A First Generation College Student

Living in America is often taken for granted, but many would risk their lives just to live in this free country. My parents risked their lives escaping from Laos after the Vietnam War in order to reach America hoping for a better life. My dad’s struggles in life has inspired me to pursue higher education in order to create a brighter future for myself. Being the first generation children born in America has given me the opportunity of free education. In America education

Provide a clear personal statement that describes how you have succeeded as a first generation college student or how you have succeeded in the face of disability. WC = 500 As a first generation college student, I have succeeded by navigating through the California State University system from start to finish. The conversation of college began during my junior year of high school when college readiness organizations would present on the steps of enrollment and how affordable college could be due to scholarships. My parents admitted being of no logistical value towards understanding the FAFSA, Intent to Enroll forms, Residential Life, etc., but they were supportive and reassuring as I learned how what it meant to be a Spartan.

“First-generation” is a commonly known term, yet most people do not actually know the extent of being a student who is the first in their family to go to college. The majority of the general population assumes that in order to be considered first generation, a students’ parents must never have attended college before. However, this is not always the case. The University of Florida defines first-generation as students whose parents never earned a bachelor’s degree. Therefore, a student can be considered first generation if their parents have an associate’s degree. Regardless of the definition, a first-generation student’s major issue is staying enrolled in college.

First-generation students (FGS) are an at-risk population who have high rates of dropping out by the end if their first year of college, compared to non-first-generation students (NFGS). FGS are a group who could potentially benefit from intervention that teach a malleable view of intelligence and teach the importance of differences in backgrounds. The current study tested these two interventions (separately and in combination) with FGS. Participants came into a laboratory and completed online modules that presented on of three intervention conditions or a control condition, then completed an anagram task to measure performance and persistence after experiencing feelings of failure. The participants were asked about their help-seeking behaviors

First generation college students are those who are seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree, according to UCLA. First- generation students can come from low, middle, or high income families without a history of going to college. Families of first generation students can either be supportive of the students plan for a high education or make them feel family pressure to enter the workforce right after high school like they did. First generation students often do not know their options regarding higher education and have fears about going to college and it’s cost. Currently, 42% of UC undergraduates are first generation.

Everyone knows there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being a first generation student that plans to go and get a college education/degree whose family comes from a foreign country. People do not understand why I feel I have so much of a responsibility on my shoulders. However I now understand why there is so much responsibility that comes with being a first generation student that plans to go and get a college education/degree with family from a foreign country, thanks to my grandmother’s wise words. She said “ being a first generation student that plans to go and get a college education/degree with family from a foreign country isn’t about your success, it's about the success you bring to the family name, the pride you bring to the family/country and moreover the success you bring will represent your parents hard work has truly paid off”, at the time she said this I was only 12 years old so I didn't quite understand what she meant but it has stuck in my mind ever since. Now that I’m more mature I understand what she meant. I believe that my success or failure is no longer just benefiting or hurting me, if I fail that means I fail my family and my people and that is why going to college is so important to me. In this paper I’m going to write about what high standards mean to me, my goals, activities I’m involved in

Growing up, my parents sacrificed endlessly to ensure I would thrive in America; they were Mexican immigrants, weren’t fluent in English, and struggled to assimilate into American culture. Their barriers wouldn’t stop them from presenting me with an opportunistic life. I didn’t have the luxury of parents that had proper schooling; all they taught me was to work hard and to not allow anything to bring me down. I was raised in a low-income neighborhood, and as my peers were entangling themselves in drugs and gangs, I focused on my schooling. I knew the importance of education and all the fruits of labor that would eventually come with it. I didn't’ fall into peer pressure, I surpassed the expectations of my family, and most importantly, did not fall into the negative statistics that correlate with Latinos.

Being that I am a first-generation college student, finding guidance as I matriculate through college has been tough. I do not have any family members that have went to college, therefore I solely depend on my university for guidance in my college endeavors and my career path. Due to this, I want to be a part of the TRiO Scholars Program so that I can gain valuable advice, counseling services, and guidance to graduation. The experience that I am seeking in this program is the ability to meet and connect with other students like myself. I believe that to be able to identify with students who have come from various hardships like myself, allows for personal growth and a sense of community. I hope to gain this sense of community by participating

A first-generation college student is the first person in a family to attend college or any type of secondary education. This title “first-generation college student” has created a stigma for so many students making their time in college more difficult than someone who has come from a family of college graduates. First-generation college students often find themselves lost and without the edge of students who come from parents and/or siblings who went to college.

I am a first generation college student that has made it to a higher education. I see myself as the second daughter, that has come out the land of pride and production. I am from Richmond, California, but that’s just where I geographically from, when in reality I came from a strong family of immigrants. My parents both came to the United States as a young 26, and 24-year-old parents of one child. I did not come until two years later that I came, I came into the world, and was already marked with the name of an anchor baby. As I grow up I did not really know what I was, what I did was always question myself, am I just a reason to keep my parents here longer? Why am I called an anchor baby? I felt that I did not fit in but my schools I went to school always had a mixture of students. I did not know what I was or who I was, I had not direct connection to any ethnicity. When I was in elementary school there where a mixture of Whites, Asians, Latinos, and African Americans ethnicities, grow up in a multicultural area I didn’t think about race or class as much as late in life. Race was a topic that I did not really think and talked about until I was placed into a private school that class was visible, and I began to be more aware or class and race. I would not talk about race or class at school, but I would wait to talk about it when I would get home.

First generation college students have a difficult time from the start. They may not have the guidance, backing and understanding given by families with primary understanding of secondary education. (Dynarski n. page) These students without this experienced support at home, have an increased drop-out rate.

Study conducted by Hicks (2006), compared educational barriers of first-generation to non-first-generation students; first-generation students had dissimilar expectations of college, poorer academic abilities, lack of social preparation, lack of self-esteem, and more financial constraints (Hicks, 2003; Thayer, 2000).

I have grown up as a middle child in a small town called Valley City, where there is such a thing as “bring your tractor to school day.” I have always loved to learn and naturally strived to do my best in school. I am a first generation college student. My childhood dream was and still is to become a doctor. It all started when I would treat my younger brother, Anthony, as my patient. I mostly just covered him in Band-Aids. My family was pretty well off until my parents divorced. Since then, life has not been so easy financially. In high school, I continued to strive to be a good student just as I do now. Then, unfortunately, around tenth grade, my father had gone through a procedure gone wrong and ended up having paraplegia. Of course, it broke my heart to see him in the hospital and then in a wheelchair. It also scared me away from my childhood dream. What if I became a doctor and I accidently hurt someone? That is when I learned responsibility, not just the responsibility doctors have for their patients, but responsibility in general.

Being a first generation college student is a heavy load to carry due to the constant reminder of having to be a good role model for my siblings. Children of immigrants are often highly expected to excel in their academics and to be involved in extracurricular activities. His/her parent immigrated to the “Land of The Free” in order to receive a better life and to give their children a place to call home. They work from one to two jobs a week just so that we can dig through the pantry, and raid the refrigerator. We sometimes take our parents for granted unknowingly, and constantly fill our heads with a question that we all seem to ask. “How do I please my parents?”, “What do I have to do to make them happy?”. As students we should all be voicing “College!”. Yes, maybe our folks’s dreams have faded away, however that should be our motivation to aim higher; to achieve our American Dream. Throughout our years of education, our very own relatives and teachers have emphasized on the importance of receiving a higher education. I have come to realize that I should not be asking myself “How do I please my parents?”. Instead, “How do I please myself?”, “What will my lifetime goals be?”, “Will it leave my parents hard work in vain?”. Obtaining a higher education will not impact their lives, but will affect yours drastically. My American Dream has always been to become an immigration lawyer that deals with international relations or to become a professor teaching my true passion for

My path was never set for me growing up. I was not raised by parents who would dress me up in college gear, parents who would research the top schools, or had a school fund account set aside for me; due to this I lived and attended one of the most economically challenged city and school district in the U.S. Although, I was not the most privileged person growing up my ethic background and community influenced me both positively and negatively in ways of culture, language, and my view of the world. The face of my community was weak, old, and crumbled, but it was rich in culture.