Hi, my parents overstayed their visa and I am currently an illegal dreamer. Will this be a detriment to my chances of getting in? I am a straight a student with a high GPA, play piano, and volunteer. Will the illegal factor hurt my chances? Thank you!
Sounds like something you should ask the admissions office.
The problem I don’t think will be with the application itself, but with any financial aid. In order to apply for aid, you need a FAFSA, which asks for a social security number/legal status. So, even if managed to get accepted, I think the much more challenging part would be finding money to fund the tuition.
FAFSA will be no problem, since I am under deffered action under DACA and have temporal status for education/work and a temporal SS number. Im worried about being denied for the reason of being a dreamer. I know MIT has a problem and will not accept me.
You are going to run into issue with the private schools.
I think your best bet is the public schools.
@johonmilla - I think you are getting some bad advice here. Harvard gives all applicants equal consideration and any financial aid you might receive will be independent of your immigration status.
Here’s a story about an undocumented student who apply to and ended up attending Harvard. There are others out there if you google it - there was quite a lot of discussion about this last year.
Not all colleges work this way - you may want to check with each college individually.
Depending on which state you live in, you may find that in-state publics will give you equal treatment - out of state publics might be more of a problem.
I think you know perfectly well you are Harvard’s dream if you have the stats to back it up. To clarify, some privates don’t want undocumented persons. Harvard and Yale have no such problem.
I know another undocumented student in addition to the one in the article who was accepted to Harvard. Your status is not what will keep you out. Good luck.
I’m also a DACA student and applied this year. If anything it might help distinguish you in the pool of applicants. But public schools do not offer financial aid to illegals since they’re federally funded. Private colleges are better but since you will technically be an international student that will hurt your app at even Columbia and Penn, and especially smaller schools. Harvard, Princeton, Yale and I believe Stanford and MIT don’t care. They’re so rich it doesn’t matter to them. And you don’t need to fill out FAFSA for Harvard or any college for that matter. If you have any questions inbox me as I have just gone through the process.cheers.
Actually, even if you’re under DACA you’re still ineligible for Federal financial aid aka fafsa. You’re not a permanent resident nor u.s citizen. However you have a better chance at these ivys if you have top scores on your sat’s or act’s. I know that stanford and harvard offer full rides to undocumented students. Schools such as Emory and Tufts will also grant institutional financial aid for non u.s citizens. MIT and Georgia Tech WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO APPLY. If you consider Cal tech, they have no financial aid for non u.s citizens and you will have to prove you have $55000 for tuition and $5000 for personal expenses. (I don’t recommend these schools due to that fact.) Also have you heard of QuestBridge, if your family’s income is $60000 or below they will give you the chance to apply to their program to get up to a full ride for universities like Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Cornell, etc. And you’re eligible even if you’re a non u.s citizen! If you search up online a list that in which Daca recipients are eligible for in state tuition you could see if your state falls under that list. I know from the top of my head Texas and California do. Btw i know Georgia is very anti-immigration and the only school that allows daca students to apply is Emory which just begun this year! Just a bit of info you’d like to know. Also if you’re applying to these universities you’re an international citizen, so you won’t be able to apply as a regular u.s citizen. The key is to have amazing scores like i said before and be involved in a few extra curriculars and also when writing these admissions essay’s make sure to see if you can write one on your citizenship statusin order to let admission officers know how despite your situation you’re managing to move forward and achieve as much possible. I hope this sort of helped.
(I’m a DACA recipient and have looked up this topic extensively. I’m a senior this year and I’ll be applying fall of 2016. I’m working my butt off to get the best scores i can get and ill be applying to ivy leagues as well! You’re not alone! Any questions you can ask for my email and I’d be more than glad to help you. You are not alone, remember that 
Best,
Brenda x
fall of 2015*
Hello guys! I would just like to say that reading this thread really excited me because it made me realize how many others are in the exact situation I was in just a few months ago. I am also a DACA dreamer and was admitted to this incoming year’s class of 2019 at Harvard! Please, if there are any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them.
Hi, I know you posted this a while back, but I was just wondering what your high school statistics were? If it’s private, I understand. Thank you!
Harvard absolutely accepts undocumented students and DACA helps as stated above. There’s an active community/activist group of undocumented Harvard students-Act on a Dream-that you could check out once here or visiting (possibly by reaching out to club members)