<p>holycow, We also live overseas (in Southeast Asia) and our son attends college in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>My son did end up choosing an LAC instead of a large university. He went to the same highschool as Robyrm's kids, so same situation: the GCs feel that the LACs are in general good matches for kids from this highschool. Having said that, many of my son's friends have gone on to excel at large universities, the Ivy League, U Texas and everything in between, so I'd say that the international experience itself is not a determining factor in choosing the size of the school. As a parent, however, I've been really pleased with the level of personal attention and community involvement that he's found at his LAC. Being 10,000 miles away, it's been comforting to know that the natives are friendly and that help is easy to come by, both personal and academic.</p>
<p>Logistically planning the college visit trip to see a wide range of schools and spend quality time at each was the biggest challenge for us. Since there was no possibility that our son would have been able to return to the US for a second visit after the acceptances came in, we only wanted him to apply to colleges that he had seen. We also made good use of the Collegiate Choice videos for prescreening and for reminding once we were back home.</p>
<p>American citizens living abroad may be or may not be classified as internationals, depending on what the college needs. If it matters to you, you'll need to ask the individual school. In general the colleges like expat kids because they help the school with "international diversity" and they don't have visa or language issues. If they come from a third world or an Islamic country so much the better.</p>
<p>My son has a network of kids from his highschool all over the US (and Europe) whom he frequently visits on holidays. His college classmates have also been very hospitable in inviting him to their homes, so vacations have never been a problem for him. Most colleges are aware that a number of kids can't make it home for the holidays and will compensate by leaving the dorms open, arranging trips, all kinds of options. </p>
<p>My son's transition was very smooth. Again, I think it was really helped by being in a friendly close-knit community. The school also had a wonderful firstyear orientation program and living arrangement which greatly facilitated making friends, fast.</p>
<p>He definitely misses home and finds it difficult to articulate to his new friends what living in a third world alien culture is really like. He's also bemused at being so "totally out of it" about American cultural icons, but a few evenings in front of the tube remedied that. The school he attends is in the middle of the diversity range (in general LACs, especially those in rural locations are lower than big universities) and this was an initial concern. As it turned out, however, my son feel the overall diversity -- racial, religions, ethnic, sexual, political, social, economic -- is sufficient to keep things interesting.</p>
<p>Two obstacles that he still needs to overcome are learning to drive and thinking "Republic of Indonesia" everytime he sees the abbreviation RI.</p>