What constitutes an international student during the application stage in Harvard’s eyes? I apologise in advance if this is an idiotic question, but I haven’t been able to find a clear answer online, and I am cognizant of the small percentages of international students that Harvard (and indeed any other elite Ivy League institution) admits.
The reason why I’m asking is because I am a US citizen (born in the US, lived in Michigan for 8 years), but for the last 10 years I have been living in Australia, and attending high school in Melbourne. Would this confine me strictly to an international pool, or is there some sort of third category of consideration for a US national/ dual citizen attending high school overseas?
The category of dual citizenship does NOT apply to all Americans living internationally.
My son is a US dual citizen, not because he is an American citizen who spent his childhood living internationally, but because he has TWO passports. The common application is very clear about this, and students are required to clearly list all their citizenship. No student at Harvard is a dual national simply because they have lived abroad. All the dual nationals have more than one passport which allows them to live and work in more than one country. The dual nationals are in a unique position when they go abroad with Harvard, because they will have permission to work as well as study, in the country where they are dual citizens. Also, they are often, but not always, bilingual or polyglots.
What I have been told by numerous experts as I have asked the question is that you will be looked at as a US citizen with an unusual background. My family are all US citizens but the kids are growing up as expats in another country. They are not “dual citizens” in that they are only US citizens. But they have a very unique background and a unique perspective that not all US kids would have.