Elizabeth Garcia Ponte doesn’t hesitate when asked to name the most significant part of her college experience: The opportunity to have the experience in the first place. “I was really uncertain if I would be able to actually go to college,” she says. “So just the fact that I was able to get in was pretty impactful.”

No, grades weren’t the problem for Elizabeth, who is now trying to decide between Ph.D. programs in materials science and engineering at Cornell University and UC Santa Barbara. Being an undocumented immigrant, on the other hand, was. A big one.

Elizabeth, whose parents brought her to the United States from Uruguay at the age of 5, is protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But she is not eligible to receive any federal or state financial aid, and it took a combination of scholarships to allow Elizabeth to attend Furman. She didn’t waste the opportunity.

A fellowship at the California Institute of Technology highlights four years of researching and presenting research across the country, which she accomplished while also playing violin in the Furman Symphony Orchestra.

There is no path for Elizabeth to gain U.S. citizenship, but she’s as used to it as she can be and remains focused on the future. “My mom used to tell me, ‘You’re not at the same level for opportunities as your peers,’ and I kind of took that to heart and tried to work as hard as I could,” Elizabeth says. “It is a burden and it is difficult, but it’s something I have to overcome.”