<p>My S is a HS junior who is likely destined for a 2-yr college unless something miraculous happens in the next 2 years. I’ve been looking at various college apps (including the common app) just for my own edification, and they all seem to ask about the parents’ level of education. I’m wondering-- what difference does that make? I can understand if a kid is a first-generation aspiring college student, but what about a situation like ours, where both parents have doctorates? Would that hurt, help, or make no difference in S’s chances of getting admitted (to a 4-yr), all else equal?</p>
<p>I think that if neither parent has a bachelor’s degree, in some cases, it gives the student a bit of an edge. Otherwise, I think it neither helps nor hurts.</p>
<p>Unless both the parents are lawyers. Some admissions officers hate lawyers.
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Just Kidding!</p>
<p>I see the “CA” location. It would be nice for someone to explain how the CA public college system works. I know there are UC’s and CSU’s and there is something about the ability, or not, to transfer into/from these- details, please? Also- are the 2 year colleges feeders for the 4 year colleges? Around here there are some 2 year campuses and many tech schools but I know the system is much different than in CA. Thanks.</p>
<p>Why would you say that your son is “likely destined for a 2-yr college unless something miraculous happens”?</p>
<p>First, there are tons of four-year colleges that essentially accept all applicants, provided they can graduate from high school and have no recent felony convictions. My nephew, a perfectly lovely boy whose complete lack of interest in high school academic achievement and misdemeanor criminal record added up to NO college acceptances, wound up attending a four-year college after a gap year and getting tolerably well educated. I realize that the CSU system has capacity problems, but there are private colleges and other states to look at if you care about this.</p>
<p>Second, why make it sound like a two-year college is some sort of horrible fate? It’s a great option for lots of people, both economically and educationally. If your son DOES wind up taking this path, it is not going to be very constructive if he thinks his parents regard that as failure. I know this is the anonymous internet, and you are venting, but if that’s what you are venting it’s probably time for an attitude adjustment.</p>
<p>Third, something miraculous almost always happens to boys somewhere between 15 and 20 – they grow up a bit, and get more focused.</p>
<p>As for the common app. – I think SAT (and ACT) scores are highly correlated with parental educational attainment. So high SAT scores of children of highly educated parents may get deflated a bit for purposes of comparison to scores of children of not highly educated parents. Or maybe scores of the latter group get boosted a bit. Anyway, it’s hard to imagine it makes much difference other than at highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>It must be frustrating for you to be highly educated and have your son underperform for what is likely his aptitude. I know of many physicians whose children don’t achieve anywhere near a parent’s accomplishments. Learn the mantra- “he is who he is”. Try not to dwell on might have beens and should have beens. You have vented, a step towards looking to the future and being able to drop the past. He does have a future.</p>
<p>Can you (or anyone else) answer my questions about how the CA system works, please?</p>
<p>wow wis75…sounds like you are putting a little too much emphasis on job title. For many, “accomplishments” doesn’t mean how many degrees one has.</p>
<p>Most CCs and CSUs have similar programs/agreements, although I’m not sure it is so clearly spelled out. Someone else will have to answer that question.</p>
<p>You view of success may very well change. Your ultimate goal is to raise a happy, healthy, productive, member of society, capable of living independently. That comes in many shapes and sizes. A four year university does not always equate to this. Students change dramatically from the 10th to 12th grades, esp. boys.
Revaluate in the Spring.</p>
<p>One good thing about seeing parents’ education level and income bracket is that it is one way to calculate a student’s genetic potential as well as the opportunities available to them. </p>
<p>So, in a case where both parents earned doctorates and are in a high income bracket, one would suppose that the child would be smart as well. Taken along with a standardized test, this is one way to asses academic potential. One could also suppose that the child had many opportunities available to him, and it would look poorly if all this applicant did was play videogames all day, whereas a student living in the ghetto might have a better excuse for doing that. </p>
<p>So having smart parents is beneficial in that you probably have a lot of raw academic potential, yet it is also a burden in that more is expected from you. Colleges will vary on how to treat this past/future performance debate, and some colleges will take risks on a poor performing kid if they think he has the potential to succeed. Some won’t.</p>
<p>I’ll take a shot at some of your questions.</p>
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<p>Priority is given at the UCs to transfer students from the state community college system over the CSU system. It’s not impossible to go from a CSU to a UC (the son of a friend started at Cal Poly SLO and was accepted as a transfer to UC Davis after one year of college, but decided to stay at SLO), but system is definitely set up to make the transfer easier for the CC student. If you want to go to a UC and you didn’t get accepted during your senior year, the safer play would be to go to a CC and transfer to a UC rather than go to a CSU and hope to transfer.</p>
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<p>The UCs and the CSUs may have agreements with local CCs (or all California CCs) that will promise admission to students who take so many credit hours at the CC level, classes within certain categories (gen ed type classes) and a certain GPA (for example, 3.0 or 3.2 and above). I’m more familiar with UC San Diego since it is the UC in my backyard. But each university may have different qualifications and agreements with the CCs.</p>
<p>Re: the California system. It’s a tiered system, with the UCs meant to take the highest 12 percent of grads (although it may be more like 10 percent). Among the UCs there are different levels of prestige and difficulty of admission. Berkeley and UCLA At the top in terms of difficulty of admission and, in many fields, national reputation. UCs are research universities that award doctorate degrees and recruit some of the top faculty from around the country. </p>
<p>The Cal States are 23 universities across the state that offer bachelor’s and MA degrees (there may be some exceptions with PhD programs). They are not as research-intensive as the UCs, and the Cal State faculty is expected to teach more than at UCs. These universities are easier for admission than the UCs, although some of them can be very competitive (e.g. San Diego State).</p>
<p>In terms of transferring, students who complete a certain number of units with a certain GPA are eligible to transfer to UCs as juniors. Students from cc’s in CA are given priority for admission as transfers.</p>
<p>The UCs (I’m not sure about the CSUs but assume it’s the same) give extra ‘points’ to applicants where neither parent completed a college degree. In effect, yes, having a parent with a college degree puts the applicant at a disadvantage in this one attribute but it’s just one of a number of other factors and wouldn’t be a ‘break or make’ unless one’s teetering on the edge of acceptance where the extra points make the difference.</p>
<p>Many selective schools give special consideration to students whose parents haven’t gone to college, but I don’t think they particularly distinguish between students with college-educated parents and those with PhD parents.</p>
<p>The CSU don’t give extra points for first-generation college students. The application is very numbers-oriented, no essays are required, and very few supplemental questions are asked. This is unlike the UC application where 2 essays are required and students can have added points for characteristics such as graduating from an underperforming school, having a low income or single-parent household, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who answered the UC/CSU questions. Not having lived through it yet (my oldest being only a HS jr), I didn’t feel qualified to answer.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have written the first sentence in my original post-- I only wanted to know what the purpose was (from the college’s perspective) of requesting info on the parents’ education. S is not a high academic achiever, so I’m wondering if it will look fishy to an adcom to see very average stats and 2 highly educated parents.</p>
I think all they’re doing when they consider the parents’ education level is considering that it ‘might’ have added to the challenge the kid had and therefore ‘might’ have resulted in a lower GPA level even though the kid’s as capable as others who achieved a higher GPA level. This is similar to awarding ‘extra points’ for low income, single parent family, and maybe some other attributes so in addition to your S losing the ‘points’ due to your level of education he also loses points if you’re not poor and are still married! </p>
<p>The above ‘points’ are only for some colleges and not others but I know at least some of the UCs, if not all, award the points for the items I mentioned above. Don’t worry too much though - my kids didn’t qualify for any of the above points but managed to be accepted to the UCs regardless and of course, there are many others in the same category.</p>
<p>At the end of the day they know the kid isn’t the parent so I don’t think they’d reject someone simply because they’re the kid of a Nobel winning scientist or something and don’t have the highest grades in the world. I don’t think it’ll matter if both parents have PHDs versus one parent have a BA in history - it’s just a simple point scheme (I’m referring to UCs here).</p>
<p>We have two children-one super bright takes after her mom. One a bit lazy takes after his dad. Just kidding of course.</p>
<p>In our family, I would say both parents have done fairly well and were self-motivated from the beginning. We both have master’s degrees. One of our children looks like the right match for parents like us. (rotfl) The younger child, not so much although he is adorable. I think the fact that his parents have decent educations won’t make any difference in admissions. I am HOPING that his SAT scores will indicate a glimmer of hope and he will look like the slightly lazy underachiever that he is. He does make me laugh and that is priceless.</p>
<p>I’m stepping on a soap box for a moment to say that I resent the questions that are asked about the parents. It’s none of the college’s businesses. I give as little information as possible. You don’t have to fill in the information. </p>
<p>For most situations, it is not going to make a danged bit of difference. Most schools have pretty straightforward admissions criteria. For some highly selective schools, it can make a tipping point of a difference. Some schools take an excrutiatingly close look at all of the applications. Especially some of the very small selective schools. So they look at everything when they are making their decisions. In many cases, a student’s accomplishments and performance can look different, seen against parental background. A kid with two PHD parents who lives near a college is going to have an easier time getting campus jobs and projects, for instance, or working and having ECs in their parents fields. If mom and dad are blue collar workers, and the kid is spending is time doing lab research and taking outreach advanced courses, it shows someone going against the grain. It’s not a perfect method, but it can tell some stories. </p>
<p>The other thing it can do is open up some possibilities of some merit awards that may be set up for certain situations. Something for professor’s children, something for army brats,…you get the picture.</p>
<p>But these are both rare scenarios. Most of the time, it is a non issue.</p>