Originally Posted by qingshu

Dear fellow dreamies,

I am here to offer a word of encouragement and perhaps suggestions to those who are in this seemingly dire situation. I was one of those people who dreamt about my future. I would tell myself "if I only have a green card, I would serve the society as best as I could. Knowing I will have a future I will strive to be the best with nothing to stand in my way." If you are a person who has the same thoughts I did, then I am here to tell you how foolish you are.

There are two important resources in every person's life.
Time and Money.

For us young people, we have time. As our classmates go off to intern at big companies or work to save up the big bucks, we are usually at home bumming out doing nothing because of our status. Big mistake. Stop dreaming and start acting. If your dream is to become a doctor, then I would laugh my ass off if the only thing stopping you is a green card. Plug yourself into the industry. Volunteer. Use all these extra time you have to learn extra things. As dreamers we have to dedicate even *more time* to achieving our goal than the average person. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE GREEN CARD. Go out and network. Go to conferences and talk to people and let them know you are someone who dedicated him/herself to the industry. *Use your time as a precious resource.* While my friends spent their summer earning money interning for Google or Microsoft, I spent my extra time learning 2 new programming languages. Keep up your competitive edge.

Hear my words. There will be no college graduates who cannot get a job. There will be noone who are truly passionate about an industry, to be denied access. No matter how ugly you are, you will find a wife someday (yea. horrible example but you get my point). All that will come in time. Our status is not an obstacle that should stop us and make us wait dead in our tracks. This is something we can just f*kn carry on our backs and move forward with.

When your green card comes, will you really be ready to achieve your dreams? When your interviewer asks you "what have you been doing in the past year," will you even have the face to say "Nothing. Because of my status I wasn't allowed to work." USA is a land of dreams but not the land for naivettes. It is not the land for the low-morale and the miracle-waiters.

I hope this short message will motivate you just a bit, enough to get off that youtube for the day and prepare yourself in all way possible, to be a critical member of this society.