Undocumented student goes to Harvard on a full ride - Page 2

The only thing that matters at Harvard for a full ride is income. They don't give merit scholarships.

It sucks to be asian trying to get into a top school, they make it almost hard for them

Glad to see that Harvard has changed its policies. They weren't so understanding when I was initially accepted back in 2006, and actually asked for 2 years of tuition in an escrow account.

Blessing in disguise, as it turned out, as the state school I went to had connections to people who were willing to give me private donations all the way to grad school. Suck it, Harvard. It's full of morons with subhuman intelligence coasting by with their legacy status, anyway.

They won't care if you pay cash up front...But a few years ago they would not have bothered to give people in our shoes a free ride.

They give inheritence points. Lol.... They actually do.

Really? I've read about undocumented having scholarship opportunities at Harvard even back in 03-04. I thought most ivy leagues simply didn't care as long as you had the hard numbers and activities to be accepted.

This is somewhat true, but most of those schools pre-2007 would package loans along with scholarships so your financial aid package may not be a full-ride so to speak. So you could have gone to Harvard, but they would have probably given you a lot of loans through its institution.

Whenever people applied as international students, you had to always demonstrate income and include that as part of your application (including the Ivies). It was only in 2007 that those schools went need blind for international students and revamped their policies.

I applied to college in '03 - '04 as well.

This what I was asked for back in the day.

I was accepted to Harvard via early action in 2005 and began as a Freshman in 2006. I did not apply as an international student despite being undocumented. I simply made my status clear to both the admissions office and to the financial aid office. I was never asked to take any loans and graduated in 2011 with zero debt. Harvard's financial aid office is always eager to find ways to help students in need. The key is to be upfront with them and ask for help.

That's pretty awesome! It makes me wonder why we even bother to get into local schools that give us such a hard time regarding our status. Had I known this I would have totally applied at an Ivy League school. I had excellent grades and SAT scores when I was in high school, and I was poor as can be, so I think I could've had a good shot . Makes so happy to hear to hear of any Dreamer achieving college education!