<p>I've heard so many different and often contradictory answers to this question. So I was wondering what the CC community thinks about this issue. Is being an international applicant an advantage or a disadvantage and why? Assume we're talking about the selective colleges (Ivy League and other selective schools).</p>
<p>Schools want diversity from international students, but only if they are full pay. Internationals who need FA will need to be top notch students, many schools do not offer need based aid to internationals.</p>
<p>^though that does not apply to the Ivies or a few of the top colleges that the OP seems to be referring to, which are need blind for internationals, which in turn makes them more desirable for many and tougher to get in.</p>
<p>unless you’re from a country that the Ivies are just looking to recruit from because no one has ever applied from there or something, I really think being international is a disadvantage. there’re only so many applicants that a school can accept from a particular country, so you’ll literally be competing against all the top students not only from your country but from that whole region in the world. for Ivies, you would need at least national, if not international recognition to stand out.</p>
<p>Real Example (Class of 2015)</p>
<p>International Applicant Applied for FA
Stat: 2350+ SAT, 35+ ACT, Multiple 800s on SAT II and 4.0 UWGPA
Not Great but Decent ECs
Intended Major: Science or Engineering
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Rejected/waitlisted from many Ivies, Cal Tech, MIT, Chicago and NW
Now attending a flagship state university</p>
<p>Need blind doesn’t meean they give out aid to international students. There are only handful of colleges which give out FA to internationals. My daughter went to Cornell, most international students lived in the best apartments and drove expensive cars.</p>
<p>Well, let’s assume we’re talking about non-asian international students. Europe and Africa. How do these applicants stand in the admissions process?</p>
<p>Same. Ability to pay is a big factor, unless you have something unusual to offer for them to want to pay up, and racial diversity is not enough.</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess it makes sense…so you’re saying that international students are competing with other international students from same regions and not with American students?</p>
<p>Sorry, what I said before was not totally correct. most of the Ivies are not “need blind” for internationals, but the very few schools in the nation that are do promise to meet full need. Hence I don’t see how being international is much of an advantage.
Some colleges admit to having a sort of “soft” quota for the number of international students they admit. International admission rate for MIT for example has always been lower than that of domestic applicants, if I remember correctly…</p>
<p>Internationals students are put in a different pool. They do not compete with American students. One thing many internationals do forget sometimes, they are American colleges.</p>