Hey don't laugh but it has taken me a hours to write this intro, after writting one that somehow ended up being 4 pages long I just decided to keep it simple.

Any way, I came here from Colombia when I was 8, my mom having been here a few months already trying to get legalized through my adoptive grandmother. Unfortunately things did not go too well and literally 2 weeks before a single paper had to be signed by her she died of cancer. The inherited money was used to hire lawyers and bring my dad and I to this country as tourists, and the house as a place to permanently stay.

I learned of my status when I was in 5th grade, and if there was any change in how I acted no one could have noticed since that was the year I also got into gifted which meant me being in a class with new people.

At age 13 I started to work in a warehouse, after my dad developed a back problem and could not really work, I had to help him and essentially support my family. I managed to get into a very prestigious schools, and almost did not go there because it boasted in its record of having sent all its students to college ever since it was opened (I did not think college was for me, but was obviously a good enough student, right now I think I used to ignore the complexities of my life by hitting the books).

In high school I took only honors and AP classes where I could, when in Junior I started to get very stressed about the SATs and ACTs, since I did not think it would be possible to me to go to college, I decided to take the last possible of both in order to use the resulting low scores to as a reason of why I would not get into college in senior year. without preparing I got an average score compared to people in my school, and applied to essentially all reach schools and one local school that boasted its ability to accept students when they came to their workshops if they took their ACTs and class information. I really thought that was going the only place I would get accepted to and was going to use it to show people I did got into college. Surprisingly I was denied from MIT and another prestigious place but accepted everywhere else out of the more then a dozen schools (I guess taking internships in an internationally renowned lab might have helped somewhat), I even secured a half scholarship from a private institution in a different state where I knew family with whom I could stay for free.

I am now on my way to become a junior.

On January of this year my sister became a US citizen. A month later after going through 8-10 lawyers eliminating everyone else for a number of reasons, she claimed my parents. The process was supposed to take 9 months but actually took 3, my parents became legal permanent residents, however, a few days before they became residents I turned 21. Now I am the only person in my family with no status, and I am currently waiting in anticipation for the DREAM Act to adjust my status, to be able to get into internships before its too late and really become and enjoy the life of a college student in the manner that it is intended, not by commuting 5 hours each day and becoming a zombie around campus trying to look for a place to rest because I fear driving an hour each way and can't afford to stay closer because I can't work.

-D.G.M.

P.S. I thank whoever came up with this site and thank everyone that has been brave enough to share their stories, experiences and provide ideas and plans, it has certainly helped me and improved my mood in light of the stressful situation. It helps to know that I am not alone.