She explained what we needed to do for the college admissions process and the tools and resources available to us. That was very useful to us (first child, immigrant parents). She also explained the timeline. More importantly she was able to tell us to relax and not be stressed.

Other than that, we listed what our criteria were - major, ranking, finances - and selected the schools based on that. DC had good SAT, GPA, internship experience, 1 long term prestigious EC activity and 1 long term volunteer work - that DC could write about. No other hooks. No legacy, no awards, no hardship story, no sports, not eligible for any kind of affirmative action.

DC applied to 3 schools for EA and was accepted by December in all 3.

While there may be many reasons other than costs that keep high-performing low-income students out of college (and/or elite private universities), clearly cost is a major barrier and the kind of dealbreaker that may prevent such students and their families from seriously considering such options. If high school counselors fail to inform such students and their families that some very prestigious/notoriously expensive private schools offer free room & board as well as free tuition without requiring such students or their families to take on debt, that's a serious dereliction of duty, regardless of whether a counselor assumes that such families won't pursue such an option if they knew about it.

It's really offensive to assume "they" wouldn't be interested in college (or living on campus or going away to school) because of "their" culture -- rather than that money is a major barrier that keeps low-income students whose parents haven't gone to college from considering expensive private schools like Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford. First generation applicants come from a variety of different families/backgrounds/situations and the goal should be to make resources/information available and then let kids and their families decide.

^ It's also a cultural thing. Sending your kid to live with strangers is viewed as kind of a cold thing to do. It's important to keep the family together as much as possible. The family is the most important unit, not the individual, etc.