Hey everyone,
I’m an Indian Male who came over to the U.S in 2007. My parents havent gone to college in the U.S. so I’m a first generation. My question was: Would I be at a disadvantage like most Asian Males or would the first generation immigrant status effect admissions at top schools?
If your parents have gone to college in India, you may not be considered first generation.
You aren’t a first generation. Your parents have college degrees. Doesn’t matter where.
If you choose to jump into the STEM pool, then you are competing with other STEM kids, and yes, that is a more competitive admissions pool and it’s a disadvantage at many schools, although at some other schools, such as LACs, you would be the beneficiary of admissions preferences for males which are probably stronger than the disadvantage of being STEM.
Agree, if your parents have college degrees, regardless of the country, you are not first generation.
rip helpabro
Agree with others. Please don’t consider omitting this information. The common app asks directly about your parents education. You risk a lot by not inlcuding it.
@Lindagaf Even if the degree isn’t used in the U.S.?
My husband is British. He “used” his degree in Britain. Then we moved here and he “used” his degree here. When our daughter filled out the common app last year, she listed her parents education level. The common app actually has a data base with many foreign universities listed, and it is going to ask where your parents attended college. If your parents have a degree, they have “used” it, doesn’t matter where. You are not first gen to attend college, sorry.
My kid got into nine colleges. She had no hooks at all and is from a totally over represented demographic. What is important is that she applied to an appropriate range of colleges and had lots of choices. That is what you need to do.
Indian male residing in the US. Among the worst demographic pools when applying to selective colleges. Just the worst. Sorry. Pick you schools very carefully, have a lot of safeties, shrug off all the rejections and don’t take them personally
You clearly don’t understand “First Generation” as colleges see the term. 1) It’s a broad category to place kids from families where the parents did not attend college and thus, it’s assumed were not able to advocate education as much as college-educated parents. 2) Only colleges that evaluate holistically even care about this and 3) It’s not as if there’s a box to check off: “First Generation: Yes or No?”. The Common App asks you for your parents’ level of education. It’s up to the individual colleges to use or not use that info.
This label simply doesn’t apply to you so stop trying to make it fit. Be glad your parents value education and their influence upon you and your siblings—that’s the real benefit. You’re on CC asking about getting admitted to some of the best colleges in the world. Stop seeing life as a half empty glass. You’re in paradise and don’t even know it. How many of your family and friends back in India wouldn’t give an arm to have attended a US high school leading to ANY US college?
You’ll 99% likely have a very successful collegiate career based upon what you’ve already demonstrated. Congratulations. You’ll be fine.
They don’t ask “Did your parents attend college in the US?” I’m not sure why you find this so hard to understand. They want to know whether you came from a college educated family, which does imply a level of educational opportunity that kids whose parents were not able to attend college didn’t have.
As I said, you will benefit from admissions preference if you apply to LACs. Many of them extend preferences to males. These schools would love to have you over my white writer girl. If you decide to study STEM and particularly if you apply to tech schools, then you will not be in the group which is getting admissions preference. Your choice, but enough with the Asian chip.