<p>Does it help at all with admissions if my mom didn't graduate high school even though my dad has a Ph.D? My parents are divorced and I live with my mom. Also, I'm not economically disadvantaged.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>not really. corry not at all.</p>
<p>Why not ?</p>
<p>You are not bad off financially. Usually the reason people are bad off financially is if their parent didn't have an education.</p>
<p>half of all the couples in america are divorced.</p>
<p>This looks better than having parents who are both head phd ceo's, but this won't really help you</p>
<p>So just because my mom started her own business with no money instead of working at McDonald's with the same level of education (or even less) means that I don't benefit from first generation status?</p>
<p>that's not fair at all.</p>
<p>^ Life is not fair. But it does make a good application essay. Try to write something about this situation. I am not meaning to come off cruel, but that is the way life is.</p>
<p>wait...but youre not first generation if your dad has a ph.D</p>
<p>The colleges usually ask what level of education your mother and father had. In my expierence, usually through chechkboxes or drop down lists. If you leave your father blank I suppose they would have no way of kowing. But that's a moral call on your part.</p>
<p>As to whether you are actually first generation, I'd ask how long your father raised you. If it was for any substantial amount of time, probably not.</p>
<p>My parents were divorced when I was two years old, so he didn't really raise me at all.</p>
<p>Technically speaking, I wouldn't consider you a first generation at all. If anything, you'd be half-first generation and I don't think that's anything.</p>
<p>A note on rmadden15's suggestion about writing that in your application essay: Make sure your essay reflects who you are and that you're not writing a success story about your mom. Colleges want to know about you and not what your mom has accomplished. If you choose to talk about it, write about how it's affected you.</p>
<p>I'm kind of in a similar situation. My mom is a high school graduate only and my dad is an immigrant who didn't finish high school. So I'm both a first generation college student and (on one side) a first generation American.</p>
<p>The only thing is that we are not too bad financially. We make somewhere between 60k and 85k a year which I think is averagely middle class. I don't know how my parents pull it off though. So will the fact that we're not "poor" eliminate my first gen college/american status? </p>
<p>Sry for hijacking but I felt an extra thread on a similar topic would be a waste of cyberspace.</p>
<p>Hippo, you're first generation since neither of your parents went to college, which is the definition of a first generation college student.</p>
<p>I go to a private school where 2 kids from well off families thought they'd get a first generation boost. Well, they didn't get into any better schools than the others with their stats so it didn't seem to go over.</p>
<p>I think first generation is meant to help kids whose parents were held back by their lack of education and therefore could not send them to good schools, pay for summer programs and test prep, advise them, etc.</p>
<p>If you go to a bad school and/or have lived in poverty with few opportunities and communicate that, it will help you, first generation or not.</p>
<p>Hippo, you're first generation since neither of your parents went to college, which is the definition of a first generation college student.</p>
<p>I know I'm first generation. I said that in my post. That wasn't my question. My question was that even though I'm a first generation college applicant and a first generation American, will I still get some boost since my family is not technically "poor" or disadvantage?.</p>
<p>do you know what your income is per year??
will you need FA?</p>