<p>I guess back in the Stone Age, I was both first generation, AND first to go to college. We were very middle class. But my parents had no experience with higher education AT ALL. One would think even a foreign college educated parent would be more knowledgable and have less “challenges” than my displaced immigrant father who was a blue collar worker here.</p>
<p>I’m having trouble feeling badly for a family where the parents are highly educated…regardless of the country where their degree was earned.</p>
<p>This was us. The focus of our household was very different. Our S was surrounded by books and music and “culture” from day one, even through the period where we were barely holding on to the house. He had violin lessons while I didn’t go to the dentist. He was able to go to CTY only because they gave him a substantial scholarship every year. (We really couldn’t “afford” the rest of it, but we chose to do it.)</p>
<p>Except that he got no boost for being an economically challenged applicant. Probably the reverse, in fact. Colleges probably assumed that he had taken an SAT prep course, for example, based on our zip code. I don’t know how many times I’ve read here that “everybody” does. </p>
<p>As far as I know, the only way that someone with educated parents could hypothetically get a boost for being economically challenged is to use Questbridge. Unless one’s story was sufficiently dramatic to be an essay topic.</p>
Heck, my parents did go to college, but they knew nothing about the process of applying to college by the time I came along, especially when it came to applying to private colleges out of state. To tell the truth, my guidance counselor didn’t know much about it, either.</p>
<p>At least you are physically there to help your child with the process. I’ve got to deal with helping my child w college admissions remotely because I’m not in the same country as child.</p>
<p>All parents have their special challenges. You just deal w it.</p>
<p>I already clearly stated that the extra challenges I am referring to are ONLY with respect to those parents who have had first hand experience with the system by receiving a US University education themselves.
Yes, we all have our challenges and we deal with them as best we can, that is all I am saying. Our challenges as foreign educated parents are going to be lesser compared to those who have no University education, indeed. I was myself a first college generation student and know full well what it is like to deal with my parent’s lack of support and concerns about my College attendance. By the same token, these challenges will be greater compared to those who were educated in the US, simply because of familiarity with the system. </p>
<p>No sympathy from us, OP. Stop complaining. My son had to put down his dad’s Indian medical school, and mine on his UW app- no hiding them. You are smart enough to have made it through American residencies I presume, have access to other well educated peers and give your kids all sorts of opportunities most middle class families may not be able to afford. You are not socially isolated from mainstream America.</p>
<p>We had some extra hoops to jump through as early as kindergarten- H has excellent English skills but because English was not his native tongue there was form et al (at least the district cared and was trying to meet student needs, it was funny because son was entering early and reading at least at the second grade level when this paperwork came about). Then in middle school he was upset by being invited to an assembly for Asian students to help meet their needs- a number of Hmong students (we let the district use his Asian half for ethnicity to get any funding due them for such). The world is not perfect.</p>
<p>Look at what you’ve been able to accomplish.
Not only have you procured for yourself a post bachelors education, but have positioned yourself to raise a child in a new country who is preparing to apply to college.
Methinks you doth protest too much about your unfamiliarity with the system.</p>
<p>The vast majority of college educated people in the US DON’T have experience with elite college admissions. Because most people go to open admission or numbers-driven schools. Most colleges in the US DON’T require essays, lists of extracurriculars, etc. </p>
<p>If you want to make the case that parents who went to elite US schools have familiarity with elite college admissions, fine. But that’s a very small subset of all US college-educated parents. </p>
<p>I have sympathy, absolutely I do And I am sure that some admissions officers do as well. When an application arrives from international students, there are some latitudes given when it is known that the student is not educated here in the US, and that pool of international students is evaluated as a group of its own. US students with foreign born and foreign educated parents, are actually better off in their chances to get an acceptance for the most part, especially when need is involved. </p>
<p>What would remind the admissions officers of the additional challenges these kids have is if the GC brings this up in the school recommendation that the student was more on his own in getting his app together and giving him kudos in that regard. Most GCs want a list from the student and the family on things to include on that rec, and that should be an item listed.</p>
<p>Even parents with experience may not have kept up with the changes in elite college admission. It’s much different today than it was 20-25 years ago today’s parents were applying to elite colleges.</p>
<p>I really don’t get what the OP sees as a challenge. In fact, given the the OP has found this site, it’s clear that the OP knows how to start getting information about elite college admissions to help his/her kids.</p>
<p>I’m not unsympathetic to the challenges facing immigrants–my parents were immigrants, so I do understand.</p>
<p>This may not really apply to OP, but I think people on CC always react negatively when somebody says, “Shouldn’t people with [whatever special category] receive special treatment from colleges”–when the person asking the question doesn’t seem to have experienced the specific problems that others in that category have. I guess the most obvious example of this, mentioned above, is a white person from Africa who wants to mark “African-American.”</p>
<p>I hadn’t even heard of CC when my oldest was applying to colleges.
OPs kids still have several years of high school to go, I think they will be fine.</p>
<p>I’m not even sure why the OP’s question is being asked. The application asks if parents attended college. Not if they attended college in the US. That’s crystal clear. I probably had to answer this question when I applied also. It would not even have occurred to me to try to gain some admission advantage because my parent didn’t attend college in the US.</p>
<p>I disagree about the essays and EC requirements statement of post #47. U of Wis- Madison requires both- “holistic” admissions. I’m sure many other public U’s also have these as part of their application. btw- I’m glad they don’t use the Common App as most instate students don’t apply to schools using it. It is easier on students to not have to write essays for a common app then have to also write the ones required for the school.</p>
<p>Good thing I didn’t say every-single-one, then. My point still stands. Most college educated people in the US went to places where admittance was either open or by-the-numbers. </p>