Weeks of riding the bus and struggling through classes had taken its toll. As she rattled north toward campus, De La Cruz realized that her chances of getting a job as a psychologist were tiny even if she were to graduate with a B average because she probably can't afford graduate school and most companies won't hire illegal immigrants.
"I guess I'm going to have to put my diploma up on the wall and that'll be all," she said.
When she got back to Westwood, De La Cruz stopped at an apartment of seniors she'd recently met who agreed to let her sleep on their couch so she wouldn't have to take the bus home. De La Cruz promised to be back from her study group by 11:30 p.m.
"No," student Rosemary Garcia said. "You stay until midnight if you have to. Study."
De La Cruz stayed until 2 a.m., then got lost and wandered the streets of Westwood until almost 3 before finding the apartment. When she went to take her test the next morning, she wore the same clothes from the day before.
She got her results a week later, crowding around a teaching assistant until her name was called and then grabbing her test -- a solid C, based on the curve.
At the end of the quarter, she had a C-plus in the class. She got an A-minus in art appreciation, earning a B-minus average. Still, she was crushed over her Life Science course.
All of those miles commuting, the cold silences from her mother, the long hours she'd worked, only to fall short.
"This C stuff isn't working," she muttered.
--
jason.song@latimes.com
--
About this story
This is the first in a series of occasional articles about a UCLA student, in this country illegally and largely without financial or academic support, during her freshman year. The surname she uses -- her mother's family name -- has been omitted to shield her from repercussions that could result if she were fully identified. Her father's surname is being used instead.
