My name is Rochelle Sharpe and I’m working on a story for a prominent newspaper about the use of first-gen status as an admissions edge. I have permission to post on this forum. Did you or anyone you know use first-gen status as a hook for admissions to highly selective colleges? If so, how? Do you know anyone who simply omitted their parents’ college experience on the Common App either because of extenuating circumstances, such as parents were educated in foreign countries or their college-educated parent died when they were very young? Please respond to this post and I will reply to you.
Being first gen in and of itself it not a hook in college admissions (actually being first is not a hook the way being a URM, Developmental Admit, Legacy, Recruited Athlete and being a Facbrat are hooks). With the exception of being a a legacy or a Facbrat, it is not really unusual for a person can be a first gen and be hooked in the traditional meaning of the word.
Being first-gen can be a tipping factor, but when looking at a holistic approach to admissions, being a first generation student is looked at in context with other things; low income/poverty, under-performing schools, etc.
Also being first-gen means different things to different schools. At some schools it means, students have not completed a bachelors degree, while at other schools it may mean not having any college at all.
There are many successful entrepreneurs, business people, entertainers who children for all intents and purposes may be first generation college students. However, these children probably have been given a multitude of advantages because of their parent’s success.
I also feel that you may not be asking the right question as any answer given to you by a parent, unless they were sitting in the room on the admission committee or had access to the other candidates in the pool to say that someone used their first-gen status is speculative at best and could be hearsay.
There are many first generation students applying to college each year. If a student gets denied or waitlisted, would it be because they were a first-gen student?
According to College Confidentials “Ask the Dean” Sally Rubenstone first gen status is a " tipping factor"'in admissions at highly selective universities. It’s basically a small hook. But not a non-existent one.