I feel bad for low-income/first-gen students at elite schools

[Anonymous]

Key point: these students are of lower caliber because they are beneficiaries of affirmative action/preferences. Why would anyone be surprised they don’t perform as well? The gap is likely even bigger than reported in that the FGLI kids may have less rigorous majors (think African American studies vs STEM)

[Anonymous]

If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

how does that relate to OP's thread topic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Key point: these students are of lower caliber because they are beneficiaries of affirmative action/preferences. Why would anyone be surprised they don’t perform as well? The gap is likely even bigger than reported in that the FGLI kids may have less rigorous majors (think African American studies vs STEM)

Um, in my experience rich kids who went to private school are majoring in English, History, Government, Philosophy etc. Not kids who went to public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

how does that relate to OP's thread topic?

OP seems to be trying to make this thread about affirmative action & disagrees with colleges having preferences for FGLI students. She is free to send her kids elsewhere if she disagrees with those preferences!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a senior survey at Princeton which had a breakdown for GPA across income levels, first-gen status, etc: https://projects.dailyprincetonian.com/senior-survey-2022/academics.html

50% of first-gen students had a 3.6 GPA or higher, compared to 69% of non-first gen students.

The lowest income students by family household (below 40K) at Princeton had an average GPA of a 3.5, while the highest income students had a 3.72.

32% of the lowest income students reported cheating on an assignment or exam, compared to 21% of students overall.

Only 49% of students on financial aid reported having a job lined up for graduation, compared to 62% of those not on FA. Expected income for those on FA was 84K one year after graduating, compared to 124K for those not on FA. Students on all household income levels below 125K reported expected earnings under 84K, while all those over that level reported at least 115K.

These are considerable gaps. If higher ed is supposed to be the great equalizer, why are Princeton grads seeing such discrepancies corresponding with their background?

These "discrepancies" demonstrate what should be extremely obvious to everyone, which is that the "elite" schools are admitting low-income / first-gen students who are not academically qualified, and are doing so for ideological reasons.

Disagree. I work with low-income, first-gen students in one of the most dysfunctional school districts in the country. If, and this is a real life example of a student in our program, a young person who speaks four languages, spent several years in a refugee camp with minimal schooling, worked two jobs in high school goes to an elite college an earns a 3.0 they have more natural ability and tenacity than any prep school kid who rolls in and gets a 3.8.

x1000000

dp.. very true... however, recruiters at companies won't care about the fact that this person was a refugee, and will only look at their GPA, and internships. Companies don't care about sob stories.

As someone who hires, we do look at thing holistically. Rarely is GPA even a factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

how does that relate to OP's thread topic?

OP seems to be trying to make this thread about affirmative action & disagrees with colleges having preferences for FGLI students. She is free to send her kids elsewhere if she disagrees with those preferences!

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Key point: these students are of lower caliber because they are beneficiaries of affirmative action/preferences. Why would anyone be surprised they don’t perform as well? The gap is likely even bigger than reported in that the FGLI kids may have less rigorous majors (think African American studies vs STEM)

Um, in my experience rich kids who went to private school are majoring in English, History, Government, Philosophy etc. Not kids who went to public school.

I know tons of history majors who went on to law school, working on the Hill, academia, etc, and I think they run about 50/50 on where they fell on the socioeconomic scale growing up. If someone stinks at math, they just aren’t going into engineering or CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

how does that relate to OP's thread topic?

OP seems to be trying to make this thread about affirmative action & disagrees with colleges having preferences for FGLI students. She is free to send her kids elsewhere if she disagrees with those preferences!

This.

+1 and trying to add race to the conversation by equating FGLI to URM when research has shown that most URMs at elite schools are not FGLI. Look at what was revealed from the Harvard SC case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really means many of them were academically less qualified to get into Princeton in the first place. They took advantage of the rest of the applicants, got a free ride (FA and more), and now they're asking for more free rides?

Your comment indicates that you have no understanding of what it means to be from a family where no one has gone to college and there is no money for anything but necessities.

I do understand. But where does it end in terms of giving them free rides?

+1 👍

Princeton is not a government welfare office. It’s not meals-on-wheels. It’s not Salvation Army. Got it?

It’s a private institution. Barring discriminating against protected classes, it can admit & give FA to whomever it pleaaes.

Right so if they don’t want your private school, affluent white kid, they don’t want them. Make sure they hide these origins when they start job hunting as well. Employers are less and less interested in hiring products of this environment as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

This is the typical reaction lately of the oh so “inclusive” leftists. You don’t like anything about what we are doing? Then don’t send your kid to college. But when black students don’t like certain slaveholders to be honored with statues or building names, is the message, well just find another college to attend? Of course not.

Words cannot convey how deep my contempt is for you.

[Anonymous]

I don't. They're at elite schools, MOST kids don't get that far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t like the admissions preferences of a particular school, don’t send your kid there.

how does that relate to OP's thread topic?

OP seems to be trying to make this thread about affirmative action & disagrees with colleges having preferences for FGLI students. She is free to send her kids elsewhere if she disagrees with those preferences!

This.

+1 and trying to add race to the conversation by equating FGLI to URM when research has shown that most URMs at elite schools are not FGLI. Look at what was revealed from the Harvard SC case.

+1 Mom of a URM student at an Ivy here (Not FGLI). I don’t even comment anymore because of the obvious agendas of some of the posters. I usually post to share information and appreciate those who are genuinely helpful.
My child is doing just fine. He took on a challenging workload this semester. Top 10% in his CS classes (100% on prelims). He has 2 summer internships/research CS/Engineering positions lined up (one through our network). And gasp, his gpa is under 3.7. Are you kidding me? Since when is a gpa of 3.5 at a school like Princeton something to be worried about? Those students are hardly flunking.

[Anonymous]

Funny how OP infers that FGLI students cheat more.

Varsity Blues.

The UMC and rich cheat a heck of a lot more despite the known advantages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most first generation American kids aren't necessarily poor but their parents have no idea of how to navigate grade school or college here in US.

And you know this fact, how?