<p>The thought that I may not be as "prepared" as others just occurred to me.....</p>
<p>I'm first gen. My mom went to beauty school and my dad took a few classes at a CC. My parents didn't particularly like school and they got average grades. I'm not saying they're "stupid," because they're not. They're just not book-smart.</p>
<p>Think about it. Take a child who was raised by 2 educated parents and compare it to one who hasen't been. I don't know, would there be a difference? Especially a young child. Look at all those famous 3-year-old geniuses for example....how do they get that way without support?</p>
<p>I know things like school would make up for that, but are 1st gens really that behind? I was on my own in school. I did the work. I never got behind...but now I'm thinking that I will be in college....I guess it's just a matter of what I missed.</p>
<p>My parents didn’t go to college and I never felt behind. I had great teachers in high school who told me what would be different and what would be the same. I think that my biggest difference was money. My roommate wasn’t a first gen and her parents gave her everything and I had to scrimp and save. This isn’t an across the board thing, but I think it might be more common with first gen. </p>
<p>I don’t feel like I’m behind at all. I’m still getting great grades and loving college.</p>
<p>First Gen students often get some of the best financial aid just because they’re the first to go to college in their family. Both my parents went to college and have Bachelor’s degrees, but I assume that no matter if you’re first gen or not, you should be able to keep up in college.</p>
<p>I’m first-generation (I consider myself as) and I didn’t get anything in terms of financial aid, lol. My dad worked for the military for 20 years and then got a job as some kind of engineer with Lockheed Martin. He had some college education when I was a young kid in elementary school through the military but failed his Algebra II class and didn’t bother finishing to get his AS. My dad still makes 100K+. My mom is a sales rep.</p>
<p>I felt very behind. I don’t know a person who I consider my friend that didn’t have parents who went to college. I did well in high school without trying and was a lazy butt for my first two years of community college. I got my act together in my third year and kicked butt. Now I’m at Cal Poly Pomona as an Applied Math major. It’s not MIT or UC Berkeley like most of my friends are going off to but that’s because they had a solid work ethic from the beginning. As a first-gen student however I’ve had financial issues bigtime and have to rely on loans since I don’t get any FA and my parents have a lot of debts to payoff.</p>
<p>I don’t know what your major is but you should be fine outside of the technical subjects. Especially if you work hard. </p>
<p>There was a 12 year old in my Differential Equations class. I asked him “So, why’d you take this class?” and he said “Because I love math!”</p>
<p>There you go. Love what you’re doing and you’ll do great.</p>
<p>I’m first-gen and an incoming freshman. I think it really matters on the student–how motivated and independently intelligent they are. I’m really good at being book-smart and so I did really well in high school, but I still missed out on a lot of things because I just didn’t have people pushing me–because they didn’t know the opportunities existed.</p>
<p>The difficulty of the situation really hit me when I started applying for colleges and didn’t know about what happens after acceptance. Also, my parents didn’t acknowledge the fact that I was actually going away to be educated and waited until May to really get involved (uh, way too late). Even now my mother is still berating me on going to the CC like my sister did to “get your basics out of the way”. I have to tell her I’ve already gotten credit for my basics in high school.</p>
<p>Fortunately, a lot of schools acknowledge the issues of a first-gen student. Because first-gens also have a high drop-out rate, schools (esp. bigger schools) have programs and scholarships especially for first-gens. Mine gave me guaranteed housing, an academic achievement program, and $20,000.</p>
<p>I think the only disadvantages I’ll have is just not knowing about opportunities that could get me ahead. I don’t want to “just” go to college and come out with a degree. Even my cousins who are also first-gen aren’t really on my level. They just went to school and went straight to work. I want to learn and educate myself personally. I want to work and travel and research and grab all the honors I can. </p>
<p>The problem for first-gens is when there’s no one to help us–or to even tell us we need help.</p>
<p>^thanks!! My school is offering a program called Trio by Student Support Services (it’s a federally-backed program for students who are either low-income, first gen, or disables.) I’m going to my school’s Summer Bridge program because I’m first gen. It’s supposed to be an excellent opportunity and I’d be in it for 4 years assuming I do the required things, however the federal grants are only awarded to Pell recipients and we did not receive it last year.</p>
<p>I don’t think the federally-awarded stuff is fair sometimes. In 2011 my dad worked up to 12 hrs/day (overtime) and he got paid time and a half (if you don’t know what that is, it’s when overtime is ensued and hourly wages are raised by half.) We made too much money in 2011 to qualify for much aid because of this, but he was also working 12hrs/week at times. My mom also got a new job and we made around 20k more in 2011 than in 2010. It was not his choice to work this much. In 2010, I think we would have qualified for Pell.</p>
<p>20k is a lot for us because we’re truly middle-class and adding 20k puts us above the limit for most stuff.</p>
<p>I’m first gen. Parents barely finished high school. I’ve never felt behind or anything. I’ve done everything myself and that’s fine by me. I’ll be graduating next year with 2 degrees, PBK, etc. </p>
<p>Btw, VERY rarely are people getting FA simply because they’re first gen.</p>
<p>Congrats to you! I am sure your parents must be proud of you! </p>
<p>I was a first gen student at a prestigious university a long time ago. Being a first gen does not mean you are at a disadvantage academically. Maybe some of the other kids have had some opportunities you have not, but that will not make a difference in your classes. Where you may be at more of a disadvantage is that you will have fewer people to advise you who know how to make the most of your college experience. Try to use your advisor and others at the college as much as possible. Talk to them about what kind of opportunities interest you so that they can help you. When you are choosing classes put alot of thought into what classes are important to you and what can be gained from specific courses. Your parents may not be able to help you with this as much as others around you. But you will be fine! Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>To me, the disadvantage was that my parents never really put much attention to my academics. Sure they were proud of me, but they never pushed me to do better. When I was in high school I didn’t care if I got a C since my parents didn’t even bother to ask for my report card.</p>
<p>I don’t think first generation or not makes a difference, personally.</p>
<p>Throughout K-12, I rarely asked my parents for help. I don’t want to come off as cocky or conceited, but there was no need for me to, as I found the material easy. If you’re in the same boat, you’re fine. I’m not technically a first generation, since they effectively had little influence on my academic progress, but I might as well, be, since all my parents said to me was to get A’s or risk getting grounded.</p>
<p>It was actually detrimental for me to ask my dad for help, actually. Any questions I asked usually ended up in some massively convoluted explanation that as a high schooler I usually just stared blankly and wondered to myself why I bothered to ask.</p>
<p>My parents were immigrants who were just about to finish their degrees, but when they got here, they took a few classes but eventually dropped out because they simply could not devote the time to it. Regardless to say, my parents both gave me lectures on education from the moment I could walk and talk on my own. Those lectures influenced the way I approached academics and I have always tried to maintain that 4.0 without having them remind me. Sure it’s been hard, especially cause my parents didn’t know much about the education system here and so I was left on my own to find out that academics weren’t enough to get you to a good school or how I was going to pay for college, etc., etc. Still, that’s part of the reason why I’ve become so independent. My parents always supported my ambitions and they never put a limit to how far I could go; I just had to figure out HOW to get there first on my own. Anyways, the point of this little biography of mine is that although being 1st generation is difficult, it’s not bad. If you’re motivated, it doesn’t significantly limit you in any way, or at least it hasn’t been that way for me. :)</p>
<p>My parents never went to school, but school was always stressed as the way to success in my house. I had great teachers, challenged myself, and don’t feel any less prepared or educated than any of my other collegiate counterparts who had parents that attended college. </p>
<p>I think, if you want to believe there is a difference, then you will cause a difference to be prominent in your life; however, if you believe you are equal to the others in your school, then you will be. :)</p>