Parent Pressure to Apply?

littlemissdancer
Sun, 07 Sep 2014 19:42:50 +0000

Hi! I’m a Senior from KY and in the middle of applications to schools and looking at scholarships (woo!) and I pretty much have my heart set on Butler University. Xavier University in Cincinnati is my 2nd choice. I’m also applying to Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More because they’re close to home as backups. My parents are extremely supportive of me going to Butler, and said they’ll be happy for me wherever I go.

I was looking at scholarship opportunities for Thomas More, and I qualify for all of their top scholarships and since it’s a super small school, I have a pretty good chance of getting a full tuition scholarship, or extremely close to it. Once my mom found this out, she said she wanted me to reconsider going to Butler and think about staying home or somewhere close if I got a full ride. But the thing is, I don’t like any of the schools she wants me to look into. When I tell her this, she gets frustrated and tells me that I need to be open minded. I am, but none of these schools fit my personality or what I’m looking for. I do have extremely good chances of A) getting in, and B) getting a good chunk of school paid for at all of the schools she wants me to look at. Money is not an issue for us, but everyone can agree that scholarships are nice I have a 30 ACT and 4.13 weighted GPA, and am 6th in my class out of 87.

I guess my roundabout question is, should I settle on a school that I don’t like because of the scholarships and to make my mom happy, or should I stick to a school that I’m really passionate about (Butler), still with scholarship opportunities?

I think she’s nervous because I’ve only visited Butler and Xavier, but the minute I walked on Butler’s campus I felt like I should be there. I liked Xavier, but not near as much as Butler. I can’t find any definite scholarship numbers at Butler without filling out tax info and such, which I have no clue how to do haha. I’ve looked at plenty of other schools, but should I let the possibility of a full ride to somewhere I don’t want to go keep me from going to where I feel I belong? I feel like I’ll be pressured into going somewhere I don’t want to go and regret not going where I want to.

Sorry for the drawn-out rant, but thanks for your help :)