<p>My family has had no income since my ninth grade year, is this considered a good hook for Ivies? If no one in my family, besides my siblings, have gone to college am I still considered a first generation?</p>
<p>You are first generation.</p>
<p>Being broke is not a “hook”. Being a start athlete with a coach who really wants you on the team and who has enough influence to by-pass most of the regular admissions process is a “hook”.</p>
<p>A “hook” would be finding ways to excell in ways that your income-level would not suggest, getting into selective summer programs on scholarships, exceeding your school’s offerings and doing dual-enrollment…
Your situation will be taken into account but you need to have the stats.</p>
<p>Yes you are first generation and that is an institutional priority for many schools, but it doesn’t mean that it will do you a lot of good necessarily, depending on your overall profile. I wouldn’t focus on it but you will be asked your parent’s education level on the application.</p>
<p>btw, UofM lists first gen as ‘important’ in admissions criteria. Grades and rigor of classes taken are ‘very important’.</p>