Senior student, need advice

[Student1234]

I'm a Colombian senior student living in Florida who came to the US 6 years ago.
I have a 3.6 unweighted GPA, and 5.7 weighted GPA.
I'm finished with Calculus 3, and will be taking Advanced Differential Equations at a local university (as dual enrollment) as well as an advanced programming class next semester.
There's only one problem, I'm not legal.

My dreams are attending a high ranked school such as MIT, Cornell, Carnegie, GA Tech, CA Tech, majoring in quantum physics. Seems like it's going to be a tough task, though.

State colleges and universities should not ask for any information regarding your legal status when you submit your application. When applying to a state college or university, you are not required to put a social security number. You can leave the space blank on your application with no effect on your likelihood of acceptance. State schools are not required to report undocumented students to the federal government; however, they are required to report international students with a student visa from a foreign country. Once accepted to a state college or university, make sure you are not mistakenly classified as an international student.

I received a social security number during my naturalization process, does this really mean I could, for example, apply to one of the aforementioned schools with my social security number or without it? What if I applied without one?
Some scholarships require you to be a resident, do you think applying to one with my social security number can get me in trouble?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ccordova624]

I received a social security number during my naturalization process; does this really mean I could, for example, apply to one of the aforementioned schools with my social security number or without it? What if I applied without one? .

P.S. you confused me when you say "...during my naturalization process...” do you mean you are a US citizen?? I think is a mistake... but anyways...

1. If you are an illegal immigrant you can apply, be accepted, and attend a private or state university in the U.S. The only "catch" is that in state universities and Cals you will have to pay "out of state" tuition fees.

2. In most U.S. universities' applications (private or not) you need a social security number, however you can decline to provide one. State Universities do require you to tell them and send proof of your legal status in the US. (E.g. UCLA, UC Berkeley ... requested copies of my immigration status)...
If you don’t provide a S.S# to State Universities they will categorize you as an "out of state" till you prove your residency status.

Some scholarships require you to be a resident, do you think applying to one with my social security number can get me in trouble?.

1. If you apply for scholarships that require you to be a U.S. resident and you aren’t, YOU ARE DOING FRAUD. By doing so, you can be banned for life to ever adjust your status. Now if you decide to do it anyways... some institutions may ask to prove your resident status, some don’t... so you are doing it at your risk.

2. To obtain grants, some scholarships, and financial aid, a student needs to apply for FAFSA. In the FAFSA application the social security is a MUST, and FAFSA do check the immigration status.

3. Now... I don’t have a doubt that you are a very smart man... but without status your chances to continue your education are very slim, unless you finance your education by your own means.
HOWEVER, I would encourage you to apply for scholarships that DO NOT require US residency..., check with private universities and see the grants and scholarships that they have available for foreign students... many high recognized universities like Yale, Harvard, Stanford among others have given grants to non-US residents.

I wish you the best luck,

 

[thankful]

Your mentioning of naturalization confuses people. Can you please amend your post to make your situation more easier to understand?

 

[thankful]

Without legal status continuing your education will be very difficult. I have two tips for you:

(A) Do you have any status application PENDING right now? I believe that Florida will classify you as an in-state resident if you have something pending with the federal government or if you have some kind of semi-permanent status.
Check out this website:http://www.facts.org/html_sw/residencyGuidelines.html

(B) What are your admission test scores? A number of top colleges in the country admit students without regard to immigration status and then offer financial aid without regard to immigration status. Check out Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT. It goes without saying that getting accepted into one of those colleges is very hard.

Good luck.