<p>It sounds as though you live near Philadelphia.</p>
<p>I’m curious about why your mother would want to limit you to Pennsylvania colleges. There are colleges in nearby states that are actually closer to your home than colleges in the western part of Pennsylvania. And many of them are remarkably easy to travel to by Amtrak. It’s no more trouble to travel to Washington, DC than it is to go to Pittsburgh – maybe less.</p>
<p>You might want to talk to your parents about their reasons for wanting to limit your choices. They may be financial. Perhaps they can afford to pay for state colleges within Pennsylvania but not out-of-state colleges. If this is the case, you might be able to apply to colleges out of state but with the understanding that you can’t actually go there unless you get enough financial aid (or merit scholarship money) to bring the cost down to that of a Pennsylvania state school.</p>
<p>If your parents’ reasons for wanting you to stay in-state are not financial, but are more connected with wanting to have you within easy reach, you might want to ask whether they would let you consider colleges that are relatively nearby and easy to travel to but not in Pennsylvania. This could give you access to colleges in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, the southern parts of New York State, and Washington, DC – and that’s a lot of colleges!</p>