Do internationals count as URMs?

i’ve been thinking about this a lot so here it is since i don’t have any hooks… like, at all can international applicants be considered as URMs? in addition, if your grades dipped due to something like domestic abuse where can you put that in your application?

Int’ls supposedly don’t count as URMs in the colleges’ reporting of racial breakdown to the US government. That’s not to say the colleges don’t still try to improve their overall representation of URMs on campus.

so it could help my chances?

I live in africa too btw

Colleges are keen to have geographic & cultural diversity. Coming from an obscure country (i.e. not China, India, SKorea) could help.

tnx

Yes, but you would still be competing with students from places like Pakistan, Nepal and what not country if you are applying for aid, and many of these applicants are very, very good. Don’t think of yourself as a URM; you’re not. You are part of a very, very competitive pool of applicants, especially if you are applying for financial aid (10% acceptance rate or below at all schools that promise to meet full need for international students).

Assuming all other things are equal. A college is unlikely to admit a student from Gambia, for instance, just to put a flag on the map.