I don’t know that unethical is the right word, but don’t do that.
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My mom attained her bachelor’s outside of the US and doesn’t have the linguistic proficiency necessary to pursue a career in that field in the US. My dad didn’t go to college. I believe this makes me functionally first-generation, as both of my parents have little to no knowledge about the American higher education system. Would this make me first-gen and therefore hooked?
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I would select a paper written for an assignment in an appropriate course at the high school, as per their instruction.
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You can check the policy at each school, but at the majority of schools: no.
Look up the definition at each school. You may not be first gen - Swat seems to say the first in their family to go to a college.
Nonetheless, you should not base a decision on being first gen or not.
Which is your preferred school?
Princeton or Swat?
Given the NPC’s of both work for you, that’s how you determine where to apply early and nothing else.
As for the paper, just like with the LORs…don’t take your interpretation of something - or if you do, check with the school.
It’s very easy to eliminate anyone in life - from any assignment - if they can’t or don’t follow simple directions. You don’t want to eliminate yourself from Princeton before they even read your app.
No. Your mom has a bachelors degree.
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I guess it does depend on the school. At Haverford, Swarthmore, NYU, UPenn, and Rutgers, they consider applicants whose parents attained degrees abroad as first-gen.
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Thank you - I will definitely confirm with each admissions office if I have any qualms such as these.
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Are you sure?
At Swarthmore, to be counted as a First Generation student, neither parent may have a
four year college degree.
For Penn yes - but so what?
That’s something they may consider - but that’s not a reason for you to choose which college you should choose to ED or SCEA.
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I do agree regardless of my status, it won’t have a significant impact on my application and definitely won’t be a make-or-break factor.
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The Rutgers website says:
What Does First Generation Mean?
Rutgers University welcomes trailblazers, the individuals who are among the first in their families to attend and graduate from college.
They seem to have a more open definition on other pages. Again, though, not a make-or-break factor so this point is moot.
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I think they list different things in different places.
When you pull up each school’s app in the Common App (not the general one but their specific one), hopefully they’ll ask you specifically to what they want to know.
And whatever the answer is for each school, if the school uses it in its decision making, will help you regardless of which application timing you choose.
Also remember “first gen” may be defined by the school differently for different purposes. It might be more expansive in some areas and more restrictive in others. They get to define and use it however they choose in admissions. IMO, it is something that just provides “context” to challenges and achievements of the applicant so certain FG may be viewed very differently than others for admissions purposes.
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Financially, Georgetown & NYU may not be viable options.
OP wrote this in message 4:
Using NPCs, nearly all of the schools on my list aside from Fordham and Georgetown would meet that.
Thank you. I was aware of that statement when I wrote my post regarding Georgetown & NYU. I am not concerned about the affordability of Fordham as Fordham offers merit scholarships in addition to need based financial aid.
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Update: I was rejected for Swat’s fly-in program but accepted to Haverford’s. I understand there are many factors at play for fly-ins that aren’t as applicable in the actual college app process, but should I reconsider my early plan of applying to Princeton SCEA and Swat ED1? Relatedly, would Haverford hold applying RD instead of ED against me, as I wrote in my fly-in application that it’s one of my top choices?
Swat’s fly in is geared to FGLI students, so I would not necessarily read too much into that in terms of strength of application. But as others have pointed out, Princeton (and Swat) are reaches for everyone.
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Maybe this will work. Maybe it won’t. At best, it’s a testament to how much of a reach Princeton really is.
My best advice would be to expand your RD choices. The 3 hour travel time limits a lot of perennial favorites: Grinnell, Macalester, Carleton, St. Olaf’s. Would Skidmore and Dickinson be pushing it?