Advice for a First Gen?

Student Lounge Hispanic Students
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<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I am a junior at a very competitive high school in Maryland looking for any sort of advice on school, college/ admissions, etc.
My whole family is from El Salvador and I am the first of all my relatives born in the US and the first attending a 4 year college (some have taken a few classes at community college, no degrees.). I have always been serious about going to college, but I've realized I kind of have no idea what I'm doing and, in my mostly white, middle class community/ totally white and Asian school, I don't really have anyone to go to for help.</p>

<p>If you have any advice for me and anyone else in my same situation, please share! (: Info on Hispanic scholar/NHRP, college apps, convincing parents to take you on visits, which colleges have special programs for Hispanic students, etc. would be extremely helpful!</p>

<p>I personally want to know how I can explain to colleges that the reason I don't have a crazy amount of volunteering/EC's is that my parents don't like me staying after school because it's "suspicious", or helping out "strangers" (is this a Hispanic thing? I wasn't even allowed to be a girl scout!-.-), and I don't have a lot of time after school anyway because my mom and I clean a church/nursery school everyday after school. I do want to mention this, but I don't want to sound like I'm whining or making excuses.. it just really does influence my resume/grades.</p>

<p>Anyways, thanks so much!(:</p>

<p>p.s.,I can post my stats if anyone is curious, or if you want to chance me for the colleges I'm interested in: GWU (Top, I've decided to apply ED), Richmond, Tulane, Catholic, Villanova, Towson, Salisbury, or any colleges you think are similar and want to advertise(:</p>

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<p>Hello LaChica and welcome to CC and the Hispanic students forum!</p>

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<p>Please read the Resources sticky thread at the top of this forum, there are links to information about NHRP, other scholarships, diversity weekends, summer programs, etc.</p>

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<p>You may or may not be considered first gen because there are different definitions for different colleges and organizations. Some definitions are if your parents have never gotten a college degree, while others are if they never attended school beyond HS. But you are generally not asked, “Are you a first generation college student?”, but rather college applications ask if your parents attended college, and if so, when and what degree (if any) was earned? Then they decide if you fit their definition of first gen.</p>

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<p>One good way to do this is via your HS GC in the Secondary School Report. See this thread for a similar situation:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1097849-hispanic-student-working-full-time-high-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1097849-hispanic-student-working-full-time-high-school.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I don’t personally do chances, but some general stats might help to see if you’re a competitive candidate for schools (you can also PM this type of information to specific members if you don’t want to put it on a public forum). </p>

<p>About applying ED, do you fully understand how ED and FA works? GWU does not meet full need and does include loans in their FA packages. Do you know how much your family can afford/is willing to pay per year? These kinds of questions are front and center right now as many kids and parents on the FA & Scholarship forum are in shock, after the student has gotten into as school (either ED or RD), they are finding that the amount the school thinks they should pay, or the amount of loans in the FA package are prohibitive. While you have the option to be released from an ED contract if you cannot afford to pay, you are not in a position to compare other FA offers.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much, entomom. I will definitely look at these more soon.</p>

<p>Here are my stats so far:
GPA 3.18 unweighted, 4.0 weighted
PSAT: 205
SAT: 1950 (I plan to retake.)
AP’s: 12 total, maybe more if I self study, & I’m pretty confident I will pass all the exams.
*9th: Spanish Lang
*10th: Art History, NSL Government, Spanish Lang
*11th: Bio, English Lang, Macroecon, Microecon, World history
*12th: AB Calc, English Lit, Psych
Awarded AP Scholar with Honor, '10
EC’s:
*Cheer '09 & '10, JV Captain '10
*Member of Dance club, Interact Club, Biology Club, Hispanic Alliance, Girls Rec. Golf, SGA
*Pit Orchestra performer '11
*Volunteer with SGA events
*Volunteer at elementary school newspaper club '10, '11
*Volunteer at church summer bible camp '05-'10
*Maryland Envirothon participant</p>

<p>My GPA does really concern me, and I am trying very hard to bring it up. My counselor said the big jump between my unweighted and weighted might somehow help me, but I don’t really understand how. As for my AP classes next year, I am reducing the number because I am taking a special program at another high school in the area which will make me a Certified Nursing Assistant and give me a semester internship at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, so I don’t feel like I am slacking off for senior year. I am also planning on taking at least one class at a local community college per semester.
I know I don’t have outstanding stats, but I am willing to try extremely hard to make myself more attractive to colleges.</p>

<p>As for the ED matter, I do know I’m bound to go there if I get in, and I know my family is willing to find a way to work out financial matters (my dad will do anything to keep me near home…). Hopefully I get at least some amount of aid; my dad works three jobs, my mom two, and I plan to start working this summer to help them out.
When I apply ED, can I still apply EA to other schools?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>How about adding U of MD, College Park. It’s near GW and considerably less expensive for in-state students. It has many excellent programs and all the offerings of a large public. It also has some active Latino student groups (or at least it did a few years ago).</p>

<p>As you consider ED, you should make sure you are realistic about the cost of a private university. It’s going up to $55K in many places such as GW next year, and you should sit down and figure out exactly what that might entail by going to a FAFSA calculator and getting an estimate of your family contribution, EFC (keep in mind that this is an approximate figure). So let’s say your EFC is 20K and the cost is 55K, that will give you $35K in need, but a university may give you only a 20K grant and offer the rest in loans, meaning your family will then have to pay the EFC plus you and/or your parents will have to take out loans. I have seen some very persuasive arguments on cc against ED for students who have significant need. </p>

<p>For National Hispanic Scholars, keep an eye out for the mail. You will get a lot of letters. And make sure you find the latest information. Some places make scholarships available for all NHS who apply and are accepted – others say you can be considered for a scholarship. Sometimes they make it sound like it’s automatic but it’s not always. IMHO, the places that were really serious about offering at least full tuition for National Hispanic Scholars this year were Auburn, U of New Mexico, Arizona State, and University of Arizona. There may be others, but those are the ones that come to mind.</p>

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<p>Your PSAT qualifies for NHRP and I believe they take the weighted gpa, so you should make the 3.5 threshold for Scholar. Be sure that your HS GC puts the weighted, as your UW will only qualify you for Honorable Mention. So far I’ve only seen 1 school that gives merit aid for NHRP HM, the vast majority are for the scholar designation only.</p>

<p>According to their website, your SAT is within the 25:75 range of accepted students (1900:2090), but it would definitely be good to raise it. The don’t list average gpa and I’m not that familiar w/GWU, you might want to look for threads on the GWU subforum (under Alphabetic listing of colleges). You might also want to check there for information about who gets merit aid and how their FA packages are, particularly for ED applicants. The Search function is very helpful for these kinds of inquiries.</p>

<p>Of course, your Hispanic designation will help you to some degree, but you need to keep several things in mind: the level of Hispanic candidates has risen sharply and is now very competitive at selective colleges; the importance of being Hispanic varies between schools, some schools get many Hispanic applicants while others have difficulty with recruiting and retaining URMs; within the Hispanic pool, other factors, such as SES, country of origin, HS attended, involvement with the Hispanic community, etc. will affect how your application is evaluated.</p>

<p>In addition to what CG has said about trying to determine your EFC via FAFSA, GWU also considers the CSS Profile which counts additional sources of income and assets (eg. untaxed SS payments, home equity) and therefore in most cases yields less need. Understand, that although all Profile schools receive the same information about you, they each use their own policies and calculations to determine what they think your need is. Some colleges have bigger endowments and therefore tend to be more generous with FA. If GWU has a calculator on their website, that would be the best way to get an estimate of what they will determine your financial need to be.</p>

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<p>You can apply, but must withdraw other applications if accepted:</p>

<p>[Early</a> Decision | Freshman Admission | Apply to GW | Undergraduate Admissions | Apply | The George Washington University](<a href=“http://www.gwu.edu/apply/undergraduateadmissions/applytogw/freshmanadmission/earlydecision]Early”>http://www.gwu.edu/apply/undergraduateadmissions/applytogw/freshmanadmission/earlydecision)</p>

<p>You can break your ED contract if you cannot afford the college once you see your FA package. However, you won’t have a chance to compare GWUs FA package with those of other schools, so you don’t know if you will do better somewhere else. And if you get a more generous offer from a peer school, there is the chance that your preferred school will match it or at least increase their offer.</p>

<p>I will give you the warning I give all students who want to apply ED to a school for the slight benefit in admissions rate, ED should only be used in 2 conditions:</p>

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<li>The family can EASILY afford to pay full fare.</li>
<li>The family income falls below the threshold of a school’s straightforward low income policy that states clearly the level below which full need will be paid by the school without loans. The only time this should be attempted is when income is straightforward (ie. straight salary, no small business, etc.), and the family has spoken to FA personnel at the school to assure that they will qualify for the policy. And even then, I am never completely at ease until I see the actual FA offer.</li>
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<p>The student of ANY family that is concerned about paying for college should NOT apply ED.</p>

<p>Each family has to determine what they can afford and how much debt they are willing to take, but I have seen too many parents who tell their kids they can “work it out” but don’t really understand the cost of college until they see the numbers in the spring when it is too late.</p>

<p>Finally, I am a firm believer that it is the student, not school, that determines what you accomplish in college.</p>