<p>Well, Ok what I know at a lot of schools being an international helps getting admiteed, especially if your from this foreign exotic country lol. And then I read a lot of posts on these forums saying that being an internationa will hurt your chances cause its harder to get in.
So which one is it? My counsler says it will help. I dont know :S lol.
Especially that some schools have quotas for each country.</p>
<p>In most cases, hurt, big time. There are tons of International applicants to compete with.</p>
<p>Still...they are less than the number of americans applying...and some universities have quotas for each country, and some schools put less emphasis on the SATs cause english isnt our first language, so wouldn't that generally make it easier for us to get in or am I mistaken?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you are mistaken. At the most competitive schools the ratio of applicants to places allocated for internationals dwarfs the same ratio for dometics.</p>
<p>setting quotas is actually illegal now. yes you're correct that there are far less international students applying than domestic students, but they accept far less international students anyway. for example, only 2-3% of Cal's student body is international students.</p>
<p>Juggieburger,</p>
<p>There's truth to both sides of the conflicting stories that you're hearing. Nearly all colleges seek diverse student bodies and actively seek to enroll the best international students as a way of increasing that diversity. The other side of the story is that many more international students apply to competitive schools than these colleges can possibly accept. It's probably the most competitive "lane" in selective college's applicant pool. So if you are a top international student, you will be a very attractive candidate--but you will also have competition from students from all over the world who'd like to attend a college or university in the US.</p>
<p>Juggieburger, you're statement is incorrect. </p>
<p>True, there's less international students apply, but the international students enrolled is even less. For example, MIT admits 14% American students, and only 4% students.
Furthermore, most international students are among the strongest from thier country, either academically, financially, or other resources, unlike american students, even a normal joe might try to apply to Harvard.
So, you're competitors are much more, and much stronger.</p>
<p>PS although they take second language into consideration, believe me, there are TONS of international students who have PERFECT English, and their reading/writing exceeds 99% of native speakers.
Some selective colleges don't even care if English is second language, they just want people who's English is good enough to fit in the environment.</p>