International Applicants

<p>So I've never really understood..
Is there ever any advantage to being an international applicant in the admissions proccess? I mean, don't colleges love diversity? Don't Internationals pay a lot more in fees as well? So then why is it allegedly harder for international students to get in?? Anyone know whether NYU in particular likes international students?</p>

<p>Hmm, NYU probably admits a really large population of Internationals depending on the program you are heading into. I know the business programs/law programs are hard for internationals but engineering/medicine might be mildly possible. Reason why they don't like internationals as much mainly because they are bias in saying that foreign education is not equal to their domestic education. Also, they give preference to people in their state because they want kids from their state to apply to their schools. Thing is, for international students, most universities need to accept a minimum amount of international students because it is manditory. Also, they have less emphasis on your SATs, if you score like a few points below, they look it over. Also, its harder in saying you guys have a lower acceptance rate then we do. You don't get a normal acceptance rate of lets say 20%; instead you'll get about 10-13% because you'd have to be outstanding.</p>

<p>Being international can be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the circumstances.</p>

<p>Especially at the top colleges and universities with international prestige (Harvard & Co), applying as an international student is a huge disadvantage because there are sooo many international students interested in attending these colleges. Unless these colleges want to have an international student population of 50+%, they have to be more selective among their international applicant pool. US students "only" have to be competitive on a national level to have a reasonable shot at Ivy-caliber institutions, but international students have to be competitive on an international level (i.e. they have to be among the top 50 students in their country rather than the top 50,000).</p>

<p>The other main disadvantage of international students is financial aid. Because international students are not eligible for federal and state grants and loans, all their financial need would have to be met by the college's own resources, which makes needy international students much more expensive for the college than needy domestic students.</p>

<p>Being international can be an advantage when:
1) You can afford to pay the full freight of your education
2) You are interested in colleges that are not particularly attractive to international students, i.e. most small colleges and low-tier universities.</p>

<p>NYU is somewhere in between the two extremes; it's neither particularly attractive nor unattractive to international students. Its international admission rate slightly below 30%, which is about as high as its domestic admission rate but amazingly low considering that NYU does not offer any financial assistance to international students.</p>

<p>Well as for the rigor of my school course, Im doing the IB which is a pretty challenging curriculum. I'm applying for Journalism/English which I don't really think is something too many foreign kids would be applying for..
I'm not applying for any aid, so hopefully that should make things a bit easier for me.
About the SAT, I got a 730 in CR and Writing, but a pretty lousy 600 in math. I'm also hoping for >700 in my literature SAT II. If they're a bit relaxed with SAT scores, is it only because they don't expect Internationals to have high English scores, or will they overlook my weak math as well?</p>

<p>Also I'm from India so I'm guessing my applicant pool is going to be huge/highly competitive. I've applied early though, so that should help? Sorry for the barrage of questions :)</p>