<p>I understand that URMs often are given extra consideration in the college application process because of their struggles to get to where they are now. But in my case, I'm not an URM but I only immigrated to this country 8 years ago. I would honestly say that I've overcome as much as anyone. But will the Adcoms recognize this and give me a slight advantage like a URM? Or do they just want URMs for the numbers to publish and make themselves look good?</p>
<p>Those are two different categories: colleges do not see all URMs as disadvantaged. It’s a bit hard to compare the two because what may be important to one college may not be important to another-- so one college may seek URMs while another doesn’t, and another may seek disadvantaged students while another doesn’t. If you’re talking Cornell, it has a specific program for disadvantaged students so I think that would help. It’s called HEOP. I am pretty sure that, even though this link is on the Office of Minority Affairs, it is not limited to minority students but you do have to be a NY state resident.</p>
<p>[OMEA:</a> Cornell University/Office of Minority Educational Affairs/ About HEOP](<a href=“http://www.omea.cornell.edu/heop/About-HEOP.cfm]OMEA:”>http://www.omea.cornell.edu/heop/About-HEOP.cfm)</p>
<p>This program is open to students who are not NY state residents:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.omea.cornell.edu/cstepcpop/[/url]”>http://www.omea.cornell.edu/cstepcpop/</a></p>
<p>Either have your guidance counselor write about it or be sure to include it in your essay. There are places on the app to indicate first generation, etc. if that’s the case.</p>
<p>I would imagine it would depend on your specific circumstances. There are thousands of students who have immigrated here with their families. Some have circumstances that would be notable in college admissions and some don’t. </p>
<p>Simply being an immigrant to the U.S. would not in and of itself be an advantage.</p>
<p>URMs aren’t given extra consideration because of ‘struggles’ - it’s more about ‘diversity’ in race whether the URMs were disadvantaged or not.</p>
<p>Some of the things some colleges pay attention to or ‘award points for’ include neither of the parents having college degrees, low income households, single parent households, etc. The UCs do this.</p>
<p>If you’re not a U.S. citizen, being an immigrant could hurt you since admissions at many colleges - including many top ones – is harder for internationals than for U.S. citizens.</p>
<p>Few colleges also promise to meet international students’ financial need.</p>
<p>Just curious. How would colleges know if your parents did or did not have a college degree? Is this based only on how you fill out the application?</p>
<p>Yes…there is a place on the application for parent’s education. I have to say…I think it’s also on the financial aid application forms. Being dishonest on these forms could lead to loss of admission and financial aid. So…self reporting needs to be honest.</p>
<p>It’s based on how you fill out the application and things like what their jobs are. It also may be based on the GC report/interview.</p>
<p>When interviewing an applicant, I caught someone lying about their parent’s college education. Early in the interview, the student said his parents hadn’t gone to college. Later, the student said he’d become interested in astronomy while reading his dad’s college textbooks. When I said, "I thought you said your dad didn’t attend college, " the student said, “I forgot that he did.”</p>
<p>The colleges that factor into admission whether your parents went to college are likely also to be colleges that interview and dig deeply into the application to learn about the student. They also are colleges that will rescind admission if lies are discovered.</p>
<p>If you immigrated eight years ago, you were in middle school. Plenty of time to learn English–which you obviously have–and to familiarize yourself with American culture.
If your parents struggled with language and cultural unfamiliarity and you have had to act as their interpreter, if they have been/are poor, all this can be explained in your application essay.</p>
<p>"I understand that URMs often are given extra consideration in the college application process because of their struggles to get to where they are now.</p>
<p>Not true. Some colleges give URMs extraconsideration because the colleges want their student bodies to be reflective of the racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. so that students get to interact with people from a variety of racial/ethnic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Just because a person is a URM doesn’t mean they have economically or otherwise struggled.</p>
<p>“Or do they just want URMs for the numbers to publish and make themselves look good?”</p>
<p>You’ve gotten all the right answers to you main question; how about this one?</p>
<p>Why do they think publishing high URM numbers makes themselves look good? Look good to whom?</p>
<p>At least for private schools, everything they say and do is designed to make themselves look good to those they want as applicants, and secondarily, to their alums. They do it to further their own mission (as they see it) and to try to insure their own survival.</p>