<p>I am an international. It will be incredibly difficult to visit any school that I apply to even thought I'm just north of the US. </p>
<p>I love everything about a school. Literally everything. It offers everything in terms of research, academics, facilities, opportunity, small class sizes, good admit rate to med school, etc....but I can't visit.</p>
<p>Getting into any good school as an international is tough but if I ED my chances would improve quite a bit. I might be one of those borderline candidates for admission so I don't know if I can get in RD.</p>
<p>I can be more specific about school and other factors if I need to be. For now, I need advice.</p>
<p>Personally, I would just apply ED but totally stalk the school before I do. You know, look up pictures of campus, watch visitor lectures, find all the information I can.</p>
<p>Actually now that I think about it, I’m in the same boat as you (except I do live in the states) and yeah, that will probably be exactly what I do.</p>
<p>My thinking is, take a chance. You’ll probably love it. And if you absolutely cannot stand the school once you’re there for a year, there’s always transferring.</p>
<p>I would not recommend applying ED without a visit, but I don’t have any better suggestions. This is all just based on my own experiences so far. I had a school like that that was absolutely perfect for me on paper. I was settled on going there. I did a visit, and from talking to the kids and attending a class found that the school wasn’t so perfect. It didn’t have the “fit” that’s so important. The school is still on my list, but not as high. On the other hand, I’m currently choosing between two schools for ED. Both I visited at the requirement of my parents, but after visiting I really felt like I belonged at those schools. The kids just seemed like my type, and I wanted to be there so badly. </p>
<p>In short, I think fit is an extremely important factor, and you can’t really get that without a visit.</p>
<p>Shoot, first of all is this in the wrong forum?</p>
<p>And yea, I am a little worried about fit…any other suggestions or people that have gone through what I am facing? (and how can I move this thread to College Search and Selection?).</p>
<p>What about financial aid? As an international, the school may be need aware and so your choices will depend on your need for FA. If you don’t need FA, applying ED may help as they know you will not drop out due to financial reasons. However, if you need aid, the chances may change. Remember that before you make any decisions.</p>
<p>Also if your are borderline for RA, ED may not help that much.</p>
<p>The school is need blind and it meets 100% of demonstrated need (at least I’m really sure that it does). The school is Dartmouth. Also, I don’t know if I am a borderline candidate or not…but wouldn’t ED help a lot if I am borderline (utmost demonstrated interest as a tipping factor in my favour perhaps…?).</p>
<p>Your chances will not improve as a borderline candidate by applying ED. The large majority who get in ED are hooked-athletes, legacies, staff kids, development. After that they will accept highly qualified candidates that they might lose to HYPS during RD. There is no benefit for the borderline.</p>
<p>Demonstrated need is a very misunderstood term. Can you afford Dartmouth based on your financial situation. You may want to verify that before you take the next step. How does Dartmouth look at aid for internationals. Check that out first.</p>
Yes. There are only 6 schools in the US this year that are both need-blind for admissions and which meet full need for internationals (those last two words are critical), and Dartmouth is one of them.</p>
<p>Though I agree, ED is rarely a tipping point. Quite the contrary at some schools. They do not want to admit a borderline candidate during ED only to have to reject a superb candidate during RD. So essentially all of the students who got in ED are students who would have gotten in RD.</p>
<p>If you absolutely cannot visit, I would suggest looking up videos of campus tours and whatnot. There are 2 or 3 websites out there that offer such videos and also give ratings on each aspect of the school. </p>
<p>You may love all the tangible things the school has to offer, like the programs or facilities, but to me, the atmosphere is what sets one school apart from the others. Don’t base your decision solely on the academic opportunities.</p>
<p>If you can’t visit ED to ANY school you apply to then you might as well apply ED to the one you love the most. But if money is an issue, make sure this school meets international demonstrated need. Or you’ll be in trouble!</p>
<p>bump…how would I know if I am competitive or not though? I am an international and don’t really have any hooks so I don’t know if my stats and ECs are good enough to get me in RD or even ED…how would I even know if ED helps?</p>
<p>I applied ED to one university without visiting. Thought it was perfect. Got in. Went. But I ended up leaving after the first semester. Turned out once I got there it just wasn’t right. I wish someone had advised me not to do that. So here it goes: I do not recommend that you make an ED decision before visiting the campus and 1) attending a class or two 2) talking to students 3) seeing how you feel walking around campus. If you can’t visit, then apply regular decision and give yourself some different options in case this particular university doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Viggyram asks how he should know whether he should apply ED as an international. Check with the school. At several schools, internationals can only apply RD, so ED cannot help you.</p>
<p>On a larger issue, asking if you are competitive is a tricky question to answer. Given the disparity of educational opportunities and educational systems around the world, it is very hard to judge “competitiveness”. Trust me, the top schools understand the difference between a Cambridge A-level, a Nigerian A-level, and a Hong Kong A-level, or the difference between a German Abitur and a Finnish Abitur, and a wide variety of other qualifications as well. So asking “am I competitive” is not an easy question to answer with an international. </p>
<p>A better question is “Do I really want to go to [insert school here]”. If the answer is yes, then you should certainly consider an application. Last year, each school admitted precisely 0% of those who did not apply.</p>
<p>Here’s who ED helps at the most selective schools: A super qualified candidate.</p>
<p>In the ED round, these schools are mostly accepting recruited athletes, legacies, development, staff kids and the other hooked. With the space left they grab kids they might lose in RD to HYPS.</p>
<p>As an international, you need to understand that each school will only accept a few from your country. If you’re from a country they see few applicants from, they may take you believing they want a kid from Chad and may not get one if they don’t grab the opportunity.</p>
<p>If you’re from India, the UK, Korea or Austrlia, they are not worried about not getting their quota and you would need to be a very top candidate from the Country, using historical data, for them to not wait and see all the applications from the country before accepting you.</p>