Grad School Question

For those who are in grad school or were in grad school;

how did you guys pay for it?

Is it possible for DREAMERs to get aid of any kind for grad school?

Any advice for future DREAMERs considering applying to grad school?

Thanks guys!

For those of you looking to attend graduate school and ways of funding it there is a really helpful discussion from IDEAS involving DREAMers in grad school talking about which schools accepted them and how they paid for it. Here is summary of the ~hour long discussion/podcast combined with some experiences shared by DAPers. If you have experiences you want to anonymously share to add to this discussion, PM me.

List of Graduate Schools that have taken DREAMers and how helpful they were in funding but take the financial info with a grain of salt because it often depends on the department. When I talk about how easy it was to get in, I'm not speaking academically, lol, I'm talking about how easy it was to convince them to take you with your status.

ASU - Hard to get in but once in, the guy got a lot of help financially
Brown University - Has had DREAMers before and is very helpful in funding
Cal Poly Pomona - Easy to get into and did not give them a hard time, if you're applying here you can speak to Marcos
Columbia - Gave a large scholarship for a masters program
CSU-NorthRidge -1/2 the cost of UCLA
Drexel - Person withdrew application and chose another school but they were still giving them a hard time about not having a visa.*
Hunter College -no real scholarships
NYU - easy to get in but no real funding
Penn State - Has had DREAMers before
Rutgers - no luck with funding
Stanford - Has given DREAMers full rides before
UC-Berekley -can be helpful in funding but it all depends on your department
UCLA -can be helpful at times in funding
University of Michigan -easy to get in but don't know how helpful they are in providing help financailly
Yale -Has had DREAMers before and is very helpful in funding



*If a school (especially a private school) is giving you a hard time in even accepting you with your status have your pro-dream congressman contact them if they give you trouble. It has worked for a few people in the past. There is no reason why they can't accept you other than out of meanspiritness and a lot of these schools preach social justice and responsibility, so make them practice what they preach. Most are coming around though and once they see you face to face, they will usually work with you.

I think it also depends on the department and requires a lot of work on our end in explaining why we can't get a visa.
Networking is really important and even if a school says that international students must have a visa, they make exceptions.
Also someone told LatinaHispana that Stanford won't help us out financially, there are undocumented immigrants that have graduated from Stanford with full rides. So even if a school says they won't, keep trying. Face to face contact is more effective than emails or even phone calls. If they have anything resembling a heart, they will try to work with you.

There's a DAPer in Dental School right now (Bruinman) and at least one in Law School ( rocksteady), PM them if you want to know more. Those of you applying to Medical School, I found one DREAMer who was able to attend and there are plenty of former undocumented immigrants who went to medical school after they got their green cards. If anyone is interested in speaking with anyone of these people PM me and I'll send you their info but just to warn you I'm sure they get a lot of requests for info.

I'm also wondering how can we get into grad school when most of the grad school required 2 years or more of working experience. We don't really have any real working experience since we are not allowed to work legally.

I took two years off between undergrad and law school. I got work through a fellowship opportunity and contract jobs with organizations. My status was never questioned. I think it helped that I had an SSN though.

None of the science graduate programs I applied to asked for work experience. Most only asked for a resume if you had applicable work experience to the program you're applying for. I took two years off between undergraduate and graduate, and it didn't seem to matter to any of the schools I applied that I hadn't worked in my field yet.

Depends on what field you are applying to. For students wanting to enter an MBA program they ask for work experience, that's why I didn't apply. But now I'm applying for grad school in stats and they don't ask for that or a resume except for one of the schools I was looking at.

If you live in one of those states that offer instate tuition, you can obviously apply to those colleges and save money.

hello every1, i was wandering if i want to go to a culinary school, r there any aids available since i dont even have a social security card?

A very informative post. Thank you.

Bump! I want to apply for Maritime College State University of New York. Being that Maritime is part of New York's State University apparatus that would automatically disqualify me from all government money, as far as I know? After I disclose to graduate board that I do not have a G.C. or SSN I would then be classified as an international student and be required to pay "international student fees"!, as far as I know? Any suggestions on my conclusion's would be appreciated! The reason I want to this school is because I attended the California Maritime Academy and now I want to pursue a graduate maritime degree. BTW, if any dreamers are interested in attending Cal Maritime, let me know I can give you advice.

most medical gradu school do not accept undocumented students