As I’ve been researching more and more about the college application process, the term “first gen” continues to pop up. This has led me to research the policies some of the schools I will apply to have about this definition. On Harvard’s website, it reads: “*We consider you a first generation college student—or “first-gen” for short—if you will be in the first generation of your immediate family to graduate from a four-year college or the equivalent.”. I read an article written by The Dartmouth, and it considers a student to be first generation “if neither parent graduated with a bachelor’s degree”. My mom only holds an associate’s degree. So, am I considered a first generation student to Harvard or to any other top schools? When I apply to college, how should I go about the discrepancies between colleges’ definition of a first generation?
The definition seems clear; you are a first gen. What discrepancies have you found?
@vonlost It just seems as thought many different institutions define it differently. I’ve also read it being defined as “a student with neither parent having an education beyond high school”
If you’re applying to a four-year school and your parents don’t have a four-year degree, you’re a first gen.
@vonlost thanks!
Definition provided by the uni.
Which is not a 4-year degree.
FYI, there is no box that asks, “Are you first-gen?” You list your parents education on the Common App, and the college will take that info and do whatever it wants with it. No sense worrying about what a particular college uses as a definition, since you have no control over it.