<p>Hi.
I have some time to go before I have to apply to universities, but Stanford is my dream school. What scares me is that, for internationals, admissions is not need-blind; I believe that I will be a very strong applicant, but how treacherous would it be to ask for financial aid?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes Stanford is “need aware” for internationals…but, having said that…you also have to understand they will admit ANYONE they want to have on their campus regardless of income…if YOU are the kind of talented student they are looking for. Each year the percentage of incoming freshman internationals receiving financial aid have been climbing…and I would not be surprised in the very near future they will be need-blind for internationals as well…</p>
<p>…can you imagine how many more students from around the world would be applying if this were the case?</p>
<p>@gravitas2, you have always been an excellent source of information and advice on Stanford, so may I ask you, as the parent of a freshman (international), whether you know of any statistics on international applications? What I’m interested in is Stanford’s admit rate for internationals, say for the class of 2017, or just on the average? I have not run into any official figures on this, but I’m very curious to find out. Hope you can help. Thank you!</p>
<p>@perseverence. Let me get this straight. You have a freshman at Stanford now who happens to be international? Is that correct? Or are you planning to have your child apply in the future as an international student?</p>
<p>Well…since there seems to be so much confusion about international acceptance rates at all top schools that pervades CC threads for the past several years…let me try to shed some light.</p>
<p>Stanford and its peers DO NOT publish any data about HOW MANY international applicants apply to their institution for any previous years or even this year…but what you will see is the NUMBER of international students (called non-resident aliens by Stanford) that have matriculated in each class…and according to CDS:</p>
<p>164 internationals/1674 total entering class = 9.8% were internationals class of 2017
129 internationals/1762 total entering class = 7.3% were internationals class of 2016
142 internationals/1704 total entering class = 8.3% were internationals class of 2015
138 internationals/1672 total entering class = 8.3% were internationals class of 2014
128 internationals/1692 total entering class = 7.6% were internationals class of 2013</p>
<p>So you can see that the makeup of the entering Stanford class in the past 5 years ranged from 7.3% to 9.8% internationals.</p>
<p>This year…for class of 2018…Stanford noted they accepted 2138/42,167 = 5.07% for all students…with students from 71 countries (but we don’t know HOW MANY students from HOW MANY countries applied)…
…we are only told students from 71 countries were accepted…</p>
<p>…so theoretically, we don’t know if 5000 or 10,000 or 15,000 or 20,000 out of 42,167 were international applicants…since we are not given an international applicant breakdown…</p>
<p>If we average the number of internationals that matriculate at Stanford each year for the past 5 years we get 140 internationals per each entering class. And if we were to extrapolate and hypothesize that number represents 80% yield rate (range 79%-81% expected this year…possibly higher) then 175 internationals were theoretically admitted this year…and out of this 175 that were admitted we don’t know which country had the most applicants or the least applicants…we don’t know which country had 5000 applicants or 1 applicant…</p>
<p>For illustrative purposes let me explain…from Africa…Stanford may get hundreds of applicants from South Africa, Kenya, or Nigeria but may only get 1 applicant from Madagascar or 2 from Timbuktu, Mali…so if…
1/200 from South Africa get in then rate for South African is 0.50%
1/150 from Kenya get in then rate for Kenyan is 0.67%
1/100 from Nigeria get in then rate for Nigerian is 1%
1/2 from Mali get in then rate for Mali is 50%
1/1 from Madagascar get in then rate for Madagascar is 100%</p>
<p>…from Europe…Stanford gets hundreds of applicants from Great Britain, France, or Germany but may only get 2 applicants from Estonia…so if…
1/200 from UK get in then rate for UK is 0.50%
1/150 from Germany get in then rate for Germany is 0.67%
1/100 from France get in then rate for France is 1%
1/2 from Estonia get in then rate for Estonia is 50%</p>
<p>…from Asia/Australia…Stanford gets possibly thousands from China, India, hundreds from Korea, Japan, Australia, but may get only 1 from Bora Bora and 1 from Papua New Guinea…so if…
5/1200 from China get in then rate for China is 0.41%
5/1000 from India get in then rate for India is 0.5%
1/200 from Korea get in then rate for Korea is 0.5%
1/150 from Japan get in then rate for Japan is 0.67%
1/100 from Australia get in then rate for Australia is 1%
1/1 from Bora Bora get in then rate for Bora Bora is 100%
1/1 from Papua New Guinea get in then rate for Papua New Guinea is 100%</p>
<p>So…one can clearly see the wide variance of acceptance rates between those who apply from very POORLY-REPRESENTED COUNTRIES and those who apply from OVER-REPRESENTED COUNTRIES…that is…all things being EQUAL academically/ECs/essays/recommendations…but, that is easier said than done…</p>
<p>…what is available to students in advanced cities like Seoul, Tokyo, London, Berlin is very different than what is available to students in Mali, Bora Bora, Madagascar, or Papua New Guinea…and once again…the term holistic admissions policies are applied…</p>
<p>…most will acknowledge the overall acceptance rate for internationals to Stanford is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the overall acceptance rate of 5.07%…how low the numbers are…are up for debate…but definitely is affected by the nation from which one applies…</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Well thank you gravitas2, I knew you were a great source of information! My child is actually a freshman at Stanford this year, meaning she started last September (class of 2017). And we are thrilled 
She’s an international (Europe).</p>
<p>I was curious about international acceptance rates in general. So I guess we will never find out how many internationals apply, given Stanford does not make this information public. </p>
<p>I certainly understand the wide variance of acceptance rates between those who apply from poorly represented countries and those who apply from over-represented countries. But we don’t even know the overall admit rates for internationals. I wonder why Stanford doesn’t want to publish this information. I know of other colleges that do. Anyway, thank you very much. I enjoy your posts! </p>