101: Life As an Undocumented Student at Harvard
Normally on the podcast I’ll be interviewing admissions professionals, but I wanted to begin with a student named Daishi for a few reasons:
He is an inspiring human being with an incredible story, as you’ll hear on this podcast.
He happens to be undocumented, and under the new administration a lot of questions have come up for students and parents and even teachers/counselors--big things like What’s changing in general? To more specifics like “Should students reveal themselves as undocumented in their personal statements?” I wanted to interview Daishi to get his perspective on this, since he’s on the front lines of this debate. And just, on a human level,
I wanted to find out from Daishi what it’s like living as an undocumented college student under a Trump administration while attending Harvard University.
Quick side note: there are many wonderful colleges out there (Harvard is just one of them) and one of my goals with this podcast is to introduce you to some of the non-Ivy-League schools, but, I elected to kick off the podcast with Daishi and, well, he happens to attend Harvard.
In today's episode, we get into:
- What a typical day is like for a Harvard student
- What it might mean for him and 700,000+ other undocumented students if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is repealed
- What Daishi wrote his college essay about and why
- What he felt like he did well in the college application process
- How he stays calm/centered
PLAY-BY-PLAY
What the show’s about [0:57]
One thing that makes Daishi amazing [3:05]
What a typical day at Harvard is like, including how the food is [4:05]
The class Daishi feels lucky to take [8:20]
Whether Harvard was easier or harder than he thought it was going to be [9:15]
What surprised Daishi about college life [10:25]
What helped Daishi most in his transition to college [11:45]
What it’s like being an undocumented student at Harvard [13:15]
How things have changed for him since the election [17:30]
When and how he began to embrace his undocumented status [19:15]
What happens to him and 700,000+ other undocumented students if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is repealed [23:40]
What election night was like for Daishi and the members of his organization, Act on a Dream [26:05]
What makes Daishi so brave [28:20]
Daishi shares the personal statement he submitted to Harvard [31:05]
The perfect line in the essay that explodes in my mind and takes it to the next level [35:11]
What it was like writing his essay and how many drafts he wrote [35:50]
When Daishi knew he was done with the essay [36:30]
Why he chose to open the essay with three repeated Japanese words and what resonated with me personally [37:23]
What it’s like looking back on the essay years later [39:24]
What Daishi felt he rocked in the application process and advice to students applying to college [40:27]
What was crucial for you in the college application process? [42:06]
The crazy thing he did in high school that led to a topic for his second essay[44:30]
Why he chose the topics he chose and why he chose to reveal his undocumented status in the essay [47:38]
Daishi’s advice to other undocumented students debating whether or not to reveal their status in their college essays [42:07]
What it was like the day he was accepted to Harvard [53:40]
When he began to feel he was woven into the fabric of Harvard history [56:49]
What the future looks like for Daishi [58:35]
The new role Daishi’s organization is playing on the Harvard campus since Trump’s election [60:35]
The advice Daishi would give to any student going through this process [1:02:57]
Show and tell [1:04:58]
Guided Meditation to the Most Relaxing Song Ever [1:05:00]
RELEVANT LINKS FROM EPISODE
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Daishi’s main Common App personal statement and supplemental essay
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Guided Meditation to the Most Relaxing Song Ever (Ethan’s “Show & Tell”)
