A little of my story..

Hello everyone!

I'm so glad I found this site! There's some days where I feel like I am all alone and the only one having to go through the things I have to go through.

Anyways, so I was born in Mexico. I was brought here by my parents when I was 4 years old and have been in the US since then. I am now 19. Like many of you have already pointed out, at first my immigration status really made no difference to me. I had a normal childhood filled with laughter and love. As I got older (especially once 16 came around) I found myself getting more and more frustrated at my situation. While my friends were getting their licenses and their first jobs, I was worrying about what how I was ever going to have a normal life.

In high school, I must admit, I did really bad. I did not want to attend class and I felt that if I put an effort it would be for nothing. I am now enrolled in community college and have a 3.8 gpa! I will earn my AA in Business Administration in the next few months and will be transferring to UC Berkeley. Once I earn my bachelor's degree, I hope to continue on to law school.

The worst part about my situation is that I feel that I am not living a normal life. I feel like a criminal when I have no record! I am living in constant fear. I have never even driven because I do not want to ruin my chances once something does happen for us (and something WILL happen, it has to). I am a law abiding person who has so much to offer to this country.

Although there are days that I am very angry, I stop and reflect at the fact that as bad as our problem is, it has a solution. Sooner rather than later (I hope!), we will be given the opportunity to make our dreams come true. The good part of this is that through our experiences we have learned how to appreciate what we have and what we will have. We have been taught to be self sufficient and to work for what we have.

"Keep true to the dreams of the youth."

uc berkeley is a great school! congrats!
ill be a sophomore at a community college come fall.
i have a q for you, how are you planning on paying for cal?

I wanted to transfer from my community college to Berkeley but I could not afford it. They offer to pay for part of the costs, but I still did not have enough money. The cost sky rockets when you start adding living expenses and such. They don't offer much assistance for undergraduates. Thank god the PhD program is different. They will pay for everything if you do well and get accepted.

In order to make the living expenses smaller I would suggest renting a large appartment with a group of people. Maybe going to a site where there are many people that will be getting into college soon, start talking to them and try to arrange a group that are willing to share the cost of renting. I have found that it slashes the living expenses cost considerably while allowing access to other cost slashing benefits. At least in my current school that includes the ability to cook which is not available in the dorms and significantly larger living spaces for a lower cost that could increase comfort while studying.

I have known a group of people rent a large appartment in a pretty good neighborhood and split the cost such that it cost each person about 300 per month in Chicago.

Berkeley is a great school, and its worth at least the effort to find a way to get in. Good luck.