<p>I'm a high school senior (class of 2014), who was rejected by all Ivy schools I applied to two days ago. Although I was accepted at various colleges of great prestige and academic & social vibrancy, I cannot afford to pay for these colleges since I am an INTERNATIONAL APPLICANT. </p>
<p>Here's the catch: My Green-Card aka Permanent Resident status should be rectified around my time of matriculation in Fall of 2014. Because of this, my parents and I have been discussing few viable options I have as of now. I can DEFER my enrollment ONE year to the colleges I have been accepted, to ease the financial burden on my family (Permanent Residents are eligible for federal aid). Also, I can reapply to various schools, including some of the Ivy schools I was rejected this year. During this gap-year, I can focus on my internship opportunities, better standardized test scores and what not. </p>
<p>My question is- does having a green card significantly enhance the chance of acceptance at Ivy schools? What has been the recent trend of the ratios? Any ideas what I can do to boost my chances?</p>
<p>I really don't know what the prudent course of action is for me now. Please advise with any expertise you may have in this area!</p>
<p>Being a legal permanent resident instead of an international applicant changes everything. Pick up the phone. Call the places that you are most interested in. Tell them that your status will be different next year, and ask if it is possible to get an estimate of what your aid package would be like once you have your green card. If the numbers sound good to your family, and you really truly like the place, then ask about deferring enrollment until spring 2015 or fall 2015.</p>
<p>If none of the places on your list can give you that kind of estimate and/or the numbers don’t look like they would work for your family, take the gap year. Do something interesting or at least something remunerative (once you have that permission to work of course), then apply again.</p>
<p>No one can guarantee you admission to the Ivy of your dreams, so if you would take a gap year only in order to get into an Ivy, re-think that whole thing. If you would take a gap year to potentially save your family boat-loads of money at any number of other places, then do so.</p>
<p>Each college and university has a net price calculator on its website. Those are designed for US applicants, so provided your family doesn’t have property other than the family home and doesn’t own a small business (two things that are known to throw the numbers off), you should get a reasonable estimate by running the NPCs. You also should pop over to the Financial Aid Forum and read the threads on Automatic Full-tuition/Full-rides (safeties) and Competitive Full-tuition/Full-rides (potential matches) to look for places that can save your family even more money.</p>
<p>You did not give any details about your grades, scores, community involvement and extra curricula’s, essays, recommendations etc… Those items are the bulk of your applications. If you have great financial needs although you may be tempted to apply to only Ivy league schools you are in fact decreasing your chances. Find private schools that have high percentage of needs met and do a mixture of reach/match/safe school. You potentially would get more money that way. As for international vs resident thing I don’t think that was the case. You could have yielded the same result being a legal resident. I immigrated to this country and I know quite a bit of people who have gotten scholarship from my country as international students. BTW if I were you I definitely would do the gap year focusing on your intended major. During that time work on increasing your chances of acceptance by preparing and retaking the SAT and SAT2, essays, recommendations and community service and other interests. Next year you will be a wiser and better candidate. My daughter got great results this year we are ecstatic over her admission result and the realization that her dreams are coming true. Good luck with everything if I can help you further with the process, let me know.</p>
<p>Happymomof1 is correct Danlicou: being a permanent resident changes everything. A permanent resident is not in the same pool of applicants and is eligible for federal aid. International applicants (those who need a visa) may have one third the odds of domestic applicants.
OP: don’t take a gap year just for the Ivy League. Keep a couple of Top 10 universities/LACs in the mix, but make sure to include colleges with selectivity above 30% and at least one where selectivity is at 50% OR is your state flagship (if your state flagship has rolling admissions, apply as soon as the app is up and apply to the Honors College so that you have one possibility in hand in the Fall.) As a permanent resident, your state flagship becomes financially doable, for instance - depending on where you live, the tuition may be one third of what was expected of you.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 Thank you for your advice! Reapplying to Ivys is just a secondary plan. My main plan is to obtain the eligibility status and reduce the cost of my tuition - I just used the NPC on the schools I were accepted to and found out that the tuition goes down around 30k-40k, a bearable amount for my family. </p>
<p>@Danlincou My academic qualities, I believe, are above decent. The only thing I would need to work on is the ACT in the coming months. May I ask where your daughter will be attending next year?</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 Yes, thank you for the statistics regarding the ratios between citizens/permanent residents and international applicants. As I said before, the main plan is to obtain financial aid, and reapplying to couple other schools including some Ivys is just a side plan. I am already accepted to my state college (honors program as well), but I was accepted to other schools of better academia. </p>
<p>To all: Do you know any process involving the Common App, Teacher’s LORs and the general “reapplication” process? It seems as if I would have to ask my teachers and other recommenders once again. </p>
<p>No, now, for admission AND for financial aid, you are considered exactly the same as a citizen. That’s why it’s so huge since now your criteria for admission are easier and you can get financial aid at any school without relying on the funds for internationals (which are not anywhere near what they are for domestic applicants institutionally, plus you have access to SEOG, Pell, federal loans…)
You’re now officially part of domestic applicants. :)</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 That’s absolutely relieving. I will definitely take a gap-year and focus on thing I couldn’t before. To your knowledge, are there any schools that will rescind their decisions just because the students want to take a gap-year? </p>
<p>No, gap years are acceptable, but if you want to attend a school you’ve been admitted to, you should ask for a deferral and pay your deposit there after explaining your circumstances have changed and you’re now a permanent resident.</p>
<p>We are trying to decide between AU and GWU. They are both offering us grants. AU comes out 6K cheaper plus a 7 weeks summer program but my daughter has fallen in love with GWU. Which schools did you get into and did they tell you about the finances already? </p>
<p>@Danlincou Wow congrats! Both are great schools and I’m sure you and your daughter will make a better decision. I was accepted to University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University. No, because of my current status, I am not eligible for ANY financial aid - hence the reason waiting a year to rectify my status, </p>