Polished: College, Class, and the Burdens of Social Mobility

Event Description

WashU is pleased to welcome Dr. Melissa Osborne, Associate Professor of Sociology at Western Washington University, to our campus to speak about first-generation and low-income students. A reception will follow Dr. Osborne’s presentation.

Polished: College, Class, and the Burdens of Social Mobility

For low-income and first-generation students at elite schools, college can feel like entering a whole new world. Along with academic and financial challenges, their emotional lives also shift as they navigate different cultural and class backgrounds. These students often face a difficult choice: blend in with their peers and abandon their former lives, or stay true to themselves, risking isolation from other students. In this talk, Melissa Osborne, PhD will share insights from their book Polished, based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with 150 first-generation and low-income students at 18 selective colleges and universities. Osborne reveals how the support systems meant to help these students can unintentionally reshape their identities, often creating tension between their aspirations and their connections to family and community. Without direct institutional support, this emotional struggle can lead to feelings of alienation, mental health challenges, and difficult decisions about balancing upward mobility with authenticity.

This event is sponsored by Here & Next.

For further details and registration, please see the event listing in Happenings at WashU or contact Máire Murphy, Project Coordinator, Office of the Provost.