First gen college students everywhere, of every ethnicity, have average lower placement test scores. If you're the first in your family to attend college, then more likely your parents worked hard at blue collar or service jobs, had less resources to stock the home with cultural amenities, pay for tutoring, educational camps, music lessons, exotic travel, museum visits, etc. Those are disadvantages that anyone who grew up in a trailer park, or barrio, or lower income district, can attest to. And it may mean playing some catch-up when you hit the halls of academe, and because of where you came from you're not the least bit afraid of hard work. Nor are your professors. Hamster's cynicism and sneering are misplaced.