College decisions and financial aid
Sometimes I completely loathe the United States government, especially when it interferes with my lifelong dreams.
Only four days left, and I am officially freaking out now. I need to get into an Ivy school. I even wish I could say that because of pride, but of course, everything comes down to money and politics.
I got another letter in the mail yesterday from a non-Ivy but fairly wonderful school saying that it can't process my financial aid application because I never filed the FAFSA. Well, I can't file the FAFSA because of the government, who feels the need to discriminate against all immigrants just because of its own mistake called 9/11. I also can't apply for most scholarships. I have lived in the United States for 12 years. It's incredible that I have to be treated differently just because I was born on foreign soil, something I had no control over. My parents and I have been filing for permanent resident status for years, but every few months, some piece of crap comes in the mail saying that I have to go get my fingerprints taken again or that they're doing background checks. Wtf could I have done in China when I was only 5 years old, go to kindergarten for terrorists?! It's just frustrating, and I am sick of being pissed off about it.
Of course, only the best schools in the country give as much financial aid as needed to international students. The catch is, admittance is not need-blind for them and they are placed in their own tighter pool, so it's much much harder for someone like me to get into an Ivy school than everyone else. Penn sent me a letter practically threatening me with its statistics of accepting only 50 international students a year who applied for aid. Needless to say, I had to withdraw my financial aid application in order to be considered on an equal level with other applicants. I just hope that if I don't get in to the other Ivy schools that I applied, it's because of my own fault, my grades, my activities, or something that I personally did instead of money or being born on the wrong continent.
Only four days left, and I am officially freaking out now. I need to get into an Ivy school. I even wish I could say that because of pride, but of course, everything comes down to money and politics.
I got another letter in the mail yesterday from a non-Ivy but fairly wonderful school saying that it can't process my financial aid application because I never filed the FAFSA. Well, I can't file the FAFSA because of the government, who feels the need to discriminate against all immigrants just because of its own mistake called 9/11. I also can't apply for most scholarships. I have lived in the United States for 12 years. It's incredible that I have to be treated differently just because I was born on foreign soil, something I had no control over. My parents and I have been filing for permanent resident status for years, but every few months, some piece of crap comes in the mail saying that I have to go get my fingerprints taken again or that they're doing background checks. Wtf could I have done in China when I was only 5 years old, go to kindergarten for terrorists?! It's just frustrating, and I am sick of being pissed off about it.
Of course, only the best schools in the country give as much financial aid as needed to international students. The catch is, admittance is not need-blind for them and they are placed in their own tighter pool, so it's much much harder for someone like me to get into an Ivy school than everyone else. Penn sent me a letter practically threatening me with its statistics of accepting only 50 international students a year who applied for aid. Needless to say, I had to withdraw my financial aid application in order to be considered on an equal level with other applicants. I just hope that if I don't get in to the other Ivy schools that I applied, it's because of my own fault, my grades, my activities, or something that I personally did instead of money or being born on the wrong continent.