<p>i was just wondering if colleges will check whether or not you are a first generation student</p>
<p>well if you put none under college for both parents, they will know.</p>
<p>colleges know - you list parent information including colleges attended on your college application</p>
<p>Does being a first generation college student hurt you?</p>
<p>no it doesnt</p>
<p>i am also a first generation college student.</p>
<p>I think it helps b/c it's just something unique about you within your family.</p>
<p>Yes, it most certainly helps.</p>
<p>Does it effect anything if your parents went to college but never got their bachelors? (just wondering, honestly :))</p>
<p>It does help, though I'm not exactly sure why. I guess because someone whose parents didn't go to college is more likely to have an economic disadvantage when compared to someone whose parents went to college. So, I guess they like kids who aren't all that rich but still worked hard enough to be able to go to college.</p>
<p>Also, does someone know what the criteria for being considered "first-generation" is? I'm kind of confused because I don't know if I am. All my dad got as far as education is his GED, but my mom has two Associate's degrees from community college. Also, my grandmother graduated from Cornell University. </p>
<p>I've read that "first-generation" just means that neither parent has a four-year college degree, which is true for me, but I've also heard it defined as that neither parent spent any time in college at all, which would not be true for me.</p>
<p>Does it help if my parents never went to High School for a High School diploma?</p>
<p>Having parents who never graduated from high school is a big plus. Colleges realize that you had to overcome more challenges to be college bound than is the case with students who had college educated parents to help them.</p>
<p>The same is true of students whose parents never went to college.</p>
<p>"Not going to college or high school" refers to not doing those things anywhere, not just in the US. If your parents were, for instance, doctors abroad, but have to work as taxi drivers here because they didn't qualify for licensing in the U.S., you still benefit from having parents who had a great deal of education and who presumably can help you with things like your math and science courses.</p>
<p>Sometimes students try to get away with lying about their parents' education. That's not a good idea. The schools often can extrapolate education from the information you fill out on the app about your parents' jobs. It's also possible that something in a recommendation letter might tip off admissions.</p>
<p>If there are interviews, you also may trip yourself up, which is what happened with a student whom I interviewed for Harvard. Early in the interview, he volunteered that his parents, who were small business owners, had never gone to college. Later, the same student said he had gotten interested in a hobby after reading his father's college textbook. </p>
<p>When I confronted the student on how he had said earlier that his parents hadn't gone to college, the student said that he'd "forgotten" that his father had gone to college. Right....</p>
<p>And, no, the student did not get into Harvard.</p>
<p>Yeah, does it? My mom, nor father graduated High School, and mom only went to college for a year or so I think, but when my dad died she dropped out. Am I considered First Generation? She technically went to college, but never finished anything.</p>
<p>Also, no one else in family ever went to college before -- I'll be the first.</p>
<p>First of all being first generation is only a very small tip factor (not an advantage, just a tip) and is usually taken into consideration with other factors (low income, under performing school, student working or taking care of siblings, etc).</p>
<p>Remember, there are some students who even though they may be first generations, they come from very affluent backgrounds and have been given every advantage so being a first generation gives then no tip factor.</p>
<p>First-Generation Students: **Undergraduates Whose Parents Never
Enrolled in Postsecondary Education **</p>
<p><a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf</a></p>
<p>honestly, i don't think it does anything to help benefit...unless your a first generation paired with a really low income...that does show the "overcoming obstacle factor"...but besides that, i think its more for statistical purposes...i may be wrong though =D juss, don't count heavily on it, or for that matter, don't count on that getting you in...cuz then, do you really want to get into college because your parents were disadvantaged or because you worked hard and deserve to be there? food for thought =D</p>
<p>I initially also felt that being a first generation student didnt mean anything but after doing some research into it, there are some sources that claim being a first generation student is indeed a major plus. My primary source draws from Katherine Cohen's "Rock Hard Apps" and I highly respect her analysis since she use to be a admissions officer at Yale. The quote is as follows, listed under the "extra credit" strategies</p>
<p>"For the remaining extra credit areas, including minority status, legacy status, and first generation college applicant status, the numerical advantage for the Ivywise Index is roughly the same-- about 5 points."</p>
<p>From that quote, it seems as if being a first generation college applicant has the same weight as being a minority or legacy. I am not totally sure about the true validity of it but this quote is coming from an ex-Yale admissions officer.</p>
<p>The last point I wanted to make was stemming from another quote in the book written by Cohen which talks about how being a first generation college applicant can help out SAT scores.</p>
<p>"Please note, however, that if you are a minority or first generation college student, you also have some flexibility in terms of your SAT I scores. Because it has been shown that the SAT I is biased toward affluent white students, an African American applicant from an inner city, low income family, who scored a combined 1350 on the SAT I might be awarded the full 9 points by our Ivywise Index."</p>
<p>First generation isn't like being an URM or but it is a pretty big plus on your application.</p>