Please help me convince my dad to let me transfer

Transfer Students
1

Okay, right now I am a first year student at UTSA and am trying to transfer to UT.
I originally came to my current school because of the neurobiology research but have since changed my major to chemistry. I realized that chemistry is my passion and that I want to be a chemist. UTSA does not have a very active chemistry department by any means, and I’ve tried reaching out.
I am interested in UT because, well first off, it has one of the top chemistry programs in the country. It has tons of funding and I would have so many opportunities to work in chemistry labs, which is extremely important to me. There are also several chemistry organizations on campus that I could be involved with, unlike at UTSA. I want to be as prepared as possible for my future career and think UT would give me the best foundation.
Also, I simply love the city. I grew up in a small town and half always wanted to live somewhere that I could walk or bike where I wanted to go. I also love that Austin is a cultural melting pot. Every time I’m there I fall more in love.
Finally, I have been having a lot of issues making friends at San Antonio. I have a group of acquaintances but honestly don’t get on with them very much and don’t know what to do. I think I would fit in better at a place like UT because there are more opportunities to make friends.

Anyways, I am trying to convince my dad to let me transfer but he won’t have it. At first, he said it was about the money and how it is too expensive. Honestly though, I know for a fact that money isn’t something he struggles with and that reason seemed iffy to me from the start. He also spoke about how he doesn’t want to invest in something that won’t have good payout. Meaning that he wants me to do something that will bring in the big bucks. But I want to have a career I love even if it doesn’t pay extremely well.

I offered to pay the difference if money truly was the problem. Then, he admitted that his real reason is because he doesn’t like the culture. He later clarified what he means by culture- the LGBT community. Apparently, he thinks that the only reason I want to transfer is that Austin is more liberal and that my sexuality is all I care about. This threw me off and now I don’t know what to say because he won’t believe me when I tell him that my life doesn’t revolve around my sexuality. It’s the only real reason he has for not letting me transfer.
He also told me that the only way he would let me go to Austin is if I did the pharmD program which is a whole other story. Doing that isn’t an option for me.

Phew, I guess I had to vent, sorry for the length. But can anyone help me try to convince him to let me go? I am not good with words and am at a lost with what to say to him. We have always had a rocky relationship and he is treating this situation like some sort of business deal.
I am completely set on going to Austin and have decided that if he continues to say no, I’ll put myself through college and stop being a dependent. Is that too crazy? I just can’t stay here anymore and can’t keep doing everything just to please him like I always have before.

Thank you so much for any advice.

2

I say just go there. It’s my dream school. I probably can’t get in and if I did I would take out the necessary loans. (I go to UTD)

3

Sorry for this situation.
I don’t know what your dad means by “having a good payout”… Chemistry is an extremely versatile and necessary field, whether it comes to jobs in medicine, engineering, forensics etc., and the paychecks for some of those jobs is nothing to snuff over.
Second, I’m guessing your dad is a bit socially conservative… I would just reiterate that you would be attending a different SCHOOL, and that your EDUCATION is the main focus (whether it is or isn’t, but you have indicated that it is). Especially if you did well at UTSA, it would help to mention that you want to transfer to a more rigorous and opportunistic school than UTSA.
Also, I’m not sure why your dad is under the impression that UTSA does not have an LGBT community? Albeit, it probably isn’t as large, but nonetheless, he really can’t escape the presence of LGBT. If he thinks your life revolves around sexuality, why send you to school at all in the first place? To another point, you could just as easily act on your sexuality at UTSA as you could at UT, so I see no real disparity between the two other than UT having more chemistry focus.
Hope this helps.

4

As @camover mentioned, just detract the conversation away from LGBT since it has nothing to do with your decision anyway. That is going to be a topic that is much more difficult to discuss/convince him of. Focus on the professional and academic opportunities of UT and provide him with a bunch of resources including school rankings, and average starting salary both for chemistry and for UT vs UTSA. Hopefully showing him how much you care about the program there will detract from the former conversation.

I’m not super familiar with chemistry but the rankings have UT as one of the best programs in the world, but I’m sure you already know that. Tell him to stop being the child!

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/chemistry?page=2

5

Do you have the grades to transfer? I agree that a UT degree would bring you more opportunity. The advice to focus on the career aspects of the degree are good.

There is an online tool called SeekUT.
https://exploredata.utsystem.edu/seekUT/

Look under physical sciences.

This database is compiled by the UT System offices and you can look at earnings for specific degrees over a 10 year period and most importantly for you can compare these earnings for degrees from different UT campuses.

Chemistry grads from UT Austin earn an average of over $23k more per year after 10 years than do chemistry grads from UTSA.

Aren’t the costs fairly similar? You can borrow some money yourself but not a lot.