<p>To answer your original question, yes, I have had to rush to a kid in college and, years ago when I was in college, my mom had to rush to me because of illness. But I don’t think that’s the case here.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, one of your parents works at Vandy, right? And, even though the parent didn’t qualify for tuition discount for you, the school gave you a very nice award, probably some kind of preferential packaging? </p>
<p>Honestly, I think it is about the $ and you should take Vandy. Your schools are all prestigious and Claremont McKenna is wonderful-- but it’s not $80K more wonderful than Vandy. And telling your parents that you will go to a significantly less prestigious school just so you can snub their push to Vandy is cutting your nose to spite your face. </p>
<p>Will you be able to live on campus so you have some autonomy? I would think that Vandy’s big enough that you’re not running across your parent all the time, right?</p>