As compared to continuing-generation students, first-generation students are struggling
more at university. In the present article, we question the unconditional nature of such
a phenomenon and argue that it depends on structural competition. Indeed, most
academic departments use harsh selection procedure all throughout the curriculum,
fostering between-student competition. In these departments, first-generation students
tend to suffer from a lack of student-institution fit, that is, inconsistencies with the
competitive institution's culture, practices, and identity. However, one might contend
that in less competitive academic departments continuing-generation students might be
the ones experiencing a lack of fit. Using a cross-sectional design, we investigated the
consequences of such a context- and category-dependent lack of fit on the endorsement
of scholastically adaptive goals. We surveyed N = 378 first- and continuing-generation
students from either a more competitive or a less competitive department in their first
or final year of bachelor's study. In the more competitive department, first-to-third year
decrease of mastery goals (i.e., the desire to learn) was found to be steeper for firstthan
for continuing-generation students. In the less competitive department, the reversed
pattern was found. Moreover, first-to-third year decrease of performance goals (i.e.,
the desire to outperform others) was found to be steeper within the less competitive
department but did not depend on social class. This single-site preliminary research
highlights the need to take the academic context into account when studying the social
class graduation gap.