Since the Common App asks you to put down the education level of your parents, there are a couple of choices that qualify under the typical “first-generation” qualifications.
Would a candidate who, let’s say has 2 parents with a grade school education (Elementary + Middle School) be looked at as “more first-generation” than another candidate with 2 parents who have both been college educated but don’t have a 4 year degree?
If so, is the impact even slightly significant towards actual admissions?
I doubt it would impact admissions at all. Both candidates could be labeled as “first generation” for the purposes of the college bragging about diversity.
Was curious so googled. This is from imfirst.org
Who are first-generation college students?
While there is no universal definition for “first-generation college student” and much of the
research uses the definition “a student with neither parent having any education beyond high
school,” we choose to define a first-generation college student as “neither parent having
received a four-year college degree.”
I am not sure I agree with the quote. I think there is a difference between having two parents with some education past high school and none. Although the above poster may be correct in terms of checking off the box, both qualify. What I do not think that matters if you parents stopped at middle school or high school in terms of diversity. I do think having a parent with a middle school education MIGHT be something to mention in one of your essays as it is more unusual that having a high school graduate parent. Certainly would make it harder to support a family if you stopped in middle school