@Houston1021 Thanks a lot! I’ve been demonstrating an interest in rice for the past, I’d say, 14 years. Breakfast, lunch, dinner.
I have a question. At my school, three people have been offered admissions to Yale, another has gotten a likely letter in the RD (which makes four total Yale admittances). Would this negatively impact me in some way or another? I’m not sure if this is something we can answer, but are there any “caps” on how many a university might take from a certain school? (I bet even Stuyvesant has caps on how many get in).
“highly selective universities won’t re-review applicants they rejected in previous years”
This is false. It’s a shame someone told you that.
“Unfortunately, this is a recipe for an all-reach application list that is basically forced on the OP”
This is a wild overstatement. There are colleges that offer merit-based full rides that are open to international students (Morehouse College comes to mind). Also, a student in the OP’s position has a better shot at the full-tuition merit scholarship at Loyola-Chicago, which would allow him to live at home, than at Stanford or Princeton. There are also merit scholarships not dependent on residency at Oakton Community College. There are lots of possibilities kids in this position ought to explore besides applying to dozens of ultra-reach colleges (many of which ask for long and complicated individual supplements that take a long time to do well – what else could a student do with that time?)
However, competitive full tuition to full ride is generally still a reach (even if merely getting admission is not), right?
“are there any “caps” on how many a university might take from a certain school?”
No, but…
Look, it’s true that some people get into Harvard and not Dartmouth. Any two schools on your list might come to opposite conclusions. But you have a lot of data here now. When Wash U, Hopkins, Chicago, Northwestern, Bowdoin, Bates, and (kinda) Case say no, I do not think you should be worrying about your odds at Yale. If you want to go to college this fall, you should be calling places like Oakton and seeing what your scholarship options are. If a Yale miracle occurs, you have a whole thread full of people who will celebrate with you. But do not spend any of your finite time and energy on it.
Taking a gap year& waiting for his green card may be the best solution if OP doesnt get in anywhere - and “saving” a few colleges probably wasn’t a bad idea considering the CommonApp dashboard must have been nearly full. I’m sure there are 30 colleges out there OP could have applied to, but it sounds like he applied to a lot already.
[also, in my experience, unless there’s a significant difference between application year1 and application year2, selective colleges who turned an applicant down don’t go “oops wemade a mistake, we should have admitted her last year” and admit the student the second time around. Freshmen who really believe they deserve to attend college Z and reapply without more than a semester’s worth of grades aren’t likely to have a more satisfactory answer as a freshman transfer.]
Attending CC isn’t a real solution since transfers get lousy aid, Illinois publics are extremely expensive, and so @hkimpossible may end up stuck after 2 years. Keep in mind that three people will be living off 15,000.
@hkimpossible: does Cityyear recruit in Chicago and do they accept DACA kids? You’d get a stipend that you could use to help your family or save for next year’s books and you’d be doing something useful, different, and recognized.
@MYOS1634 They do recruit in Chicago and I would’ve been actually volunteering here (it’s what inspired me to tutor at my church) except they don’t take applications from DACA nor Undocumented students.
@Hanna what MYOS said was very much what I was worried about. If I take a gap year instead and receive my green card, I would be eligible for the UIC and UIUC free tuition (for families that make under $60,000) dollars and hopefully FAFSA. One of my cousins attends UIUC there and rents an apartment off-campus (though I’m not sure what the housing rules there are) but this is something my parents have discussed.
If I do attend Oakton, (a $15,000 annual tuition before scholarships), I would not be eligible for such UIC/UIUC free tuition plan. Also, if I were to transfer after my last (and second) year at Oakton, I’m not sure how good my odds are of actually transferring to another college - I may just end up taking more gap years or what not.
As for Loyala University Chicago, their tuition is incredibly high and their Ignatius scholarship (free tuition, not full ride), is still very competitive. I don’t know too much more about LUC.
Thanks for the suggestions though and some of the things you have suggested are things my parents have discussed recently (again, my parents, I mean my single divorced father) with family and people they know who have some experience with college.
When I was applying, I didn’t know I wouldn’t be offered admissions by Bowdoin, Carleton, Bates, Case Western, Northwestern, WUSTL, JHU, and UChicago (well for UChicago I did because I got rejected ED1).
Can they recommend a similar program that might accept DACA students?
I think you said that you could continue working in the lab where you’ve been doing research, during a gap year, didn’t you? It seems to me that if you can do meaningful work there, and continue with your barter-ish job, that right there is an acceptable foundation for a gap year. You could add in volunteer opportunities, and potentially a more traditional job once your green card comes through. You should not take college-credit classes that would keep you from reapplying as a first-year applicant (though I think you could self-study for some additional AP’s?), but you could certainly do something like an EMT certification program that would open doors for some good premed opportunities. (Quite a few colleges have student EMT corps, for example - a lot of premed students at Rice do this.) Honestly, I know it sounds awful right now, but a year would go by faster than you think… and if you would no longer be a DACA applicant in next year’s cycle, that could put you in a much more advantageous position. (Plus you’ll have a whole steering committee here, along for the ride 
)
I don’t mean to give up on your last few schools prematurely. (Still crossing fingers for a Rice miracle - I feel like you’d do so great there!) But I think it’s important not to frame this like you just have these last few schools standing between you and the abyss. It’s not an abyss, really it isn’t. It’s not what you wanted, but it will be okay. There’s lots of light at the end of this tunnel, even if the worst-case admissions scenario plays out for now.
City year or Americorps are federal programs, and most require legal status since they are paying you something.
OP, you sound very positive by you stated you are beginning to worry. You’ve done everything you could and it is just bad circumstances and timing that you had to apply as an international student needing full full full financial aid to attend any school.
If you are denied to all the schools, remember that next year you would be applying under different circumstances, as a domestic student. That changes things at the need blind schools as many are not need blind for internationals.
Don’t get too down on the denials. You did what you had to do. It’s only a year.
@HKimPOSSIBLE @ucbalumnus It’s too late for this year, but University of Michigan now offers excellent financial aid for OOS students and has created several special FA programs for them. Students with significant need can also qualify for the Provost Award, which can cover your entire COA. University of Virginia also offers excellent FA to OOS students.
@lykia99 : OP is an American kid with DACA papers
(ie., in most other advanced democracies, he’d be a naturalized citizen due to living there his whole life, graduating HS, and not having a criminal record; he may feel like all other American teenagers; you may think of him as any American kid… but he is not “an OOS student” administratively speaking. Unless the universities have specifications wrt application and financial aid for DACA students, those awards and FA provisions don’t apply to DACA kids).
I truly understand how shattering it must be to have put forth so much effort and demonstrated so much dedication only to be told that your weakness was the backup plan.
However there is a backup plan:
https://www.bestcolleges.com/features/lowest-out-of-state-tuition/
OOS CC could also be an option–if OP excels in a Cal CC or WA CC they may be able to transfer to a UC or WA University.
OP I hope your Ivy dream is realized but you can still go to college and make it regardless.
I promise. I have mentioned this before on this board but I know more than one brilliant person who did the 40+ hour work week eating ramen for two years in CC who went on to top state schools with need aid, and then on to an Ivy. I believe in you that you can achieve your dream no matter what happens this month.
Yes you deserve the best, but this country is not always fair and you have to be scrappy and hard. Again, good luck.
OOS CC would mean OOS tuition there, plus living expenses, almost certainly without any FA. And then the four year school would be at OOS price without FA.
For the records, University of Michigan claims it treats DACA students the same as residents. They are eligible for FA.
Maybe, but let’s not get into immigration politics. The US has DACA – for immigrants who have ‘unlawful presence’ – and lives in IL, and that’s what we have to work with.
Small nit: the OP moved here when s/he was 3, so not “whole” life.
^ I was saying this because many posters had offered suggestions indicating they did not differentiate between this student and a US citizen. They might see him as a citizen, he may see himself as an American but administratively he’s not, and suggestions that fail to take his status into account aren’t useful (and pointlessly if inadvertently cruel, since they emphasize something that must be very painful to OP).
It seems to me most people use “my whole life” as a synonym for “from my earliest memories” or “for a very long time”. I get that YMMV.
I do want to ask something regarding interviews. All the decisions so far are from colleges thst never offered me an interview, except NU and MIT. The majority of my interviews happened for the Ivy League institutions (interviewers were amazing people). I’m sure interviews are worth a grain of salt, but does it correlate to something? or am I just picking up some kind of pidgeon superstition?
Hi HKim. I’ve talked to my friend this AM. The program is called “Simultaneous Membership” and allows college and military service at the same time.
National Guard does not offer to DACA status. However. The Army Reserve has the same program and they do accept DACA status.
And for an exceptional student there are big time scholarships too.
Also if you get you green card and want to go the National Guard program. It is full tuition free for your state uni in that state. So if you took a gap year and did this for UIUC or maybe even UCLA for California Guard it’s free tuition as an example. I am not sure if it is limited in states like CA with so many schools to only certain ones. That’s what I’ve learned today. He suggested you go to a reserve recruiting station and have a conversation. Or inquire online.
And it goes without saying but don’t sign anything!
It seems that all the schools HKim has been rejected at so far are not truly need blind ones, except MIT. Hopefully this week brings some good news.