<p>Considering Harvard only accept around 200 international students from something like 8000 international applicants every year, how 'special' do you have to be? I assume you have to be a national athlete or internationally recognised academic to be admitted? I doubt Harvard accept the 'all-rounder' from non-US countries that the Dean of Admissions said they accept.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>I don’t actually know how many international applications there actually are but I assume around 8000.</p>
<p>Harvard is LOOKING to accept more international students to create a more diverse college. However, it is hard to find many qualified applicants, since the school systems are different. Also, you must be proficient in English, more proficient than many native speakers are. That’s already a lot to asks of most applicants, and there are still many more hidden factors that we don’t know about. </p>
<p>^^ Wow, that is so wrong. Over the past 10-20 years, Harvard’s total of international students has not exceeded 12% of total admits NOT because Admissions can’t find qualified international applicants. It’s because Harvard (and pretty much all selective colleges) have a “soft” quota on international students, as they are US institutions that have a tax-exempt status because of their educational purposes. Therefore these institutions seek to admit more US students than internationals.</p>
<p>@gibby Yeah that’s what I suspected. Would you say that international applicants do need a ‘special’ quality (sport at a national level or academics at an international level, for example) to be admitted? I get the feeling that being an ‘all rounder’ will simply not suffice if you are international, regardless of what the Dean of admissions said. Perhaps getting accepted is harder for international applicants compared to domestic?</p>
<p>I do think getting accepted is harder for international students. After all, Harvard reserves no more than 12% of their beds in any given year for non-US students. FWIW: over the past four years, my daughter has had a few international roommates and only one of them was a recruited athlete (Canadian). The rest of them (from Great Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong) have been just good all-arounders and nice kids!</p>
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There is no reason not to take these people at their word. If you are encountering a university where the admissions office is giving deceptive information, you should ask yourself if that is a university that you want to attend.</p>
<p>@gibby That’s very encouraging! I would consider myself an all-rounder based on my ECs, so it’s great to know that I have a small chance of being admitted into Harvard.</p>
<p>@skieurope Don’t get me wrong, I do not think the Dean of admissions would lie, especially to the public. He was referring to the entire student body and I was simply wondering whether internationals were evaluated slightly differently.</p>