How to go to college far away.?

Question

I want to go to college out of state. I live in Iowa and I'd really like to go to Embry Riddle in Prescott, AZ and study Aerospace Engineering. My parents will freak if I bring this up. How do I convince them to allow me to explore this further.

Answer 1

Tell them it's the best school to go to for what you want to study.

If they disagree, apply anyway. Tell them you applied there, then by the time you get your acceptance letter, they'll have had time to think about it and probably will have warmed up to the idea.

Good luck...parents can be tough sometimes. :]

Answer 2

You do need to talk to your parents. Perhaps if you tell them what you'd like to study, and suggest a bunch of schools that are good for that major (Embry Riddle as one of them), it'll be a good way to start the conversation gently, and not get them to shut you down right away.

So pick some good schools that are nearish to your home, and some that are further away, but which are really good for your major. Start getting info from them, and then begin the conversation with your parents.

You don't need to let them send you to Embry Riddle yet. You do, however, need to tee it up as a possible.

Embry Riddle is one of the better aerospace engineering schools out there, and if you want to go into that field, you'd benefit from going to a strong engineering school, and perhaps even to a school in a state, like Arizona, where aerospace engineering actually happens. At a minimum, it might make it easier to get internships, and that's really going to help when it comes time to get a job.

A school which is also well ranked in that field, and which is closer to Iowa and thus may make your parents happier, is U Michigan Ann Arbor. Perhaps if you put that on your list as well, it'll help a bit.

Other very strong engineering schools nearish to you, although you need to check if they have the program you want, are U Illinois Urbana Champaign, U Texas Austin, Purdue West Lafayette, Rice, U Wisconsin Madison, Rose Hulman Institute of Tech, Northwestern, Texas A&M College Station, Ohio State Columbus, Kettering U, and U Minnesota Twin Cities. Consider these for your list as well.

Iowa State U also does not suck for engineering, not at all, and maybe should be on your list.

Explain to your parents that you need to go to a good engineering school, and one that is good in your field, in order to have the best chances of success. Let them know that you're really trying to find such programs close to home, and will try to stay as close to home as you can, keeping in mind that the school needs to be as good in your field as it can be. And that you need to be able to actually gain admissions to it!

Make Embry Riddle one of the schools to which you apply. See if they let you in, and what sorts of aid they offer to you. Then based on the offers from other schools as well, you can decide - and you can continue the conversation with your parents through all this.

Show your parents that you're considering schools that are *both* good in your major (#1 concern) and which are also fairly close to home - or as close to home as you can find good schools - and that may help.

Answer 3

You should pursue the education that is going to be right for you. Find a time when you can sit down with your parents and introduce them to the idea that you will be looking at college options that are out of state. Have some literature from Embry Riddle ready to show them so that they can see what a good school it is. Make a list of reasons why you think this school is for you, and be prepared to talk about those.

The best thing to do is to have this conversation sooner rather than later. Parents do come around, and they really do want to see their children happy and successful. Some just take longer to warm to ideas than others.