By MARTIN

Applying for graduate school takes a lot of energy, emotional stress, and proactiveness. More critically, it’s all about networking and perseverance! During the process, you can become an owner of your identity as an undocumented individual, which will empower you, boost your confidence, and make you a more unique candidate for nursing school. I will explain how I earned my own identity. Overall, I hope this blog post facilitates your journey or gives you a glimpse to help you with the general process in applying to grad school, specifically for future undocunurses.

My name is Martin. I came to the U.S. at the age of 15 from Oaxaca, Mexico. As the title states, I’ve worked in the tomato fields at the age of 16, then as a dishwasher, a gardener, and a server. I completed all the levels of English as Second Language (ESL) courses, earned a General Education Diploma (GED), an Associates in pre-nursing, a bachelor’s in science from Cal State Northridge (CSUN), and created UndocuNurses while earning my master’s degree in nursing (MSN) from UCLA. Yes, that is a long educational journey, but I learned a tremendous amount during the process. As one of my mentors says, “Trust the process.” I would add: Learn, advocate for yourself, and embrace all the good and bad experiences.

I was ashamed of my status throughout community college, how couldn’t I? If the media portrayed the undocumented community in a negative, de-humanizing manner and unfounded fear. At my community college, there wasn’t a lot of movement or student organizations advocating for our community. Also, I lived in a conservative area in north county San Diego. At CSUN, I earned my identity as an undocumented student after joining Dreams to be Heard. I joined as a member, I felt part of the university, and later as a leader where I collaborated along other fierce leaders, true advocates and beautiful human beings. I am the underdog as many of you are, one of the unique stories of resiliency and pro-activeness; the one that many do not believe in, but I was the first undocumented nursing graduate student at UCLA, and just earned my MSN and registered nursing license (RN) in the state of California. Earning a master’s and my RN licenses took sixteen, yes Sixteen years!

First, let me note that there are several paths to become an RN that vary from private to public schools. More importantly know the difference between nursing programs (AND, BSN, MECN/MEPN, MSN). My program is specifically a Masters Entry Clinical Nursing (MECN) program, where you need to be completing or have completed a Bachelors program in any other field but nursing. My BS was in Public Health Promotions. This is not the regular MSN, so at the end you are a registered nurse with a masters in nursing but you are not a nurse practitioner.

After you have completed the core prerequisites of nursing (Anatomy, Physiology, chemistry, microbiology, general education) and you are finishing your undergraduate degree, then you are ready to apply or re-apply, (please) re-apply as nursing school is highly competitive, but with resiliency, Yes you can! I earned admission on the second year that I applied.

To Do list:

• First, do your research on the potential grad school programs you would want to apply to, attend info-sessions, contact recruiters, and network with other nursing aspirants. Networking is key, so if you are reading this, you are on the right track! Seriously, other applicants have essential information that can save you a lot of work.
• Think about the school’s location. Being close to home is comfortable, but please do not limit yourself and consider moving! I relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
• Get to know your instructors (office hours are the best) and your academic mentors. My mentor is an Asian-American Studies’ professor who advised our club at CSUN and wrote me a stellar letter of recommendation. You will need great letters of recommendation (LORs). UCLA MECN program requires three LORs. I received one from my microbiology professor, my mentor, and the director of my internship at Kaiser Permanente.
• Get involved in academic organizations. Social justice is important since our lives revolve around politics and social injustices. I was part of Dreams to be Heard at CSUN and learned so much from fierce leaders and learned to embrace my status instead of being ashamed.
• Volunteer in the medical field or health related organizations. I did 200+ clinical hours as a medical interpreter at Palomar health, completed a public health promotions internship, and have volunteered for numerous community events and health fairs in San Diego and Los Angeles.
• Personal statement: think about why do you want to become a nurse? What can you bring to the school of nursing? And what are your future goals to benefit your community? Brainstorm, draft a statement, edit it, polish it, and have other great writers read your statement. A UCLA med student polished mine so brilliantly that I earned a 95% score on my application. So, first time I was denied, second time I was in the top five in the pool of applicants.
• Have a resume or a CV (preferred) to list all your academics, professional, community, and extracurricular activities.
• Apply, apply and re-apply. The MECN application opens from October 1 to November 1. Do not miss the deadline and apply to at least three or more schools. If you do not get in, do not give up. Ask for feedback from the admissions director and polish your application. I earned admission to two prestigious programs: a Baccalaureate program at CSUN (no longer offered) and UCLA MSN.
• Apply to financial aid with your application. PAY attention to this as the number one reason we hold back to even think of grad school. At the end of the application, there is a section to apply for fellowships. I was awarded with one of the biggest institutional fellowships at UCLA. Also, keep applying to private scholarships, and keep saving your money. The MECN program is challenging and having extra money when you are unable to work is amazing.
• Keep a positive attitude, polish your application, and earn a certification; I earned a Emergency Medical Technician license, which boosted my candidacy. And get involved with undocumented organizations. I earned a scholarship from Pre-Health Dreamers (PHD) and I met the most fierce, talented, and admirable advocates of our communities. I met stars from the Undocumented community, such as the founders of PHD, and visited San Francisco for the first time in 14 years.

I hope this short list and some my first-hand experience can give you general ideas for applying to graduate school, and specifically for those of you interested in nursing programs. I will be happy to share the next phase on my experience after getting into UCLA. The struggle continues. Stay tuned-in, and until then, be kind to yourself! You deserve one of those seats and a voice in grad school.

This post is part of the series UndocuGrads: Navigating Graduate School as an Undocumented Student where undocumented graduate school students and alumni share tips and knowledge about navigating graduate school. Many thanks to UndocuScholars for making this series possible. As an extension of the UndocuScholars project launched in 2014 at UCLA, the ongoing efforts of UndocuScholars are to engage institutional agents, college and university students, scholars, and community advocacy partners to create and further build on sustainable and effective best practices for undocumented students in higher education.

And many thanks to Elspeth Michaels for her design of the image for the series. To see more of her work, check out her website here.

Martin came to work at the age of 15 to the U.S. He is a GED recipient and transferred to MiraCosta Community College, where he spent five years. He fell in love with nursing after the 2008 economic banks-made mess and since then has volunteered for numerous community-based organizations and hospitals. His recent achievements include a B.S from CSUN, EMT and RN license, MSN from UCLA. He is also the founder of UndocuNurses, which aims to support current and future nursing students.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of My Undocumented Life, its editors, or any other organization the author(s) may be affiliated with.

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Categories: Applying to Grad School, UndocuGrads: Stories of former and current undocumented grad students

Tags: education, Immigration, UndocuGrad, undocumented