@HKimPOSSIBLE , I wouldn’t read too much into the interview situation for the most part. It’s a positive that you got interviews and that you perceived they went well, but alumni interviews fundamentally don’t move the needle very much compared to other factors. I’m hoping hard for your last few schools, but I’m afraid there just aren’t many meaningful tea leaves to read here. Hang in there - you have a bright future no matter how this goes.
Many schools are not need blind for internationals because it costs the schools about $10k more for those students who can’t take federal loans and don’t get Pell, work study, or SEOG.
Interviews don’t mean much. Interviewers generally write positive reviews and at these colleges among all the amazing young people they meet they rarely see admits.
However you can keep in touch with them (not just thanking them for the time they spent on the interview, but sending them an update with the results and a final one with your final plans/situation).
Sorry but no, it means nothing. Schools like the Ancient Eight love to keep their alumni involved and this is one way that they do so. Pretty much everyone who applies to an Ivy school will be interviewed as long as an alumni interviewer is available in that locale. So receiving an interview request is not a ‘sign’ that there is more interest in that applicant…
But what about not receiving an interview request, does it bad sign?
Not receiving an interview doesn’t mean anything either (at most schools). As the number of applicants rise, there are simply not enough alumni to meet with every student. Read nothing into it.
@privatebanker Wow that’s good news! I’ll have to look more into that. I do have a question though. For the Army reserve, does enlisting give citizenship or status benefits? I know that was essentially what MAVNI was, so was curious there. Thank you so much for this and I’ll let you know how my inquiries go with this!
As for the interviews, thats what I figured hehe. As for many school providing financial aid for OOS students, you have to remember that its not just financial aid I need, essentially I need a full ride or close to it. Many policies dont apply to me as DACA and even if they do, many colleges consider the aid for in state DACA students.
@HKimPOSSIBLE Sorry I don’t know but the recruiter will. Reserves are more aligned with regular army than the guard on a policy basis. So it probably is similar.
@HKimPOSSIBLE I had interviews with
- mit deffered than rejected
2)UPenn ED rejected - uchicago differed than rejected
- Columbia differed (most likely rejected )
Washu no interview waitlisted …
Guy from Columbia told me he does interviews for 20 years ( interviewed over 1000 )and only 2 got in …,
All my interviews went great:) talked 1 hour to UPenn lady , talked about our similar tastes and backgrounds …Columbia guy still emails me with suggestions which books I might like to read
all means nothing
Rejected from Rice University…
The fear is really catching up to me quickly…wow this actually sucks
Maybe if my family earned $50,000 instead of $0 it might’ve helped with Case and some other Waitlist schools.
Dang, sorry about Rice 
Just remember, the worst case scenario is a gap year and a much more advantageous position for next year’s application cycle. Disappointment is more than warranted, but don’t let fear get the best of you. We are all #TeamHKimPOSSIBLE here. <3
I’m having doubts about that too - I’ll still a similar - if not the same need as this time. This sucks a lot and for some reason Rice is hitting me harder than other schools even like my UChicago rejection.
Your need would be the same but your status should be changing, which should help a lot.
A lot of people have benefited from Rice’s new financial aid policy, but you’re unfortunately in the collateral damage zone. You would have gotten the same aid under the old policy as the new one, but a flood of middle-income “donut hole” applicants were attracted by the policy change. Rice just announced that their acceptance rate dropped to 8.7% this year, and that’s overall - when you take out their growing ED pool, the RD acceptance rate is even lower. There is no shame in landing among the vast majority who were turned away. It’s just a bummer.
I’m just really losing my patience. And seeing people who I think (emphasis on I think) don’t work as hard, don’t try as hard, have worse grades, worse standardized get into the very schools like it’s a cake walk doesn’t help.
It’s frustrating. I probably sound pretentious as heck but honestly I’ve been holding this sentiment here for quite some time.
I’m so sorry about Rice. I was rooting for you. I pray something with sufficient aid comes through for you soon.
I don’t blame you one bit for being upset. You’re surrounded at your school by kids who may indeed work hard, but their efforts are amplified by a lot of unearned advantages. The weakest aspect of your profile is your unweighted GPA, and the truth is that with the same effort you would likely have earned close to a 4.0 at most high schools. It also doesn’t help that you’re in a state that supports higher ed poorly and DACA students even more poorly. (If you were here in California, the only question would be which UC you would be attending.) It’s just a perfect storm of obstacles that have added up to a brick wall, and I wholly agree that it’s not fair. You don’t sound pretentious; you sound justifiably frustrated. I have no doubt that you’ll prevail in the end, but no, it shouldn’t be this hard.
I’m so sorry.
But if you have to take a gap year, you’ll apply with a very different status - $0 EFC with a green card is very different from $0 DACA.
DO make an appointment with your GC to discuss your application and see if there was any red flag. As I said, it’s implausible, but it’s not impossible that a mistake was made (a “not” forgotten, a click in the wrong column…)
It’s normal you’re frustrated and upset; your education is going to be interrupted through no fault of your own, even though you’ve done everything humanly possible to make things happen in the best possible way.
Give yourself the right to mourn. Do something nice to yourself (I recommend Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie but you can do whatever you’ve been holding off on, or even give yourself a “mental health day” and sleep in, call in sick, and watch videos all day. Whatever will feel like a “treat”.)
Have you reached out to the lab where you’ve been conducting research, asking if they could keep you on?
Are there $15/hour jobs around, that you can reach by public transport?
What about CNA or EMT training, which would help you get a non-minimum-wage job while clocking hours and experience toward med school?
Thanks.
Ben and Jerry’s is expensive haha. My aunt treated me with some bubble tea instead.