Grande Antilles

Yes it is . If you can't afford school, just quit or go to a cheaper place. Don't take loan then come and complain that colleges is expansive.

electricalstorm

Speaking as someone who is also from a low-income family, it is true that there are disadvantages. But, honestly, the college process is perhaps one of the few times where it isn't necessarily an issue.

In a lot of schools, especially the high-level private schools that can afford to give amazing financial aid packages, socio-economic diversity is becoming the newest issue. There are plenty of fee waivers available...saving you the money you would have to spend on each school's application, SAT score reports, and AP Test fees. Prep courses are very overrated. Study guides can even be found in the public library...that's how I prepared. Essays are EXTREMELY important and as a low-income student, you can definitely talk about your struggles and hardships, both as a personal and unique story and also an explanation for why your application does not look as glossy as richer students' might. My family's income is very low and I'm going to be attending an amazing university, whereas some of my richer friends were not as lucky.

If you work hard and take advantage of opportunities for low-income students there is no reason why you would have a worse chance of getting in to the college you want to attend.

Northstarmom

I'm a mom who has has headed my regional alumni interviewing committee for Harvard, and also has served on national and regional scholarship committees based on merit.

It's not true that going to those expensive summer programs like National Leadership Forum will help you get into top colleges. While those programs can be educational, top colleges know that they are not competitive programs except for the fact that students whose parents can afford the hefty fees get to go. One's participation in the program reflects one's parents' income, not one's brains or motivation (since parents may force one to go).

Programs that do impress colleges are the highly competitive, free programs like TASP.

Working a job -- any job including as a fast food server -- is far more impressive to colleges than participating in an expensive "community service project" abroad or National Leadership (fill in the blanks). Colleges also know that the so-called service programs abroad are resume dressing offered to well off families. Participation reflects the students' family income level.

Jobs -- particularly boring, menial jobs and any job that a student is working out of financial need (could include working in a family business, family farm) demonstrate a great deal of responsibility, far more than is required for packaged, expensive ECs. Colleges weigh jobs more than they do most ECs because any job requires a level of responsibility that is far greater than virtually any EC that a h.s. student would be doing.

Colleges also assess students in light of their environments. Far more is expected of students from highly educated parents who had the money for tutoring, SAT prep, expensive summer camps, etc.

Also, one doesn't have to pay for expensive SAT prep to do well on the tests. There are free sites, including the College Board, and even CC (Check out Xiggi's tips) where you can get help. One also can do very well on the tests by using prep books.

And, the more you read good literature, the higher your CR scores will be. Books are available for free at the library.

tokenadult

Here's the link to xiggi's tips on preparing for the SAT at minimal expense:

Xiggi's SAT prep advice

MiamiDAP

Money is not the obstacle. Having the right attitude is definately a big helper. Top HS students are getting full rides/full tuitions (including Ivy schools, for sure in-state). SAT/ACT prep classes do not do much. Can get used book for free / cheap from friends / garage sale / internet. Do not even need to spent a lot of time preparing if you consistently doing homework at school and get A's. Volunteering is definately free and can give you additional advantage. The same any job experience. A lot of jobs pay your college tuition also. Feeling that coming from other country is an obstacle is not going to help either. It was so many years ago anyway. Using any challenges as excuses not to do something is not going to help. If you want to go to college, there a way. From personal experience after obtaining 3 college degrees paying no tuition, taking graduate school admission test without any preparation working full time... and also coming from different country without any knowledge of English.

dis-grace

Poor students have the following advantage: everything they do means more than a richer student doing the same thing... even when it shouldn't. As an objectively disadvantaged person, I feel that I get a lot handed to me because of society's need to overcompensate for what I did not and do not have. I think, if you could put a monetary value on intelligence and drive, it would easily beat every other possible advantage. As a side note, that's why I did not buy the movie 21 AT ALL. The smartest, most driven guy at MIT is never, NEVER going to be in a position where those particular traits will not make him succeed.

In other words - no, I do not want to stay in my income bracket forever. I am very happy with the person it has made me, though. I would not trade that for billions of dollars. The experiences I've had have - here's that word - ENRICHED me. What a wonderful advantage.

Apotheosis

Life isn't fair. Better to get used to that fact now. My parents can't afford to get me a lot of things that I want, and I accept that. I am grateful for what I've got. I know there are others that are a lot worse off than me.

I will gladly settle for a cheap in-state public university.

Puddly

What you lack in money you make up for in time and dedication. I am not what anyone would consider rich. My parents are divorced; my family income is $10,000. When it came to education, my mom couldn't provide much help because she couldn't speak English and I was already learning things well beyond her level, and she couldn't provide monetary support.

I was nominated for a bunch of those National Leadership whatchamacallits, but I could never attend any. But I figured early on that, if all the people who went to those seminars/meetings/whatevers got into top schools, why then do they not promote that instead of an itinerary that had little to do with the experience they claim to provide? That's because it's not so much education as it is a trip to get away for a week or two to have some fun while "learning." I think adcoms see that. Unless it's a real, solid course over the summer at a legit university, it's not worth it to go anyway.

All I've done and accomplished are results of dedication and hard work. You can't be born smart -- that's just ridiculous. You get smart by knowing how to make the most of what you have, seizing every opportunity you come by. And I think I've done all that to the best of my abilities.
So, while richer students have the advantage of not having to spend so much time on studying for, say, SATs because they can afford classes, it doesn't mean that poorer, less advantaged students are cut out. It's just the matter of how much you and/or your parents are willing to sacrifice for you to go on to a great college. Grab a SAT workbook. Study some terms. Practice some essays. Read Hemingway and then read Shakespeare. You'll become a better writer, which is a skill you will definitely need come application time.
My mom, needless to say, gave her all for me to go on to college. She encouraged me to buy prep books in lieu of attending special courses, and she encouraged me to buy things I needed for school. And today I have been accepted to both Harvard and Yale, attending Yale next year.

Northstarmom

Wonderful post, Puddly, and very true. Congratulations to you and your mom on your successes. Sorry that you chose not to attend my alma mater, but you still chose a great school. With those choices, you couldn't go wrong.

Puddly

HAHA, Northstarmom. I fell in love with Boston, but, alas, I fell in love too with Yale. GO SCHOOL RIVALRIES! :P

Northstarmom

Funny thing is that the H-Y rivalry exists in sports, but otherwise, H and Y students/alum have lots in common that leads to bonding, particularly after graduation into the real world.

Yale is a wonderful university. If I had had the choice between H and Y (didn't apply to Yale. It hadn't decided yet to go co-ed), I would have picked H because I love Boston.

MiamiDAP

Actually, it is a great advantage to be below certain income level, most middle class would not even attempt to apply to Ivy's - they cannot afford it since there are so little academic scholarships available there compare to state schools.

southeasttitan

Uck, I really cannot stand you guys.

It may be a great advantage to be lower class when you're applying to college, but the simple fact of GETTING to that point where you can apply is 10,000 more difficult if you're a lower-income student than, say, a kid at Exeter or a top private school. Most inner city public schools are, honestly, ****. I go to one, trust me. Teachers are underpaid and don't care (for the most part). Lots of students don't care either and are content with scraping by with Ds. Those that do care get lost in the philosophy of "teaching to the bottom line" and teachers clinging on until retirement.

An example: at my crappy public middle school, no classes were allowed to be separated by ability because students who weren't in the top level might "feel bad." Even though at the time I had scored 700 in CR on the SATs, I had to sit in class with students who were still figuring out what an apostrophe was and reading "MC Higgins the Great" for three months. Halfway through the year they created one class separated by levels, reading, and it was the joy of my day--we read The Grapes of Wrath, Things Fall Apart, 1984, etc.

The next year they cancelled the class because "It's not fair that some students get to read The Grapes of Wrath when others can't. If some students can't read Steinbeck, then nobody should be able to."

And my school was considered the best in the city.

Northstarmom

"Actually, it is a great advantage to be below certain income level, most middle class would not even attempt to apply to Ivy's - they cannot afford it since there are so little academic scholarships available there compare to state schools."

? Harvard provides very nice financial aid to families with incomes up to $160 k a year. Some other Ivies also provide marvelous need-based aid to families that many would consider to be affluent.

southeasttitan

I also think you're all assuming that people know about these opportunities and are exposed to good literature (as you suggested people should read to up their CR score, Northstarmom). The problem is, in many working class families, parents don't have time/knowledge to read to their kids and introduce them to Dickens or Austen or other great writers, and to encourage them to read themselves. And, as I said, public schools certainly don't introduce us to those writers.

Many low-income students don't know about scholarships to boarding schools because their public schools don't have the time, resources, or knowledge to inform them. Lots of students that are extremely bright grow up in environments that tell them they can't go to college or where they can't spend time on academics because they have to help their families (one of my best friends, who's Hmong, has to spend all of her weekends and from 3:30 until 10:00 watching her six younger siblings while their parents are at work).