<p>So I have pretty much gotten the same response from everyone, but I still think they are wrong. My parents both went to college in the Soviet Union. There is no real record of their college degrees from there, and since they did not go to college in the US, all the college counselors and other people I have talked to said that I am considered a first generation college student. I am not so sure, however, because there is evidence of at least my mom attending college, because she is a licensed US doctor. Does first generation college student mean first generation in a US college?</p>
<p>If your mom is Dr there is no way you should feel comfortable putting yourself down as first generation. I think first generation refers to students whose parents have never attended college, whether it be in the US or somewhere else.</p>
<p>Are you sure counselors told you you’re first generation? We really need licensing for these jobs!</p>
<p>You are not first gen. Also, there is no first gen box on applications. You put down your parents’ education and occupations. The colleges decide what to make of it.</p>
<p>i am sure be the first generation, my parent weren’t even high school graduate.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. That’s what I thought. But @Waverly, these were very experienced counselors who had placed several people that I know into ivies and other top tier schools.</p>
<p>^They’re still wrong. If they’re used to sending kids to highly selective schools, they might not be that experienced with low income or first gen students.</p>
<p>probably not</p>
<p>They’re wrong. You are by no means a first-generation college student.</p>
<p>I believe first gen refers to parents that never graduated college, not never attended.</p>
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<ol>
<li><p>That depends on who’s defining it.</p></li>
<li><p>That’s irrelevant to the OP’s situation.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^^I concur on both points.</p>
<p>This question puzzles me to no end, every single time it comes up.</p>
<p>In the vast majority of cases, an applicant has no cause to worry about the definition of “first generation,” if such a definition even exists. In the vast majority of cases, an applicant will not find an item on the application that says, “Check this box if you are first generation.” Rather, the Common Application and most colleges’ proprietary applications simply ask applicants to list some basic information about their parents: name, address, occupation if any, post-secondary education if any, and so on. Then the institution–not the student–will decide whether to consider the applicant “first generation,” and also whether being “first generation” even matters at all.</p>
<p>But, ugotserved, I concur with the others: whatever “first generation is,” you ain’t it. You’re right, and those college counselors are wrong.</p>
<p>That’s what I thought. Thanks all.</p>