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to two state colleges. Although she was turned down by her first-choice school, she was accepted at Millersville, a four-year state university her older brother had attended. Melanie declined to go. She says this school is too far away (a five-hour drive from home); also, she thinks it is a social wasteland. “There’s really nothing to do there,” she explains. “Like, the biggest thing is a Wal-Mart.” She decided to work rather than go to college. She is living at home. She says she enjoys “the closeness that we [family members] have,” adding, “I mean, I can talk to them about anything.” Her first job, at a coffee shop, lasted two weeks. She did not like the hours (her workday started at 5 A.M.), and she had no coworkers for company. She quit, electing to try community college. Her mother helped her register. Problems arose when Melanie learned that she was required to take non-credit remedial courses in English and math. The classes were “boring,” she says. She stopped attending but failed to formally withdraw despite repeated reminders from her mother on the subject, so she received failing grades in her record.

At the time that I interview her, her plans are in flux. A few months later, however, her father tells me that she has begun a cosmetology program which she “loves.” Regarding the future, what she “honestly” wants is “to be a stay-at-home mom until my kids are in school.” In this realm, her hopes and dreams are clear. She would like to have four children and she would like to marry sooner rather than later. “I don’t want to wait till I’m thirty to get married. So hopefully, I’ll find that one guy.” She has had some boyfriends, but so far no serious contenders.

Stacey Marshall (African American, middle-class) and I meet at her family home the summer after her freshman year at University of Maryland, College Park. Stacey’s nearly six-foot (5 feet 11 inches) body is thin, but athletic looking. Dressed casually in shorts and a T-shirt, and wearing no makeup, she appears younger than her nineteen years. She is busy, juggling basketball practice with two summer jobs (camp counselor and part-time waitress at a local diner). She is still sociable, confirming her mother’s description of her as a “people-person,” an upbeat, “everything’s fine” person.

Stacey’s love of gymnastics continued beyond elementary school. But a sudden growth spurt made her, at age twelve, taller than the sixteen-year-old gymnasts. That, combined with her relatively late start in gymnastics, prompted her coach to counsel strongly against any further involvement in competitive gymnastics. This left Stacey deeply discouraged. Initially resistant, she gradually began playing basketball, a sport her older sister, Fern, enjoyed. Stacey discovered that her gymnastics training made her unusually adept at weaving around players to make a shot. “Even to this day,” she tells me, “people say that you can see my gymnastics background [in my game].” She and Fern played together on their high school’s basketball team, which won a state championship.

In high school, with her mother continuing to carefully oversee her education, Stacey took some honors-level courses but resisted Advanced Placement classes. Her grades were “A’s and B’s.” She took an SAT preparation course and sat for the exam once, earning a (combined) score of 1060 [1590].19 As a senior, Stacey was recruited by the basketball coach at Columbia University. Although the coach expressed some concern about Stacey’s relatively low (for an Ivy League school) SAT score, she was admitted to Columbia. Given the Marshalls’ six-figure annual income, however, she qualified for little financial aid. Her parents ruled Columbia out when they learned that the family’s contribution would be at least $15,000 per year. Since this school was Stacey’s heart’s desire, she was deeply disappointed by her parents’ decision. She says she is still “bitter” about it.

Stacey describes her first year at University of Maryland (where her four-year scholarship covers tuition, room and board, and books) positively, however.