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

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[quote=Anonymous]I wonder what the difference would be if first year grades weren't counted. I do think in the first year, weak academic preparation can be particularly harmful. A lot of kids take advantage of tutoring, review sessions, office hours, etc., and catch up. Sonia Sotomayer has written of her struggles going from Cardinal Hayes HS in the Bronx to Princeton. She talks about realizing how far behind she was and going to see a professor who worked with her to improve her writing.

MIT doesn't count first semester grades for anyone. It's all pass/fail. If you fail, you retake. Some ill-prepared kids barely scrape through, but almost all go on to do just fine after that.

As for salaries post-graduation....things like geographic distribution matter. Starting salaries in big cities are high, but it's hard to rent a place if you don't have parents who can act as guarantors. So maybe kids from non-affluent backgrounds graduating start out in a place with lower COL where you don't need someone to guarantee your rent? Or to live at home so they can save up a security deposit? I don't know...Or maybe more first gen take positions with Teach for America or VISTA. Or maybe a higher percentage have been in programs like ROTC which require them to work for less money. https://admission.princeton.edu/community/rotc I think there are a lot of things that affect starting salaries.

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