<p>I've heard this both ways. Admissions-wise:</p>
<p>Non-native English-speakers are allowed to have lower English section scores than American applicants.</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>International students must have higher scores than Americans, because the competition is more fierce in the international pool.</p>
<p>Which one is it?</p>
<p>You won't be competing with Americans because internationals have their own separate applicant pool. That's what I've heard at least. So, IMO, it's the first. However, make sure you don't slack off! If you can get the higher score, do it! It'll only help you.</p>
<p>no they dont. they apply with ever1 else</p>
<p>there's no minimum or standard score for each country - what colleges want is to take the best applicants from each country. so the simple thing is to be ahead of the competition from fellow applicants in your country. just beat the competition, regardless of the scores.</p>
<p>^ But they compete with fellow internationals for their spots</p>
<p>it seems country-specific to me. already, the fact that they make a distinction between "non-english speaking" and "english-speaking" countries shows that they do break internationals up into different countries. why not? it makes more sense. of course they would consider you in the context of your country. they want diversity anyway.</p>
<p>Internationals do not have their own applicant pool, atleast for the colleges i researched.. mainly Johns Hopkins. The answer to this question is that it depends. For certain colleges, where they prefer students from their home state or country, internationals may need higher scores to grab the adcom's attention. In other colleges where being an international does not really matter, i would say about the same as a national will do fine.</p>
<p>However, use this as a motivation for aiming higher. Just Practice. I know you have a heard it a million but it is good advice. You WILL get better .. just practice.</p>