International Chances

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hello everyone!

I am a female student who is currently living in SoCal (and have been for the past 14 years) and has been schooled here since kindergarten. However, I am legally a Korean citizen, as I am currently here on an F-2 visa. We applied for permanent residency (green card) 16 years ago, thinking that it would only take 10 years at most, but the process is still ongoing. Thus, I am officially an international student in the eyes of colleges, despite having lived in the US for most of my life. Furthermore, we have very little wriggle room financially, which means that I applied for financial aid and was also a Questbridge finalist.

These last few weeks have been a little disheartening for me, as I’ve been rejected from many schools. I was wondering if my legal status and financial aid situation are make-or-break factors. If anyone knows anything at all, please let me know! I really appreciate it, and I hope all of your college journeys are going great! :slight_smile:

2

What is your major? Stats? Amount your family can afford? Are you sure that for Cali unis that you cannot receive an instate rate? Some states are helpful. Do you have a local CC possibility? What schools have you applied to?

3

I plan to major in psychology or English and here are my stats:

ACT: 36
SAT: did not submit
AP: World History (5), European History (5), Computer Science A (5), English Language (5), Biology (4), Calculus AB (5), Spanish Language (4), US History (5)
IB: Spanish A (6)

GPA: 4.5 weighted, 3.8 unweighted
Class rank: I attend a highly competitive school that doesn’t have a fully comprehensive ranking system, but my counselor recently told me I was in the top 15%.

EC: Piano for 13 years (CM Levels 1-10, Panel Finalist, multiple awards), Violin for 7 years (CM Levels 1-10), editor of yearbook at school, 1st chair in school orchestra, Vice President of MUN club

Community Service: President’s Award for Volunteer (Gold), cofounder of a free music program for local children, long time volunteer at Crittenton adoption services

Job: summer internship at a school for lower-functioning children, work as a night janitor at a medical center with dad

Hooks: 1st gen, Questbridge finalist, full IB diploma candidate

My family’s annual income is <$30,000.
It says I do qualify for Cal grant, but it is limited to about $4000 I think.
I have been looking into my local community college, which has a good psychology department, from what I’ve heard.
Schools: Pomona, Williams, Brown, USC, UCLA, UCB, UCSB, UCSD, UCI, Yale, Notre Dame

Sorry for so much word barf. :frowning: Thank you!

4

Your legal and financial situation are not absolute make-or-break factors. They just make things more a lot more difficult. Have you been rejected from every place where you applied, or are you still waiting on some of them? If you are still waiting on a few, hang in there. All you need is one affordable admission.

5

I’m still waiting on some of them, but I’m holding out for the best. Thank you so much for your kind words!

6

Needing a lot of financial aid is a disadvantage when applying to all but a handful of universities.

It could be that it worked against you at Notre Dame, Pomona and Williams – if you were rejected by them. Yale is need-blind, but with single-digit acceptance rates it’s a “reach” for everyone, including top students.

There are schools that award automatic scholarships based on your stats – but the deadlines for application is waay past. Unless you take a gap year, work to save some money, and reapply next fall for academic year 2020, a community college may be your only option. Assuming you don’t get in somewhere you can afford.

Sorry you’re going through this.

7

You should be eligible for instate tuition, but not for FA.

8

Thank you everyone! Hopefully I will hear some good news soon. :slight_smile:

9

@hellothankyou Wow. Excellent stats. If it doesn’t work out with this years list, you might want to gap year and give one more run at a full ride. Let’s get another opinion. @MYOS1634

10

Can you indicate where you’ve been denied? (I realize this is a painful question but it’d help in directing advice).
Are you considered through QB?
Pomona doesn’t differentiate for admissions and FA between students who graduate from a US high school regardless of status. That’s the only one where your status wouldn’t make a difference.
Have you reached out to your GC to go over your application to see what might have caused a rejection, any red flag no one saw… And ask your GC to call the private universities as well as the UCs to advocate on your behalf?
If you make less than 30K, are CC’s affordable? Once that’s done, how will you afford a UC - although, at that point, your GC may have arrived and you may qualify for FA/Cal Grants.
Can you reach out to QB to ask them to review your application so that you can understand what might have tripped your application?

11

Thank you to everyone with your amazing advice! I just got accepted to a couple of places today, so I think that it was just an issue with myself or that the colleges didn’t think I was a good fit. Either way, I’ll probably have to continue worrying about financial aid, but since that’s a different discussion, I’ll move to another forum. Thank you all!

12

Can you list where you were admitted along with any FA package? It’d help future readers. :slight_smile:

13

@gearmom I have found your answers very useful through this forum(I’ve read lots of posts)! :slight_smile: Do you think there is any chance to pm me(cuz I’m not able to do it) if you have some free time? Your advice would be really useful for me. Thanks in advance!