College Admissions Essay: The Value Of High School Education

Robert Putnam’s argument in Our Kids is that family structure, parenting styles, quality of schooling, and the community all affect a person's upward mobility. He also argues that socioeconomic

However, when a student wants to attend college after high school, the chances of going to any school of his or her choice can seem unfair and have unequal opportunity to other peers. Unfortunately the idea of being limited to attending certain schools has a big influence in chances of becoming successful. Even though higher educations seems to have a direct path for high wages, the access to college can have reverse effects on intergenerational mobility. By limiting access from someone in a bottom percentile to have the possibility to attend a good college harms their upward mobility. In efforts to help breakdown an understanding of how education affects intergenerational mobility, a study called Mobility reports cards show significant findings. Mobility reports cards were conducted by collecting administrative data from more then thirty million college students in the years of 1999-2013. “We obtain rosters of attendance at all Title-IV accredited institutions of higher education in the U.S using de-identified data from federal income tax returns combined with data from the National Student Loan Data System. We obtain information on students’ earnings in early adulthood and their parents’ incomes from tax records.”

With the growing importance of higher education, more people than ever are attending college. According to a middle-class parent, “[Higher education] seen as a means of developing a career and getting secure employment.” (30, Higher Education, social class and social mobility) Moreover, “parents believe that their children need a university education to get on in life… over the past decades (parents) fearful that without a degree their children will be in danger of downward social mobility. (32, Higher

In America, the prospect of social mobility is near impossible if one does not graduate from college and secure a stable job coming out of college. In the previous generations, many American families could own a house, have a nice Chevy, and work at a nice paying job with a High School diploma. This would not be the case today, many who graduate out of High School will always be stuck at minimum wage careers. This partly due to racial issues, jobs becoming automated and competitive career fields.

In the article, “For the Poor, the Graduation Gap Is Even Wider Than the Enrollment Gap” by Susan Dynarski explains how the lower and upper class enroll in college at different rates, as well as graduate. A program was started known as the Educational Longitudinal Study. A study of dividing quartiles based on their parent’s educational background showed that parents with lower incomes were more likely to contain unskilled jobs compared to the higher income family containing manager positions. However, after 13 years, studies showed that only 14 percent of the less fortunate students and 60 percent of the fortunate students achieved their bachelors. By their late 20s tests also showed that 74 percent of wealthy students achieved their four-year

However, parents who live below the poverty line find it more difficult to send their offspring to a school that offers even mildly decent education. In contrast, financially stable parents have far more access to resources that can aid their children, such as tutoring. A lack of proper schooling can serve as a hindrance to the needy children in the future and prevent them from ever ascending the economic ladder. Statistics show that only 3% of students at top colleges come from the poorest quarter of the population (“Inequality and the American Dream” 1). This can attest to the idea that the American Dream cannot be achieved regardless of class; it can only be fulfilled by those who have the resources to do

I want to end this story on a happy note. I really do. But I dread me going away to college, leaving Inaara in high school. But I dread the idea of me pouring all of my hard work into this essay and only see the minus on my transcript. But I dread the day I'm going to have to confront Andrew, the kid with aspirations to football in college, about playing lineman instead of wide receiver again next season, signifying the fact that our passing in the morning had truly been for nothing. At least the essay I’ve dreaded for so long is now finished.

According to Matt Bruenig, author of the article “In Reality, the Wealthy Inherit Ungodly Sums of Money,” it is very common for rich families to receive money from their parents, grandparents, and other family members—whether they worked for it or not doesn’t make a difference. The author states, “On average, the wealthiest one percent of households have inherited 447 times more money than households with wealth below $25,000” (Bruenig 1). He continues to rant about the unfair advantage the wealthy have, stating that teenagers from a rich background have almost three times of a better chance of earning a high-income as adults without attending college, compared to those teenagers who attend college but are from the lower-middle class (Bruenig 1). He essentially tries to persuade his audience that hard work is not a factor—all that seems to matter is your roots. According to him, your ancestors and inheritance tend to determine your outcome in

I am a girl who grew up with low income. Along with that my parents are both deaf alone with my big sister I watch after who has down syndrome. My father is no longer in my life so it’s my responsibility to take care of them. This isn’t a sob story about how awful my life sounds but how much I embrace it. Without my responsibilities I would have never grown to handle so many things I have accomplished. I was able to take college courses at Normandale Community College for free through Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO). I will also become my sister’s legal guardian this early summer. I work two jobs and try really hard to make sure I’m doing well in my classes along with making sure my family is okay. Why I am saying all this is because I feel like I

My sister holds a Master’s Degree and I will be the second person in my family to earn a Master’s Degree. My mother and oldest brother hold an Associate’s Degree. My mother was the very first person in her family to earn anything higher than a High School Diploma. The lack of formal careers and higher education in my family is not something I took notice to until actually completing this genogram. This pattern made it difficult to

Studies have also shown those working class children’s parents attitudes tend to encourage immediate gratification. This suggests they encourage their children to enter the workplace sooner rather than later. To start earning over, staying in education. Generally this tends to mean that the working class individuals remain as such due to being unqualified for the higher status, higher salaried jobs. On the reverse, middle class parents encourage deferred gratification. They encourage hard work at school and reap the rewards in later life, with a high level of qualification, a higher status career and in turn a higher salary and thus the class divide remains.

The “American Dream” is predicated on the assumption that with hard work and determination all Americans can achieve success and prosperity. America is the “land of opportunity” and under this contention, it is assumed that there is equal opportunity amongst all members of society. Thus, according to this ideology, the effort put in by an individual is the most important factor in determining their upward intergenerational mobility. However, I aim to show that the sole efforts of an individual are not enough to explain upward trends in intergenerational mobility. There are a variety of social factors that halt individuals from accessing the rewards of the supposed “American Dream”. In assessing the ease to which individuals can attain intergenerational mobility, it is essential to explain the impact that social stratification, race and education has on intergenerational mobility.

The difference in economic levels between the lower income and the higher income has increased over the years. Therefore, the American Dream is becoming more unobtainable as the inequality increases. Poor income high school students with high entrance exam scores are opting for places such as community colleges instead of higher ranking schools. Since well-off people are marrying people just as well-off, they have the resources to support their kids with time and money. Those whom were raised in the upper class are likely to stay there as they have more support from their parent along with money to invest in their future. Low-income parents tend to be less involved with their children’s education, as they are trying to pay the bills. Some of

In America, the prospect of social mobility is near impossible if one does not graduate from college and secure a stable job coming out of college. In the previous generations, many American families could own a house, a nice Chevy, and work at a nice paying job with a high school diploma. However, this would not be the case today since many who graduate out of high school will always be stuck in minimum wage careers. This partly due to jobs becoming automated and competitive career fields.

Though I have not incurred any deficiencies in study thus far I still believe the BAIC should consider investing in me this summer. Over this last year I have fallen in love with math, but coming from an inner city school to Boston College I found myself a bit behind the curve as far as my math major is concerned. The high school I attended shared the same narrative as many inner city schools; they struggled to keep the lights on, let alone develop a competitive mathe department. The best St. Benedict's (my high school) could offer me was to bump me up a grade level in math. Though I was excited for this opportunity in highschool, I later realised the trouble this set me up for in college. Having skipped over trigonometry I had a major gap in my Math knowledge and having been bumped up to calculus as a junior, I exhausted my school's math department and went without taking a math course senior year; i would be rusty by