<p>The results are coming these two weeks, and I got rejected by a lot of schools, Rice, Northwestern, Vassar, Oberlin, MIT..
I am an international student, who has won a lot of olympiad prizes. The only problem is that my family is not rich enough to pay for the costs of study in US.. so I applied full financial aid for each school I applied.
Initially, I thought US schools focus on personality most but now I feel that money is more important than personality.
I am very sad, and my sixth intuition told me that I would continue to be rejected..
The schools left behind are HYP + williams + macalester.
I wonder why?
It is easy to be bad, and it is hard to be good. But we always end up with "not good enough".</p>
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<p>That’s probably why. There are thousands of American students who, due to the economy, need significant amounts of aid, and many colleges took financial hits as well.
What was the sixth school?? (Ouch.)</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>MIT is need blind for international students. The truth is, even though your FA did play against you in the admissions process, this isn’t the main reason why you were rejected. US college admissions at the top schools is a big crapshoot, especially for international students. You can’t know what’s going to happen. My guess is that you are qualified for many of these schools, but it is hard to stand out from the many great international students applying. In the end, it may be that you weren’t what they were looking for. You shouldn’t take it personally since even with the personal information you give, the whole applications process is pretty impersonal.</p>
<p>I dont think it was so much your financial aid application as it just was bad luck and difficult schools that you applied to. May I ask which country you are applying from? Some countries are (or so they say) preferred over other countries… I don’t the exact extent of this, but I have been told that it is an advantage for me that I am applying from Norway (since apparently there is a minimum quota of Norwegian students to be admitted to certain schools every year). Usually when a school allows you to apply for financial aid as an international student, they will not hold that against you. BU for instance does not offer any financial aid for international students at all…</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters, it probably wasn’t solely dependent on money. Especially the top US schools focus on personality, Academics, and ECs. It’s really hard to gain acceptance, so just be happy with the schools that you do get in.</p>
<p>hi, Yurtle, thank you very much! I hope that some good news can come out on April 2nd… Good luck to you too!</p>
<p>Yes, you are right. I am just not good enough and cannot stand out among all applicants.</p>
<p>I am applying from Singapore. Well, in Singapore there are a lot of applicants each year… Haha, which University do you apply to? Good luck to you! :)</p>
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<p>Well, you really have to stand out among the Singaporean pool a lot to get in at the top universities with financial aid (need-blind or not). I’ve seen a guy with 3 international Olympiad medals (1 silver, 1 bronze at IMO and 1 silver at IOI) get rejected by MIT and Stanford.</p>
<p>financial aid is the most important factor for international students this year,especially in ‘hot’ countries like China… From the statistics of schools already closed with their admission(Northwestern,UChicago…),no one who have applied for financial aid got admitted in China. Anyway, who would admit students with financial aid if there are loads of equally excellent students who did not apply for FA.</p>
<p>“Yes, you are right. I am just not good enough and cannot stand out among all applicants.”</p>
<p>The majority of applicants to very top schools have the stats that would allow them admittance. However, the top schools select students who’ll most contribute to a vibrant, active, diverse student body. Consequently, those colleges need students who represent various regions and countries of the world, who’ll major in obscure fields and happily pursue EC activities that need participants. </p>
<p>You may have been overlooked in favor of someone who, for instance, planned to major in classics or who had demonstrated a strong interest in editing a campus poetry journal.</p>
<p>You will never know… As much as one may wish that they were a fly on the wall when their file was presented, such is the nature of the beast and quite frankly is one of the more difficult parts of this whole process to come to terms with…</p>
<p>You should have applied to safeties…all of the schools you posted are difficult to get into.</p>
<p>Nobody has any clue why you were rejected from these schools. You did not post your stats, ECs essays, etc.</p>
<p>Most schools are harsh on international applicants applying for financial aid. Er… so that’s probably why my Asian friends never apply for financial aid, in case it might hurt their chances.
And yes, money is important. That’s why schools like Rice and Emory make international students submit financial certificates (proofs that your parents have enough money) before considering whether they should let you in at all ~ haha</p>
<p>Students (including int’ls) who need financial aid have to carefully choose their schools. I’m guessing that you have very high stats because of the schools that you applied to. </p>
<p>Students with high stats and big financial need have to apply to schools that either meet need or will give huge merit for stats. That can be a problem because you’ll get your heart set on a top elite school, but financial safeties have to be lower ranked schools that will give huge money for stats. So, some high stats kids never apply to those safeties because they don’t want to go there. </p>
<p>Poor Int’ls have it harder because they don’t get any fed aid, which means the school has to pay for everything. Schools aren’t charities, and they don’t have unlimited funds or seats. That’s why some schools are not need-blind for int’ls and limit the number they will accept. It’s also harder for schools to verify need for int’ls, so that may also be why they limit the number.</p>