Originally Posted by
georgiegirl
Annie, I’m guessing your DD’s friend got merit money because she’s first gen, single mom, plus ranked higher and had more rigorous classes.
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This is what I was going to come back and say. I think the first generation college student and single mom played a big part. We have friends whose mom came to Wisconsin from Peru as a young bride. English was her third language after spanish and their village dialect. Her American husband died when her 2 boys were toddlers and she raised them by herself until they were in high school and she remarried. The boys are the same ages of my 2 oldest kids and they are all still friends. Her boys were telling us they leaned hard into their first gen story on their college applications. One got a full ride to Marquette, the other got a full ride to Madison. They are smart boys, don't get me wrong, and their applications would have been strong anyway. Their mother was a ball-buster and those boys worked hard on their grades and everything they did (she always thought I was too soft on my kids). But I can't help but think the story of their upbringing played a big part in those scholarships. Whatever did it, I'm thrilled for them.
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"This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.