Firstly, mildly disappointed that there isn’t an Australian sub-forum - bloody tossers.
But seriously, I’m interested to know if the international students are the students that attend the elite schools and are in the 1% of your country for academics. I’m also considering if trying for an elite American university is worth it, for me. I already have access to two extremely highly-regarded universities in the world in Australia, excluding the elite American universities. So, attending an American university would just be a luxury and of course attending an elite university with a generous amount of financial aid is not dismissable.
I’ll be looking to study civil engineering but I doubt I’ll be competitive among people like yourselves. I go to a public school ranked 60th in Melbourne but I’m sure my finals score will be in the top 10% of the state. I also run track and field at state level as well as 7 years experience in martial arts. I’m from Chinese descent and they apparently discriminate against Asians in the selection process? I’m not sure how truthful that is but that’ll be lingering in my mind.
Most Australians who choose to study in America do it in their postgrad since its more feasible. I may do the same.
– and will you be needing financial aid?
Yup, I’ll need financial aid. Although, I’m not sure how much I’d be offered but my family earns 90k/year but our house is worth 800k AUSD.
^^ Same! My mum is a single parent and only earns probably $50k. House is worth $800k. So how did you get Berkeley fa? Also what other schools did you get into?
It’s not really about ethnicity- oddly enough, it’s about diversity. White middle class girls from the Northeast corridor also have a hard time breaking through- for the same reason: there are a lot of them whose applications are fundamentally similar.
In the US , selective colleges & universities like to build a community, which means having different kinds of people.The stereotype of an Asian applicant is perfect test scores, outstanding at a stringed instrument and if there is a sport, it’s an individual one (tennis, running) v a team sport. In AdComm eyes that translates to somebody who works very hard and keeps to themselves. White middle class girls - esp in the Boston-DC corridor- got the message that colleges like top grades and scores in rigorous classes, a team sport, a performance art and leadership positions, so- in their thousands they apply with all those boxes ticked. The result for both groups is that their serious hard work makes them end up looking like a whole bunch of other applicants. Which suits the AdComms fine- they can just browse the applications and pick out the ones who catch their eye from both groups (and various other ones- those are just fr’instance), so that they have some of everything.
For unis that accept fewer than 10% of their applicants- from a pool of 30 to 40 THOUSAND high achievers- they can choose the best of the best. Internationals are about 10% of the 10%. So, successful applicants - international or not- aren’t all Einsteins, but they pretty much always have something compelling about them. It is quite staggering how talented, hard working and motivated 17 year old secondary school students can be.
@collegemom3717 has described the process perfectly! ^^^^^
Use her advice.
Oh, and if you need financial aid, cross Berkeley off of your list. UC Berkeley is a publically-funded California state university. It does not have scholarship funding for OOS or international students. The limited scholarships they do give out to some students don’t make a dent in those annual costs of $55,000 per year.