Hi all! I was looking at the combined engineering program with Columbia University at the College of William and Mary and I noticed on the info request form that Columbia considers people whose parents attended college but didn’t finish their degree first generation college students. I fall into this category and was wondering if this definition holds true for other colleges as well since I haven’t seen the term “first generation” defined elsewhere. Also, does anyone know if my grandparent’s education level would affect my status as “first generation”? My grandma has two bachelor’s and two master’s degrees, and my other grandma also has a bachelor’s degree, so obviously I wouldn’t be the first in my family to finish college.
You’re correct in assuming that your grandparents’ degrees exlude you from first-gen status, @MNgurl101
@marvin100 are you sure about that? Applications don’t ask about your grandparents education level, so how would they even know?
Don’t lie, @a20171
@a20171 Yes, as @marvin100 said, it’s all about honesty. In common app, you are “able to” lie and just write like you are the president of 5 clubs, winner of national award, etc., even when you are not, and get away with it because colleges don’t have check everyone’s your stats due to lack of time. However, don’t forget that colleges can read you like a magazine and can catch very easily because they have dealt with tens of thousands of students over decades. Also, there could be a point where college suspects you and do check your stats; when the actual “truth” is revealed, you will be automatically expelled from the school you got into along with a possible cheating mark on your background, which will be left permanently.
OP, usually legacy applies to siblings, parents and grandparents only, and rarely covers uncle, nephew, etc. Check each school’s legacy policy for more information.
My mom went to trade school and my dad has an associate’s degree. My dad’s mother had a master’s degree and his father had some kind of two-year degree. My mom’s parents graduated from high school, but never completed any higher education. I’m not actually a first-generation college student, but I “count” as one by some definitions because neither of my parents has a bachelor’s degree. According to Carnegie Mellon’s official definitions, I am both first-generation and a legacy!
College applications usually ask about your mother’s and father’s education levels rather than using the term “first-generation.” They don’t ask about grandparents and it’s not necessary to submit information about them.
I’ve seen the question “Are you a first-generation student?” exactly once, on an REU application. I answered “no” because I didn’t feel like emailing and asking for their definition when it’s probably not a big deal either way.
From Brown:
The formal definition of a first-generation college student is a student whose parents did not complete a four-year college degree.
From I’m First which partners with many well known colleges:
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.”
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1612849-how-to-define-first-generation.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1819868-am-i-a-first-generation.html
Rather than going in circles about this again, above are some previous discussions.
FWIW, here’s what @juillet wrote in 2009:
Of course they do, as far as the true meaning of first-generation outside of college admissions. But most college applications simply ask about your parents’ education levels. In addition, some institutions have their own concept of “first-generation” that only mentions parents. I just don’t see where someone would need to know their grandparents’ education levels as far as college admissions is concerned, and I don’t see how the OP would even have the opportunity to lie about this.
Colleges don’t casually come up with the wording on these questions. If a form specifically asks ‘Do either of your parents hold a degree from a four year college?’ then OP should answer No regardless of their grandparents’ status. Telling a student to answer Yes because they don’t meet someone else’s definition of first generation is telling her to lie. Colleges that use a broader criteria will word their questions accordingly. The answer should be based on the criteria published by the college.
I agree with other posters that in the absence of a clear definition from the college, grandparents’ education should count, but the question is asked often enough that I expect most schools have clarified their positions and applicants should respect those.
@halcyonheather You’re contradicting yourself. You’re admitting that the OP is not first-generation through “of course they do.” It seems like you’re looking for a loophole. Are you a first generation immigrant if your grandparents and parents and you as well have U.S. citizenship but your parents and you have lived in another country as expats for all their lives? No. You’re still a U.S. citizen so you’re not an immigrant. I would think the definitions some colleges have don’t mention grandparents because generally if your grandparents have not gone to college than neither have your parents. Generally, level of education advances generation after generation. It’s the American dream to provide for your kids what you did not have. As a previous comment said, it just skipped a generation, and so both in the real world and for college admissions if your grandparents went to college you are not a first-generation student.
Also, saying that institutions don’t need to know grandparents’ education levels as far as admissions is concerned sounds like lying to me. Just because they don’t ask for it does not mean it does not affect status. Consciously ignoring your families history just because colleges don’t check it seems like lying to me. Just my opinion.
No, I’m saying that the term “first-generation” has several different meanings. There’s the one that actually makes sense (your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on never got any kind of college degree) and there is the one that many colleges use (neither of your parents has a four-year degree).
I’m going by what the definitions literally say. If they wanted to include grandparents, they’ve had many years to change the definitions and they would only have to add a couple of words. For example, Marquette University uses a definition ([source](http://www.mu.edu/counseling/documents/1stgenerationcollegestudents.pdf)) that takes grandparents into consideration.
I’ve never stated that I’m first-generation on any application. The one time I was asked, I said “no.” Every other application asked about my mother and father in two separate sections, without any mention of other relatives or the term “first-generation.” I don’t see where I could have lied.
Are you considered first-generation if you are the first to attend a US college? Like if your parents attend colleges outside of US.
Surely, colleges favor first-generation students because they haven’t had the advantage of having parents who understand college admissions. Students with parents who have gone to colleges outside of US may have little to no idea about how admission works in the US.
I had this concern because Questbridge defines first generation as “the first generation in their family to attend a U.S. four-year college.”
@marvin100 @HardOREasy but how is it lying if no one is asking the question? If schools are asking about only parents education levels, isn’t it safe to assume they don’t care about grandparents? The question doesnt ask “Are you first generation?”, it asks for the education level of both your parents and it is at the institutions discretion if you receive first gen status.
I don’t agree that this is the reason.
@marvin100
Why are the first-generation students given a slight advantage?
For PR (or in some cases, genuine) belief that they represent, by proxy, socioeconomic mobility. @YoLolololol
A lot of schools don’t use it anymore for advantages.
Unless you’re low income, an athlete or a URM, it won’t help much.
Of course, @“aunt bea” , but some do and it’s easy to find out which ones.