Specifically referring to ivies, MIT, Stanford, etc.
How much does it help to have one parent who is a first generation American for top tier acceptance?
Unlikely that by itself matters.
Are your parents college graduates?
How would they even know this?
In and by itself, zero. It all depends what you mean by that. If your parent came here as a grad student, nope. If he was a refugee who gave up school at age 9 to watch the goat herd then was brought here after the Rwanda genocide, and you grew up in difficult circumstances because both parents are very poor and move with the picking, the whole thing has value and should be mentioned in Additional information.
If your parent is first generation…that means that you are second generation. Maybe you have some foreign citizenship which could possibly be kinda diverse?
Honestly, most people in America are first, second, or third generation in at least one way. This is probably nothing more than a fun fact.
First generation means your parent was born here. Is that what you mean?
You mean your parent immigrated to the US? I would think zero benefit. LOTS of Indians, Asians, with similar background.
Actually “first gen” in admissions parlance means first generation in college as on, no parent has a college degree.
That might be where the confusion comes from.
Yes- neither parent finished college and one parent was born in another country. I’m not asking for me- asking for a friend I am trying to help. One ivy school lists “250 first generation students” in class of 2021. What does that mean? I was under the impression that it was helpful for admissions to have a foreign-born parent and/or parents who did not finish college.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. “Asking for a friend posts” are not allowed. If your friend wants to ask, s/he can set up his/her own account to do so. Regardless, enough info has been provided for a start.
In the case of the Ivy League school, it’s exactly as @MYOS1634 stated; their parents did not attend college.
http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/03/first-generation-ivy-conference-held-at-brown
By itself, a foreign-born parent is no bump at all.