you keep going back to exact questions on the common app, irlandaise, and you need to see it is as relevant as the price of gasoline to my response. Is the common app the only college app? Did the OP ask about the common app? I didn’t see that in post 1. I read post 1, I re-read post 1. I still don’t see it.
The OP asked about defining “the first generation in your family to go to college”. I gave my opinion on defining it, and gave a hypothetical to support my definition. If the OP had asked: “what does the common app mean when it asks…” I might have answered differently. If the OP had asked the price of gas in my region, I might have answered differently. In my hypothetical, I said if ONJ was asked… I made no mention of actual questions on the common app. I answered with my opinion about the question asked, no more, no less. If, how, when, why, to apply it can be very different than merely defining it.
An example also demonstrates that asking about parents’ level of education does NOT determine “first generation of college…” but it does answer parents’ level of education.
What exact question is used on the common app, or any other college app isn’t what I addressed because it isn’t what the Op asked.
And yes, Max attended more than 1 college, earned a PhD and won Nobel prize in Physics. If I were his grandchild I might honestly answer that my parents did not graduate college- but I could not answer that I was the first generation in my family to attend college. Certainly the answer one gives depends on the question asked.