What it’s like for a first generation college student to make it to graduation

BY ANNABEL LECKY @ablecky_23

“The truth is that this stuff is complicated and it’s hard. There’s not many people who can do it by themselves. It really does take a village to support just a single person.”

Just two years ago, Ashley Wyn was attending community college near her family home in Maryland. Amidst a pandemic and the whirlwind that is the college application process, Wyn spared no effort to find the right fit.

Having parents who did not attend college amplified her struggles while applying to schools, as they were unfamiliar with the American school system and the financial burden that many aspiring students face during their decisions.

After some time in community college, Wyn decided she wanted to try out a more “traditional” college experience, such as the one in her favorite movie, “Legally Blonde,” with sports teams and Greek Life. Enrolling in a university would also allow her to pursue a program where she could study neuroscience and cognitive science, with an emphasis in neurobiology.

“As a transfer student, it was everything that I wanted,” Wyn said. “I wanted to be at a big campus. I wanted to be at a university that was very spirited and that’s what the University of Arizona felt like.”

As the first of her siblings to go through the college application process, Wyn noted that it was definitely worthwhile after her time at the UA, but getting to this point of graduation was no simple endeavor.

“I feel like there’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to parents of [first generation college students] feeling the need to be there for their kids’ college experience, like family weekends and Homecoming,” Wyn said. “And again, that’s something that a lot of other families and students had their support system come visit and for my family, it wasn’t that way.”

For the parents of first generation students, it may not even be with malintent, rather just the “lack of intuition” to partake in these events, Wyn explained.

“Sometimes it can be a very lonely experience. That’s something that I would want to give my siblings, a presence for their college experiences, too,” Wyn said.

While managing a fulfilling social experience as well as an academic one, Wyn said she believes her mentors in college were the pinnacle of her success.

“I don’t know if it’s just coincidence that a lot of my professors are also first gen students, but it was really comforting to just talk to my professors and figure out how they took their educational path,” Wyn said. “And to know that not everyone’s path looks the same […]. The traditional pathway doesn’t work for everyone if they don’t come from a traditional background.”

Wyn said another learning curve she experienced included learning how to network with professors and other professionals. While many students either learn how to do this from their parents who went through college or make connections through them, first generation students must find out on their own.

This led Wyn to utilize her resources more than someone who may already have that support at home. Especially in a STEM major, forming study groups and talking to TAs boosted Wyn’s confidence in this field.

“You really want to be around people that understand the struggles of being a STEM student as well,” Wyn said.

As parting advice to other first generation college students, Wyn said it may be common to compare yourself to other people you meet, especially those who had the advantage of families with generations of knowledge about higher education, but it’s a counterproductive thing to do when everyone is different.

“I feel like that would be my biggest recommendation to first gen students,” Wyn said, “to not compare themselves to people who don’t have similar backgrounds, who don’t have the same history, who don’t have even the same culture, different values — there are different pathways.”

After graduation in May, Wyn said she hopes to attend medical school and has begun her application process already.