Guys, I have great acceptances as of now - UCSD, UDub, Purdue, UFL, UCD and waiting for more to come on 28th :] My parents are very rich but are picky on where to spend money and where to not. How do I convince them that paying 60-70 grand is worth it. By the way, I’m International Indian student.
Please help me….
Congrats!
Are your parents questioning whether it’s worth the money to study in the US at all? Or are they questioning whether, for example, the additional cost of UCD or UCSD would be worth it over the cost of Purdue or UF? (And by the way, UC’s aren’t going to be 60-70 grand - they’re well over 70K and rising.)
I would start by looking up the projected cost of attendance at each school. (Take typical yearly increases into account - Purdue is notable for guaranteeing that your tuition will not go up.) Rank your list of offers by cost, and eliminate any school that costs more than a less expensive one that you like as much or more. Make a list of pros and cons for each school that remains. Then sit down with your parents, and your pared-down list, and discuss the cost-benefit analysis.
I assume that any remaining acceptances at the end of this month will be at the top of your cost range. So, it isn’t premature to figure out what you’d do if you had to decide among the current options. That will simplify the comparison between your current front-runner and any new additions to the list.
What majors are you accepted to at each school? Will the alternative majors of interest be available to you at these schools? What are your favorites, and why?
I assume they were aware of the costs before you applied?
In the end, a family gets to decide how to spend their money.
What is their objection? Is it that these are names of less stature in the international community or that they never intended to finance an American education?
What are your alternatives?
In the end, you’ll have to sell your family on the benefits but as @aquapt notes UF and Purdue will be much less expensive than the others - which mitigates part of your financial equation.
Did you have a conversation with them before you applied to US schools? If so, what budget did they agree to? And are they changing their mind now?
Or are you saying you applied without getting their approval?
I have their approval, they are ok with high expense. But to their mentality such high cost of education isn’t justified. Maybe because my parents were educated from a very local and low fee college in India. I’ll be the first one in our family to study at T-20/T-30 University. So…thats why.
I just want to convince him that paying 70 grand will be worth.
P.S. My dad is freaking rich, but picky about where to spend and where to not.
By the way, I know he’ll pay even If I don’t convince him. But it may be a forced decision from his end as a father’s duty. Which I don’t want to happen.
If their concern is that they don’t see the value added for, say, UCSD over Purdue, well… they have a point.
You said in your other thread that you love the program you were accepted to at Purdue, and that it’s the perfect blend of academics for you, but you’re concerned about the cold weather. You also said that you applied to MechE at most schools but want to be able to study business (whereas the Purdue IBE program already includes business). UCSD and UCD don’t have undergrad business or anything comparable to IBE, and UW Ross is tough to switch into, and not combinable with engineering. (Plus, there’s the problem of giving up STEM-OPT eligibility if you switch out of a STEM major - not a problem with Purdue IBE.)
To me, the answer here is obvious, and I’m not quite seeing the problem. Purdue has a top-notch reputation, both in the US and internationally, and it’s the one school where you’ve been accepted to a program that truly fits your interests. And it is much less expensive than the west coast schools. Why is this not a win-win? You can buy a really, really nice coat, and visit warm places on all of your breaks, for much less than the 30K/year cost difference between Purdue and a UC.
So, why not go with the program that best fits your interests and respects your parents’ (entirely legitimate) desire to see financial value? (Just because they have wealth doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t want to spend their money wisely.) Why do you sound so desperate to convince them to spend up to twice as much for a worse-fit program at a comparably-good-but-not-better university? Since you’re interested in studying business, think of this as your first significant business decision. If Purdue isn’t the smart choice, in your view, tell us why - refine your argument here before trying it out on the people who have to write the checks!
These two statements seem contradictory to me:
What budget are they comfortable with? As @tsbna44 said above, if they’re paying they get to decide how much they want to spend. It’s their prerogative.
Which school is your top choice? If one of the UCs it’ll be over 70k.
It looks like that worked out very well for them!
I come from a very warm place. So, climate is a major concern for me. If it weren’t for climate, I would’ve committed to Purdue the day I recieved my admit.
Actually, right now, I am considering UW - nice climate(rain is ok for me lol), Industrial and systems engineering(Business oriented engineering), and I’ll do a minor in business there. I’m not so sure if this is the right option. But yea, It’ll be one of my top choices along with Purdue.
And if I get into need blind schools on 28th. The situation will change. But I don’t expect any admits that day. thats why I have started my planning beforehand with current options.
All the schools that have already accepted you are also need blind. The Ivies are even more expensive - so are you saying the situation will change for the worse if you get accepted (because it’ll cost your parents even more)? Or are you saying your parents will be ok paying for these brand name schools?
UW does sound like a better fit for you, academically, than the UC schools, in addition to being a little less expensive.
Understand, though, that it does get cold in Seattle. Mostly it rains, but it’s cold rain, not tropical rain, and it does snow too. And don’t underestimate the impact of being so far north on daylight hours. (Did you know that almost 70% of Canadians live south of Seattle?) On the shortest day of the year, Seattle gets less than 8.5 total hours of daylight.
Here’s a direct comparison. Yes, Indiana gets colder for a few months in the winter. But the wet weather makes Seattle feel colder than the numbers suggest, and the limited daylight hours mean you’ll spend more time at the lower end of the daily temperature range.
The thing with going to college in a place with winter weather is, you’re not shoveling snow or driving in it. You’re not spending long hours outside unless you choose to. You’re putting on your warm coat, walking a few minutes from one warm building to another, and going back inside. (And maybe going out to play in the snow, for fun, though that may be hard to imagine!) But honestly, it isn’t that bad - you really would be okay in either place, I promise. If tens of thousands of Somali-born immigrants can adjust to living in Minnesota, you can definitely adjust to 4 years in either Washington State or Indiana. It’s not worth giving up academic fit for warmer weather. Even within the US, kids who have never seen snow before go to cold-weather colleges every year, and do just fine. One of my college roommates in Boston was from Malaysia, and she wasn’t traumatized by the weather at all. I think you’d be surprised how big of a deal the weather wouldn’t turn out to be.
Has it occurred to you that you might like the cold weather? Many people do. Snow is lovely. It’s fun to build snowmen, have a hot chocolate while you take a walk, feel the frost in the air.
By the need blind schools you mention, I assume you mean HYPSM and similar. All but Stanford are located in cold winter climates. Is it correct to assume you will attend an Ivy League school if accepted? Be prepared to buy a good winter coat.
Purdue is well regarded. It also seems the most affordable option and no one is going to think you settled for less.
I’m sorry, but this is a decision your parents need to make. They are spending their money…not yours.
Where do they want you to go to college and how much are they willing to spend? That is your budget.
What does this mean? Need blind means the college doesn’t consider your finances when reviewing your application. From what you wrote, you have no financial need.
If you are asking about the highly competitive colleges…some of those cost over $90,000 a year.
Many students (and professors!) come from very warm climates and do fine in cold campuses (some come to love it). Wearing enough layers and you will be warm. I get it seems intimidating and everyone can have their own preferences of course, but I think you may be over analyzing this in your own mind. Also, its really only a few months that will be cold, cold (not all year). One could look at it is an exciting part of studying abroad. As others said, if you are a from consistently very sunny climate, then I would be more concerned about darkness in some of these places than temperature, as that really can impact mental health. (Can be remediated typically though…)
Anyway, your choice, of course. I think everyone has some arbitrary criteria for schools that don’t make sense to others, and that is normal and fine and what makes the world interesting:)
It seems your parents have done pretty well without an expensive US education, so I can see why they wouldn’t think it’s worth it.
The schools you’re waiting on the 28th are presumably Ivy schools. Those are also cold weather locations. So which is it? Purdue too cold but Cornell(as an example) isn’t?
Your parents are rich and you’re not. So appeal to their sense of “return of investment.” If you go to the best school to study the best subject, then you will have a higher chance of making big money.
Bragging rights. Rich people have rich friend. As Varsity Blue taught us, rich and famous want their kids in good schools so they can brag. Tell them you actually haved them 1/2 million dollars doing this the old fashion way.
Getting off the payroll. Tell them your alternative is to stay home and live off of them. Rent the movie “Stepbrothers” starring Will Ferrel to drive in that point.
They are your parents. Ask them do they not want you to be happy? What is 70k a year anyway.
Not sure if you are male/female. But my one Indian friend from school got ridicules offers for marriage because he was considered a good catch. We all made fun of him, but what he described was unbelievable.
Why would you apply to schools with cold winter climates if you had no intention of going to those schools in cold weather?
If my surfer, California kid
**survived 5 years in Buffalo, **
in the “frozen Tundra” of upstate New York,
wore Reef sandals during the middle of winter while trudging through snow,
then you can survive an Indiana winter.
It’s called buying a winter coat and learning how to layer. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Cornell is right up there with them.
It seems that you lack judgment on forethought. Planning ahead doesn’t appear to be something that is strong within you:
-You started with one major and want to change it now based on weather.
-You’ve been accepted to schools in cold-weather areas, that are less expensive, have great options, but it’s not what you want because you’ll get cold.
It’s kind of selfish to take up a spot of another student that probably really wants to go to Purdue/UCSD and you’re holding onto the spots because you’re indecisive and afraid of the cold.
Also, for future reference, if you pull this kind of “hemming and hawing” on a professor or university staff, you’re not going to survive our US universities. Their staffs are good and understanding, but they don’t put up with indecisive and last-minute changes or immature judgment calls.
For the record UCSD is an excellent school, but it is a public school. The freshman and sophomore classes are huge. They are on the quarter system, and UCSD is known as UC for the Socially Dead. They’re trying to change that image, but mostly it has to do with the types of students that they get who are serious and don’t seek out other activities- they go to class and that’s about it.
It doesn’t have the school spirit that some of the CSU’S do have. Did you do any research on the sunny California schools? What they’re like? Each UC is vastly different: in location, attitude, majors, environment-everything!!
Yes UCSD is near the coast but we get a lot of fog/coastal eddy in San Diego. Near UCSD, it doesn’t burn off until early or late afternoon, in some cases. It’s still gets cold and you still have to wear a hoodie in the morning. Summer and early Fall is when you get the nicer, warmer weather.
My advice is for you to pick a school where you’re going to get to study what you want to study, regardless of the weather. Right now that sounds like Purdue. Buy a winter coat there. Learn not to be a spoiled kid because you won’t make any friends with that attitude.
Cue the Rolling Stones: You can’t always get what you want”, but you can get as close to it as possible.
Edited to add. Thank the powers that be for your parents for going to a lowly school and being able to afford to provide a free education for you. Most parents don’t have that kind of option or luxury.
Not sure what you mean here.
Can you explain which schools at which prices are acceptable to them, and which schools at which prices are not acceptable to them?