my mom works at carnegie mellon. if i go, i can get in free. its an amazing school, one of the best in the country. dumb move not going. . .

well.. that was dumb

YDI any college that you apply for would have sent you a financial aid package if you asked for one ... my brother goes to cornell and he only pays a few thousand a year even though my parents make 75k/year, making it even cheaper than a state school! ... so they give really generous financial aid

first of all, let's be honest: fmylife and youtube are essentially the largest cesspools of idiocy on the internet. it is funny to see people saying "your [sic] an idiot" to this established, bright, and considerate young lady (assuming a woman due to typing style) when they do not even possess a respectable handle on the english language. 1) what if family financial woes occurred after the op applied? a death, a lawsuit, criminal charges, etc. anything is possible. maybe the op wanted to follow her dreams anyway and realised that, after paying the relatively small applicant fees, they were impossible to achieve? $100 is a small price to pay to realise one is ivy league material. 2) i find it incredibly amusing that people are commenting saying this is a wasted opportunity and then encourage the op to get a job. yeah, go to work and most likely into debt as well while you half-ass your education. i don't know a single university student that can hold a full-time job, let alone such a student that puts all available energies into achieving the best grades possible. a wasted opportunity, and yet you expect the op to waste 40 hours/week on an entry level position? isn't that a bit contradictory? 3) some people do not want to get into ******* debt. it is true that education only matters to a certain degree, and i am acquainted with some professional 60+ year olds still paying ivy league debts. many of these people do not think their education was worth a lifetime of repayment and struggling. i see the stupidest idiots commenting here with the most inexperienced and juvenile typing styles i have ever seen, trashy userpics of fat chicks utilising myspace angles, outdated internet slang, and despicable syntax/grammar. how funny that you should all step up to the plate to jealously bash the op. go back to community college and confusing there/their, you licorice jelly bean shitfaces

Don't listen to these people, you did what you thought was best for you and for your family. So many people get caught up in the idea of having an "ivy league" education (for the record, Carnegie Mellon, although a GREAT school, is actually NOT an ivy) that they fail to consider the fact that someone, at some time or another, is going to have to pay for this. All you people screaming "loans" need to pipe down a bit; in the EXTRAORDINARILY unlikely event that you make $80,000 a year straight out of undergrad, you'll still be impoverished if you're paying back $100,000 in student loans. Furthermore, you don't know the rest of this girl's (or guy's) story. What if her parents don't qualify for a significant amount of federal financial aid thanks to the fact that they've invested wisely (you think it's coincidence that the FAFSA asks for your parents' savings?), but they've got a ton of medical bills due to the fact that one of her siblings has had a serious illness for the last couple of things, or her parents may still have a mortgage, or with the economy the way it's been possibly her parents have been laid off. Any one of a number of things could have caused this person to do what they did, and that makes him (or her) a hero in my book for putting the other people in their family ahead of them. You did the selfless thing, and believe it or not a college diploma is really just a super expensive piece of paper. I'm majoring in biology at a Big Ten university and I have yet to learn anything of any real value. You'll find a job eventually. And your mom sounds like a real piece of work.

What bothers me is how some people don't understand that you can get a damn good education and not go to an Ivy League college. There are people going to the ''better'' colleges who are only there because of some family tradition, where every child must continue the ''superior'' education their parents received. And with that group of students, I'm sure there are the ones who do poorly academic-wise, don't give a shit about what kind of education they get, and end up dropping out. Most of you are probably avid FML readers, so you know by reading the posts that there are people who went to Ivy League schools who are now working at Burger King or McDonalds. So saying that someone who goes to Yale, etc. will no doubt have a badass career in the future is total bullshit. Clearly, the OP doesn't want to have to live with years of incredible debt or doesn't want her mother to, either. She doesn't deserve it. How could she possibly? At least she's GOING to college. I'm not sure I could say the same for half of you who just blasted her for being considerate towards her family's financial status. Keep up the hard work, OP.

your mom kind of sounds like a bitch... no offense.

look at these ******* sheep coming out of the woodwork and stealing my thunder. grow some BALLS next time and be first to make the move. op, **** school. join my cult.

For those saying that US students need to stop feeling "entitled:" some of the best schools in the UK (and Canada, as well as many other countries) are far cheaper than their counterparts in the US. Moreover, plenty of students in those countries live at home, whereas many elite colleges in the US have residential requirements (students have to live in university housing for a certain number of semesters). Yes, US students need to be responsible, but it's not as simple as taking out a loan or getting a job. Loans can leave you in debt for years. Students should work if they can, but the economy sucks right, and it's hard to get a good position if you haven't finished your college degree. There are problems with the system here, and sometimes the best way to avoid them is to pick the best financial aid package, even if that means forfeiting an acceptance to a top school. Moreover, not everyone can get the aid they want, even at the wealthiest schools. I know of several people who couldn't attend Ivies and other top colleges because the schools simply wouldn't give them the aid they needed. I'm at an Ivy that my family can't really afford––but we don't really qualify for aid either. In fact, my college counselor told me that applying for aid would seriously jeopardize my chances for admission given my financial bracket. So I'm working, applying for scholarships, and taking out loans. Whatever the reason, schools can't always give you the aid you need just because you ask for it––and it may not be practical to ask. So FYL. It probably would have been better if you'd explored the financial situation a little more (maybe called the finaid office) and been open with your mother, but you didn't deserve her criticism. Hope it works out.

YDI!!! Never, NEVER do something like that!!! You DON'T owe anything to your parents, just remember that!!! It doesn't mean that you can't be grateful or anything, but you CAN'T put THEIR lives before YOURS. I know it because I used to think just like you, and I almost sacrificed my dream carrier for my mom. After she called me a failure and an idiot, I changed my mind.