Hey so i live in India and I’m in the 10th grade
My family and I might move to the US (before i start my 11th)
I wanted to know whether its easier to get into a good college as an international student or from the US itself. (We will get green cards which counts as being a US citizen)
Many students from my current school in India go to Ivy leagues however, i looked at a few schools in New York (where we would probably move) and the percentage of students going to ivies is much higher there.
Does it make sense for me to stay in India and go to the US for college or move to the US (the choice is entirely up to me)
now itself
Why would an American college give preferential admission treatment to a foreign national from a country with over a billion people, over a US citizen?
What I have seen is that most top US schools target around 10% international students. They often look for a good combination of diversity (both geographic and socioeconomic) among this 10% or so. In addition, the number of intl kids applying is significantly increasing every year. Therefore, there are three ways to stand out in this crowd 1) be a really top student with good grades, test scores, ECs, etc; 2) be from an underrepresented country (not India, unfortunately) and/or 3) be able to pay full tuition.
There might be other factors to consider. You use “good college” and “Ivy League” in your question. I hope at this point you start to understand that there are hundreds of “good colleges” in the US that are not in the “Ivy League.”
In MANY of those good colleges…an international student is a desirable candidate for diversity reasons.
Do you have a college list yet? Have you looked to see how your colleges treat international students? Are they trying to raise their international student numbers?
Yes, international students are a much smaller percentage of the overall student pool. (I heard that last year Yale only gave admission to three - four international students from India.) But while it might not help you out at a place like Yale…it might be a real selling point at a smaller LAC in the midwest.
Are you in a highly competitive IB school in India? What type of high school are you likely to land up in in NY?
And, something I have given great thought to…will the move disrupt your life so much as to negatively impact you grades for some time? If it might, you really need to think it through. I don’t think you can risk losing what is the most important year grade wise. But that is just my two cents.
Are your parents capable of paying 4 years of tuition + fees + board + books + transport?? Do they have all of that saved up and ready to go? If not then you will need financial aid.
The financial aid given to internationals is paltry compared to the financial aid opportunities within the US.
Being a permanent resident is ALWAYS an advantage compared to being an international applicant. An internationally-educated resident/citizen has all the benefits of bringing geographical/cultural diversity without the downsides of being in the most competitive applicant pool with incredibly limited financial aid resources.
Keep track of your 9th and 10th grade academic reports. Move to the US, complete 11th and 12th there in order to establish a US GPA, become a permanent resident, and apply widely (there are 3,700 colleges in the US. The top 10% can be found in Princeton Review or Fisk Guide, which you can order and start reading - start by random colleges you’ve never heard of.