Graduate Schools Options for an Undocu without DACA Friend of Mine
Hey so a friend of mine is undocu without DACA. They graduated from a T15 university with a bachelor's degree and majoring in chemistry. They got fully funded through private grants. They want to go to graduate school to pursue materials science and engineering to study either battery or optoelectronic materials. My friend is looking for grad school options in the USA and abroad (Canada and Germany).
In the USA, they are emailing a variety of chem, phys, matsci, etc professors at different universities to increase their chance of Ph.D admissions acceptance. They have got a some favorable professor responses about admissions but nothing is guaranteed. My friend has not disclosed their status to admissions or PIs.
In the Canada, they have been accepted to 2 research groups with quite generous M.Sc funding.
No German admissions cycles have opened as yet. Although, they are looking at DAAD scholarship opportunities for study in Germany. My friend is unsure about their odds of getting the scholarship, but is confident in M.Sc admissions to those schools.
This friend is genuinely worried about:
If they stay in the USA, are there legitimate mechanisms to allow them to get funded for doctoral programs in STEM?
If they go abroad to Canada or Germany, they are worried about student visa rejection due to their status in the USA. My friend came to the USA when they were 4 years old. Finances are surprisingly not near an issue for them. They are worried about the legal part.
Can anyone try to address their worries and maybe just additional info to help them throughout their admissions process? This feels very unfair to them. Also, they constantly talk about how they cannot reach their full potential in the USA which makes me feel terrible.
