Journaling Prompts for First-Generation Students
Being a first-generation college student means doing something your family hasn't done—which sounds like an achievement, and it is, but it also means doing something without a map. There's often an invisible weight of expectation, a sense of representing more than yourself, and a strange loneliness that comes from being in two worlds without fully belonging to either. You might feel guilty for the distance, proud and anxious at the same time, like an imposter in one place and an outsider in another. These feelings make complete sense. Writing can help you hold them without them holding you.
Journaling Prompts
What did it cost your family for you to be here? What did it cost you? Write about both honestly—not to create guilt, but to honor the full weight of what this journey actually is.
When do you feel most out of place, and what specifically is the feeling? Is it about class, culture, knowledge, vocabulary, belonging—or all of it at once?
What do you miss about home that you're afraid to admit to people at school? What do you miss about school when you're home? Write about the in-between honestly.
What has this experience revealed about your own capability that you didn't know before you started? What have you figured out without a guide that deserves to be acknowledged?
What do you want to do with what you're building here? Not what you're supposed to do with it—what do you actually want it to make possible for you and the people you love?