International without Financial Aid?

Just out of curiosity, for an international student from an underrepresented country (0-1 accepted per year), how would not needing financial aid improve your chances at a need-aware school like Stanford? I’ve read that odds for FA students are around 1% or lower, but how is it if you don’t need the money?

It means that the school can save money and divert those funds to someone else. Also, that you will be paying to go there if they want to accept you.

@“aunt bea” So it would improve my chances?

Not applying for financial aid would most likely improve your chances.

Up through about 2007, many universities published separate admission statistics for international financial aid applicants vs non-financial aid applicants. The admission rate for international financial aid applicants was generally lower; how much lower varied by university. For the more selective need-aware universities, it was as low as 1%.

At that time, overall admission rates to the top universities were higher than they are now. E.g. Stanford admitted 11% of its freshman applicants in 2007 vs 5% in 2017. International admission rates may have fallen in tandem with overall admission rates, but it’s impossible to tell without data.

You are blessed to not need FA because one, you have wider ranges of choicse and two, you have better chances than other foreign students with FA need.

so yes it is better for you

@paul2752 Good to know, thanks! Regardless, it’s still crazy selective so I’ll just get to work on my essays.

@b@r!um Do you know where I can find the statistics up to 2007? Would they still be on the colleges’ websites?

They used to be published by a college guide / search engine similar to Collegeboard’s, but by a different company. Sorry, I don’t recall the name.