International who has studied in the US for 6 years?

International Students
1

<p>Basically I received the same education as US citizens, and are in all ways like them except my nationality. In looking at admission rates for a college, should i be looking at admission rates for us citizen/perm-residents or at the rates for internationals? I mean, many colleges like Harvard and MIT have a meritocratic admission policy, or at least in theory. Am I correct in assuming that the difference between us citizen rates and international rates is mainly due to a preference to American education rather than due to nationality? Or am i just dreaming here, and in fact they actually have a set number of spots for internationals so that its inevitable that internationals have a harder time? If indeed there is a set number of spots for internationals, could someone provide some evidence, like some quote from an admission officer?</p>

2

<p>Somehow they keep coming up with the same percentage of internationals year after year while applications from outside the US continue to rise dramatically. At less competitive colleges that get fewer applications from internationals, being one is an advantage. And of course your country of origin is key–the big name schools get a ton of applicants from Asia and Europe, fewer from most African and South American countries.</p>

3

<p>It varies from school to school, I believe. Some explicitly state that they reserve only a limited number of seats for internationals, while other schools consider both international and domestic students in the same way. In any case, you would be considered an international student despite the number of years you have resided in the U.S.</p>

4

<p>Well I’m not arguing against my technical status as an international. But it seems logical to me that admission officers would consider me in a similar light as US citizens.</p>

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<p>molliebatmit posted once (and I’ve seen this elsewhere as well, even though I’m having trouble pinpointing the original source of this statement at the moment), MIT has a definite quota for internationals. The school is committed to making sure that it has a 8% international student population. So because sometimes there may be a large number of international applicants who are the top of their class in their country, international admissions can be very competitive. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/881474-2014-rd-decisions-discussion-thread-25.html#post1064476368[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/881474-2014-rd-decisions-discussion-thread-25.html#post1064476368&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If you aren’t a citizen, don’t have a green card, and don’t fall into one of the other categories that qualify you for federally determined financial aid (FAFSA), you will be pooled with the other international students for financial aid. Depending on your family’s financial situation, this may or may not be a big issue.</p>

7

<p>Trust me, the fact that you went to school in the US (especially if you did well in your school) would give you a boost- this is not made up stuff - I have observed it several times. </p>

<p>Its easier for them to understand your transcript, and to gauge how “good” you are as a student relative to other people</p>

8

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<p>In fact, the last I checked all of HYPSM has international students fixed at around 8-9% of the undergraduate population. I personally don’t think it is a coincidence.</p>

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<p>I don’t think so, since the educational systems elsewhere - for instance in Hong Kong and Singapore - is more rigorous and difficult score in than the equivalent in America. Countries with mandated standardized testing across the entire nation at the end of high school also make academic achievement very easy to tell.</p>

9

<p>From what I heard, your standardized test score will weight a lot more if you are applying as an international student, at least in comparison to grades. I think the more popular schools all have some knowledge of the scoring system / difficulty of different countries but it’s still comparing apples to oranges.</p>

<p>Schools don’t put a cap on the percentage of international admits because they think you are inferior with your foreign education, but because obviously the US has to take care of their own people first.</p>