DREAM Act Portal Forum - A guide to getting a graduate school fellowship (tuition + stipend)

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy to report that I have managed to get into graduate school (PhD) with a full fellowship (tuition+stipend+health insurance). The school is fully aware of my immigration situation and has agreed to provide funding.

This is how I did it:

Before application season started, I emailed ~30 private schools (don't waste your time with public schools). I straight up told them that I'm undocumented and asked if:
A. I could apply to the program
B. I could qualify for any kind of financial aid

***Target schools that have the following wording in the funding info page for the program you want: We fund all students regardless of citizenship. From my experience, this is code for undocumented students are welcome to apply.

I would recommend emailing BOTH the graduate office and the coordinator for your specific program because both groups need to be on the same page about what's going on. The graduate office will tell you if the school accepts undocumented students, and the program coordinator will be more knowledgeable about funding opportunities for the specific program.

Out of the 30 schools I contacted, 9 replied to me saying that I could apply and that my funding would be sorted out during admissions.
While it sucked getting rejected by 21 schools, 9 is actually not a bad number. It can be kind of scary to out yourself via email to all these schools, but trust me it will pay out later. DO NOT apply without getting the green light first from the school. It's just a waste of money if there is no hope of funding. Also, apply as an international student. Yes, this will make your chances of getting in extra slim, but in order to get funding you have to be fully honest with the school from the start. The only exception to this rule would be the University of Southern California. They actually told me that they consider undocumented students domestic applicants. On the application, leave all the visa/immigration questions blank. Nobody will ever ask you why you left them blank (not even during the interview).

I got interviews at 5 schools. I went to 4 and declined one.

After I got my official offers of admission (3), I emailed the program coordinators for all the schools again and reminded them of my situation. I think 2 out of 3 were in total shock, but they were all still super nice and willing to help. I think they kind of forgot my initial email where I outed myself, but oh well. The coordinators for 2 of the programs told me that they would need a couple of days to figure out the exact logistics of my funding situation. It took about a week for them to figure out everything, but they kept me updated with emails during the entire time. Unfortunately, the third school (my top choice) ended up withdrawing my admission offer after they couldn't work out my funding. I was really upset with them because this is a school that initially told me that all funding is merit based. Their excuse was that the office assistant who replied to me didn't know the term "undocumented". I call BS because they are located in Los Angeles (This is not USC btw). You live in LA, and you don't know what undocumented means? -_- Anyway... the other two schools came through for me :D
They both offered me full funding (tuition+stipend+health insurance) in the form of a non-service fellowship.
Undocumented students can receive fellowship money from non-federal sources. We do not qualify for any teaching or research assistantships (except at USC... they have a weird system but who cares if they are so friendly to us!) because those require that you become an employee of the university and fill out an I-9 form (employment eligibility form). Non-service fellowships do not require you to fill out the I-9 form.
Schools pay out fellowships through the financial aid office or through payroll (depends on the school). If you are getting a fellowship check through payroll, all you need is your ITIN number.
No need for SSN or anything like that.

I am SO LUCKY that I actually have choices! I accepted one offer and declined the other just today. This whole experience was extremely emotionally draining, but I can't complain about the outcome. To be honest, I'm still in shock that I pulled this off :D

Here is the list of schools that told me they would give me a full ride:
Harvard
University of Chicago
University of Southern California
Yale (a know a dreamer there that got a full ride to their law school)
Columbia
Northwestern University - Check out the link below for the friendliest financial aid policy at the GRADUATE level for undocumented students. Just the fact that they have a webpage dedicated to us made me smile :)
http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/abou...nts/index.html

Brown and Dartmouth never replied to my emails, but I hear they are also very friendly toward us.

I'm going to another unmentioned Ivy League school. I'm not posting which one because I'm paranoid that the school will know I'm advertising that they take undocumented students. I get the feeling that a lot of these private schools will provide some kind of aid if you get in, but they don't like to advertise that they do. If you want, you can PM me and I'll tell you which one it is.

I forgot to add that I'm in a science field.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions :)

The last thing I want to say is that getting a full ride to graduate school is very hard but definitely possible if you prove to them that you are a great student. Don't be afraid to try!!! :D