<p>Why are first generation appealling to colleges per se?</p>
<p>Is it just because they typically are the lower income families of America?</p>
<p>How exactly would colleges look at students like me, who are financially very well off (even in this time of economic turmoil), yet have parents who never went to college (IE upper middle class w/o a college degree)? Does my financial standing take the point out of first gen? </p>
<p>I just really dont get why colleges would count it as a good thing, as I've heard that first gens perform worse in college through statistics. I understand legacy and URM (IE, things one cannot control) and their appeal, but I dont get the purpose of first gen. </p>
<p>Any responses/discussions about this topic would be great.</p>
<p>I believe, in general, the first generation emphasis is mostly on first generation minority students, it's the type of URM students that have been hard to draw that colleges are reaching out to.</p>
<p>I think I will agree with the above poster that the emphasis on first-generation students usually comes from the fact that first-generation status generally goes along with something else -- underrepresented minority status, low-income, and immigrant families, mostly. The idea is that being a first-generation college student means that your family may be less able to aid you when applying to colleges both culturally (they won't necessarily know that a prep class could be helpful, or how to help you select colleges, or the importance of selecting them, or even why you want/need to attend college at all) and financially. Usually being FG and one or more of these other situations compounds the problem.</p>
<p>Admissions officers aren't looking for students in these circumstances simply for the novelty of it; they're looking to help students who may have been significantly disadvantaged by their own (and their parents') lack of knowledge of the college admissions system by virtue of not being through it or having a support system to help them.</p>
<p>Well, I can just vouch that I am exactly like that. My parents had NO idea how the college admission system works. Specifically the rigor. I wanted to take more rigorous courses early on, but they were convinced that colleges didn't care about honors/AP courses and just cared about GPA, and thus didn't want me signing up for them. Now that I know the truth I have been undergoing severe depression because even though I could have handled the most rigorous courseload I didn't take it because of my parents scaring me my freshman year. Now I'm screwed for college and I have lost a lot of trust in my parents for it. I think it is significantly unfair for me not to be given at least some grace on this fact. Getting into honors/AP courses at my school (college prep school) is extremely difficult but I would have done it had it not been for my misinformed parents.</p>
<p>i'm sort of there with the above poster. my parents [raised in a different country] were always pretty clueless about my schooling. does that mean i count as '1st generation'?</p>
<p>You count as first generation if both of your parents didn't go to college. You dont count as first generation if one or both of your parents went to college. Simple as that.</p>
<p>First-generation college student simply means that you are the first person in your family to attend college. Some people interpret it to mean that your generation is the first to attend -- like, if you have older cousins or siblings who have gone before you, then you are still FG if your parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. haven't attended.</p>
<p>First-generation doesn't necessarily mean "clueless about the admissions system", and I apologize if my comment made it seem that was the only disadvantage for first-generation students. It's one of many disadvantages, but not the only one.</p>
<p>I guess the question is: Do you (OP) feel as if your parents' lack of college education significantly disadvantaged you in the events leading up to now that relate to college admission? If that's the case, write about it in an optional essay -- only do so without sounding as if you are whining or complaining. Make a legitimate case. (For instance, instead of saying what you said here, you could instead say that your parents -- due to their lack of experience with family members attending college -- simply did not understand the importance of honors courses, and thus discouraged you from taking them, which is evidenced by your lack of a rigorous courseload.)</p>
<p>I think that what's important for you to remember is there's no ticky-box on the application like "Are you a first-generation college student? Check yes or no" and the school will never know that you, or any other first-generation student, is one. Unless you make them aware of this fact AND make a case for why that even matters, they're not likely to care or wonder about it.</p>
<p>Okay, I am going to add an optional essay to explain my courseload and also my average EC's. I didn't even know what an extracurricular was until freshman year, and I didn't even know what "AP" stood for until sophomore year. I also had a lame freshman year in terms of rigor because I sort of missed my 8th grade year (was busy pursuing acting in LA).</p>
<p>First generation students who get the tip, and it is a tip rather than a hook, are general from underperforming schools where good guidance is typically not available.</p>
<p>If you're upper middle class and go to a private prep school, it will be hard for adcom to buy you didn't know rigorous classes were important. Your classmates alone would pass that on.</p>
<p>I know many parents educated at good colleges who also advised their kids not to take the hardest classes. It was much easier to get into top colleges in their day. Unless a parent has done recent research, they are not on top of new admissions facts.</p>
<p>My parents never went to college but became quite wealthy through a small business. They are as capable of researching colleges as any college grad.</p>
<p>I told you, my parents wouldn't sign the form letting me take the courses. I did hear about them being more important, but I trusted my parents more. Now I know longer trust them because they have betrayed me, and I am undergoing extreme depression because of this. It is ridiculous that I can't fix the situation. I am going to spend my whole summer taking AP courses online and UC courses to make up for it, but I am so scared that colleges wont consider me. </p>
<p>Oh, and the reason WHY my "classmates alone didn't pass it on" to me was because I was not even in school in 8th grade. I was ahead and decided to hold myself back a grade to pursue acting in LA after I was signed on with an agent. Because of this I never was around students in that environment. Thats why I didnt take honors courses freshman year. And I was also sold into the delusion that because it was a private school that that was good enough thanks to my parents.</p>
<p>"Getting into honors/AP courses at my school (college prep school) is extremely difficult but I would have done it had it not been for my misinformed parents."</p>
<p>I think colleges may look for students who do well, but could do better without adversity, and at a given college. I see how a parent who didn't go to college might not see it's value , or know how to help you search, but the school you describe might suggest they are not "clueless".</p>
<p>I do not think you are "screwed". It sounds like you had, and took advantage of, some good opportunities. Acting proffessionally is a pretty good EC! Good luck!</p>
<p>This is just not fair. My dead grandmother paid 36,000 dollars for this ****ty private school that only hurt me in the end. I might as well kill myself</p>
<p>There are only about 30 colleges in the Country where it's important to have taken the hardest corseload. From your earlier posts it looks like Whitman is your top choice. You probably won't have any problem getting in there with a good GPA from a prep school without the AP classes. Especially next year if you can full pay.</p>
<p>urmom, you have some pretty major entitlement issues. You obviously are well off (took off a year to pursue acting, go to a private school) and blame everyone else for some decisions made early on.</p>