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I think all they’re doing when they consider the parents’ education level is considering that it ‘might’ have added to the challenge the kid had and therefore ‘might’ have resulted in a lower GPA level even though the kid’s as capable as others who achieved a higher GPA level. This is similar to awarding ‘extra points’ for low income, single parent family, and maybe some other attributes so in addition to your S losing the ‘points’ due to your level of education he also loses points if you’re not poor and are still married! </p>
<p>The above ‘points’ are only for some colleges and not others but I know at least some of the UCs, if not all, award the points for the items I mentioned above. Don’t worry too much though - my kids didn’t qualify for any of the above points but managed to be accepted to the UCs regardless and of course, there are many others in the same category.</p>
<p>At the end of the day they know the kid isn’t the parent so I don’t think they’d reject someone simply because they’re the kid of a Nobel winning scientist or something and don’t have the highest grades in the world. I don’t think it’ll matter if both parents have PHDs versus one parent have a BA in history - it’s just a simple point scheme (I’m referring to UCs here).</p>