’t have a car, so living off campus would be very difficult for me and would probably end up being just as much as living on campus.</p>
<p>I chose my school on my own, but my mom initially suggested it to me during my junior year. Both my mom and stepdad are very active in both my and my sister’s decisions, but I usually ask for their input anyway. My mom and stepdad are paying for tuition/room and board, and my dad helps me with extra spending money and my textbooks. </p>
<p>Mom and stepdad wanted me to be pre-med, with a chemistry major. (mom’s a chemist, s.d.'s a doctor) and my dad wanted me to be a chemical engineering major (his profession). I somehow didn’t get the chemistry gene, and I’m a biology major focusing on ecology and loving it! Everyone was happy with my choice as it’s “respectable” enough for them and fun and interesting for me.</p>
<p>Ultimate helicopter dad: [amy</a> gets in to Princeton - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Almost no role. I live in another country, so I speak to my mother about once a week. She pays my rent, but that’s it. She has no input into my decisions on classes/trips/major/grad school.</p>
<p>My parents call me a lot, but they provide me financially most of the way. I think depending on how dependent you are on your parents is key. They pay the bills, so I get a call every day asking what is going on.</p>
<p>My parents help with the bills. They didn’t help me choose and major. My mom influenced what school I went to only as much as saying to stay in the state for financial reasons.
My mom is supportive of me, and if I have personal problems or problems with my dog or whatever I can call her and talk.
She’s not involved in my social life or academics really, but I do often call her to just talk and I’ll tell her how I’m doing in school and with my friends.</p>
<p>I have a great relationship with my parents, call them often, and have been completely supportive in my decision to become a physician. I was surprised though when they told me they would be willing to pay my full college expense so that I can enter medical school without debt from undergrad. </p>
<p>Other than that, they have no control over what major I wanted to pursue (Biochemistry), my social life, etc.</p>
<p>My parents have no kind of higher education whatsoever. But they are my biggest cheerleaders. Whenever I bring home an accomplishment they can’t stop telling me how proud they are. If I bring home disappointments they don’t stop telling me to do my best. We may not have a lot of money, but with my parents behind me I know I can make the best of my situation.</p>
<p>Both of my parents went to college and graduated, but they didn’t really utilize their degree. Also, they surrounded themselves around the Korean community often, so they actually have no idea how competitive American institutions are. My mom is definitely less forceful about what to major in, but my dad used to be really pushy about it. He got much, much better, though. </p>
<p>Back in high school, my dad used to verbally abuse me and my sister for being “stupid” and “worthless” because he wanted to show people how smart his children are. Ultimately, the schools we both got into were not good enough for him, but that didn’t stop us from trying hard. After years of blaming us for not getting into “good” schools, my sister and I are actually doing well for ourselves.</p>
<p>My sister is on her way to get her phD, while I’m still focusing on my undergrad and internship experiences as a freshman. Once my dad realized that my sister went beyond her education than he did, he had no right to call her “stupid” anymore. My grades this past semester also proved him wrong. My dad’s the typical “Asian,” who only cares about reputation of the schools. When he talks to us now, he has nothing negative to say. I love it!</p>
<p>Edit: Overall message, do what you like doing…and if you’re good at it, stick with it! It will pay off if you put yourself out there and work hard.</p>