I went through all of middle and high school in the US and have lived here for 6 years, but I don’t have citizenship or green card status so I’m considered international.
Assuming I don’t ask for financial aid, compared to local applicants, will it be harder or easier for me to get in (assuming I have great grades/scores/ECs)?
Basically, does an international who went to middle+high school in the US and who does not apply for financial aid have a good chance relative to local applicants at colleges like stanford who do factor in financial aid in international decisions? What about others like MIT who don’t?
I don’t want speculation, so unless you know from personal experience or are knowledgeable on this topic, please don’t vaguely speculate. Thanks!
Most of the elite schools are need blind for domestic candidates. Your application should be considered with others who attended high school in your area, your gpa and test schools compared to theirs, your ECs and opportunities compared to theirs.
It’s not possible to know if you are going to have an advantage over students from Mexico or Thailand or Japan.
@twoinanddone right, but I’m not technically a domestic candidate…that’s my question. I know financially I’m considered alongside internationals, but since I did my schooling in the US, would I be considered for all other purposes (achievements, etc) with my domestic counterparts or people from the country that I am a citizen of (Singapore)?
Yes. Asmissions will be harder for you than for a true domestic applicant, unless you are in a state where students like you are considered in-state for public colleges and universities, and you apply to those public colleges and universities.
When your application is read, you will be compared to other international students educated in the US system, rather than to students educated in schools in your home country. Whether that is an advantage or not probably would depend on the specific college/university you apply to.
What does this mean for you as an applicant? Probably that you should use the international applicant rule of thumb: stats being equal, a safety for a domestic applicant is a match for you, and a match for a domestic applicant is a reach for you.
Find out how much your parents can afford to pay. If you need a lot of aid, check through the thread on automatic full tuition and full ride scholarships in the financial aid forum to see if any work for your stats and are also open to students like you. For ideas on that line, get in touch with @paul2752 whose situation is like yours.
If you don’t need financial aid, then your chance is as good as domestic students at many good private schools, say top 40.
However, make sure you apply to schools with huge merits. One misconception is that state universities are not worth time applying to, which is wrong. Many state univerities will give merit aids based on your scores, GPA, and if necessary, your separate scholarship application. Whether it’s enough or not is a different question.