<p>Two of my friends (both international students) applied to Yale last year, one got in, one didn't.
They both had stellar test scores (1550+, 800s for the SAT IIs), and Friend A was the valedictorian of a competitive international prep school, while Friend B was ranked third of the same school.</p>
<p>I had a chance to read both of their essays (we all traded essays with each other for evaluation), and in my opinion A's essays were clearly superior and more real. In addition, Friend A had better ECs, and more leadership positions than B, although B's ECs weren't bad (they just weren't as good as A's).</p>
<p>BUT
A applied for Financial Aid (lots of it), while B, did not.</p>
<p>Well guess what, B got in, and A didn't. While there may have been other intangible factors, I do not see how B got in and A did not, if colleges were truly need-blind; both were of the same ethic background (Asian), both had similar scores, but in every other aspect A was much better.</p>
<p>Maybe I am being overly cynical?
Any insights/responses?</p>
<p>Friend A was the valedictorian of a competitive international prep school.</p>
<p>Friend B was ranked third of the SAME school.</p>
<p>BUT, A applied for Financial Aid (lots of it), while B, did not</p>
<p>as the poster above says, most schools are not need blind to internationals. Also, many colleges can guess the socio-economic backgrounds of kids attending "competitive international prep" schools.</p>
<p>They may have suspected something fishy in A's application for aid - which in turn could have reflected less honesty in As's application.</p>
<p>I think the point has been missed. The OP said both students applied to Yale. One of the colleges that claims to be needblind for both domestic and international applicants. </p>
<p>This observation is interesting and the question very valid. Unfortunately i'm not sure if financial status really factored into the decision or if there was something else. For example you have an opinion about their essays while adcoms may see them differently.</p>
<p>I don't think you can make a judgment about an application based on just grades and essays. Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances you don't know about between the two candidates. You say A was better, but you are basing that on grades alone and from the info given the two look similar in that aspect. There is just too much you don't know. Applications are a holistic judgment, not based only on numbers. And its not fair to Yale or the second student for you to second guess a private decision because you don't think its right or have a fishy feeling about. </p>
<p>Yale claims to be need-blind. There are many articles and topics and threads suggesting need-blind isn't what it claims. Do a search on CC for it.</p>
<p>Hi, Actually, I don’t think our daughter will count as an “International” student, as she has a U.S. passport and we are both U.S. citizens who have paid U.S. taxes during our twenty years abroad. She has a SS number but has not lived in the states as a resident. I am hoping, anyway, she is looked on as an American. Had not occurred to me she would not be!</p>
<p>With a US passport, your D will be reviewed under the “domestic” pile.</p>
<p>To the OP: While colleges may not take into account your application for financial aid, the simple fact is that no selective college is truly need-blind. The types of ECs that they reward in admissions typically require families with means to participate in those activities.</p>
<p>Forgive my ignorance, but in the case of EA schools (she applied early to two non-binding schools) they don’t yet have our FA information (as I understand it we fill it out in January when the new form comes out) so how do they know how much aid we need or don’t need when they make their decision? Sorry to be stupid, but living so far away, and this is my first child to apply I don’t get how it works though I am reading everything I can. Do they decided to accept and then later, once we have filed the FA forms, tell us how much she would get?</p>
<p>If you haven’t yet filed the FAFSA and (probably) PROFILE, the schools may contact you to do so, or they may quietly defer her to RD. They won’t make a FA offer without these required docs. You can email the schools’ admission and/or financial aid offices and ask; they’ll gladly tell you what you need to do (they want applicants!). There are lots of first-timers!</p>
<p>Thanks for this…will call both schools tomorrow. Very confusing as every time I check FAFSA they say the forms don’t come out until January 1. But it does seem hard to believe that they would accept our D without this knowledge of what her financial needs are.</p>
<p>I just had a thought…since these schools are EA and not ED, they won’t need to give you a FA package until spring (after they’ve received your FAFSA).</p>
<p>These schools may either be “need blind” or don’t meet 100% of need so they don’t really need to know whether you can afford the school or not in order to accept her.</p>
<p>Do you know what these schools’ policies are? Need blind? Don’t meet 100% of need? Need aware?</p>
<p>I guess in this economy, who knows how “need blind” any school really is. </p>
<p>In some cases (not this thread’s example), a college can certainly guess who’d need a lot of aid by the zip code or the high school of the applicant.</p>