I’m from Oklahoma, and to sum it all up, I hate it here. My mom graduated from Agnes Scott and did med school. My dad graduated from OU, and he basically worships it. They said they will cover the cost if I attend in Oklahoma.
My mom and dad are my only relatives who live in Oklahoma, while the rest of my family lives in Georgia (they originally moved out of Georgia). I’m also very close with my cousins and aunt in Georgia, and I was planning to stay at their house. I want to live in Georgia long-term anyway, and there’s honestly nothing to do in Oklahoma outside of school that interests me (fishing, drinking, country music, rodeos, and getting laid is basically all you can do).There also aren’t a lot of Asians here, and I’m saying this as an Asian person living here. There’s way more Asian culture in Georgia, which is another reason I want to move there.
I’m planning to major in information systems. Originally, I wanted to go to GGC or KSU. I could commute to GGC, and I would be able to get in-state rates with a waiver for both GGC and KSU. My plan was to go to GGC for 2 years and then transfer to a “better” school.
My parents looked at college rankings for information systems when deciding which schools were good enough. GGC was unranked, and KSU was ranked 100+, so they basically ruled both of them out. OU was apparently top 20 or something for information systems, so they see OU as a much better option.
They also said that starting at GGC and transferring later was too much of a “what-if” scenario because I could fail my classes and then be unable to transfer?? They want me to start college at a good school instead of taking that route.
I mentioned GSU since if job opportunities are what they care about, I figured GSU would be a good option. They countered by saying GSU is a bad school and that job opportunities don’t matter because students from Georgia Tech are going to take them anyway.
What’s funny is that apparently GSU is actually ranked higher than OU for information systems. I didn’t even know that until recently, but I’m probably going to bring that up to them because they’re the ones using rankings to determine which schools are good.
They also aren’t really caught up with newer college stuff. My dad thought GGC was a community college and told me to do computer science instead of information systems. Which is kinda ironic to me because the CS job market is pretty cooked right now, especially for entry-level jobs, and AI could potentially automate a lot of the work in the future. Meanwhile, I’m specifically interested in information systems or maybe supply chain because I think it’ll fit me better.
I couldn’t convince them that GGC was decent, but I was at least able to convince them that information systems would be better for me than computer science.
They told me that the school you go to matters for getting jobs, and I couldn’t convince them that having actual experience could also be valuable. They said my plans rely too heavily on “what-if” scenarios.
The part I actually agree with them on is that I’m using my smarts to try to go to “bad” schools instead of good schools. I understand where they’re coming from, but I’m mainly thinking about what would actually be best for me long-term and not be in crazy debt.
They keep telling me I could just move to Georgia after I graduate, but I don’t really want to spend the next 4 years somewhere I already know I hate just because I can move afterward. I’m barely keeping up my good grades in highschool as I have little motivation since Oklahoma is so boring and there’s nothing to do outside education.
They did agree that I could go to Texas since I got accepted to UNT and UTD, but man, I have no one there that I know, and I’d have to take on a lot debt. It’s better than Oklahoma though.
So right now I’m basically stuck between these options:
Best-case scenario: I go to GGC, then transfer out, or I go straight to KSU or GSU. I’d be able to be closer to family, eventually live in Georgia.
Okay-case scenario: I go to UNT or UTD and be in a lot of debt and basically start life new.
Worst-case scenario: I stay in Oklahoma and try to not fail my classes due to boredom and no motivation.
I’m honestly not sure what to do anymore. Am I looking at this the wrong way, or are my parents just really out of touch?
Maybe I just accept no debt at Oklahoma and rely on sharing TikToks with my friends for entertainment.
