<p>I'm an American male living in the greatest country on earth, but when I see these international applicants it makes me wonder: do schools like Penn and Harvard put international applicants in a separate pool from domestic? I see these kids from India who basically run a corporation with killer numbers, and they are worried about getting in.</p>
<p>It’s much, much, much harder for international students to get in than domestic students, regardless of their stats. International also comprises only a small percentage of the incoming class.</p>
<p>I guess that makes sense. Without any knowledge of the situation, I would’ve thought that schools want more of an international population.</p>
<p>^
Truth.
I wish that they wanted this huge international population, but then again, these are AMERICAN universities, so I understand.</p>
<p>Therefore, an average applicant (like me) will be competing against people who run major businesses, have done cancer research, are Olympic-grade athletes, have won competitions that I have never heard of and hell, maybe one or two Nobel prize winners :P</p>
<p>Guess I’ll just have to hold onto a glimmer of hope, one that may allow me to slip by admissions by mistake because I know that I’m no East-Asian/Indian business mogul and/or acclaimed scientist (sorry for the stereotypes, but those are - logically - the most represented international applicant ethnic groups).</p>
<p>I know that if I get in, it’ll be by mistake (not that I would mind)</p>
<p>I think with their international pool it’s only super competitive for people of certain nationalities…because they do want diversity. Basically, it would be much much harder for a Chinese applicant than for an applicant from, say, Uzbekistan. :P</p>
<p>Ragdolls speaks the truth</p>
<p>Internationals have it the hardest b/c the Ivies have unofficial quotas while the int’l pool continues to balloon. Read “category admissions” here:</p>
<p>[Reed</a> College Messages vs. Realities](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html]Reed”>http://www.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html)</p>
<p>Top Indian candidates are no better than top American candidates. To say otherwise is conceited. I do agree it’s harder for an international to get in, but I think that American colleges giving preferences to Americans is only fair. BTW what percentage of international candidates do Indian Universities allow in?</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s a big enough number of international applicants applying to indian colleges for them to have a quota.</p>
<p>So— I spent the last 11 years in PA where my daughter grew up.</p>
<p>For her senior year, we moved overseas to Europe, where she graduated. Because the IB is a 2 year program, and I was only scheduled to be in Europe 1 year, she got a AP style degree.</p>
<p>She’s a top student— but I think technically she is an international, even though she is a US citizen who spent 11/12 years in the US educational system. </p>
<p>So did I pretty much hose her chances of getting into any top tier colleges by throwing her into the international pool??</p>
<p>Triple argh</p>
<p>If she’s a US citizen she’ll be considered a domestic applicant for most schools</p>
<p>I agree that international students have a very slim chance of getting into an elite school like any of the Ivies. What’s the case for a Canadian student? I’m a Chinese-Canadian, so anyone have ideas? :P</p>
<p>US and Canadian citizens studying in India, seem to have a slight edge in admissions.</p>