<p>1) I'm an international student who's been in U.S. for basically my whole life. I don't have green card or citizenship, and I go to a private American high school. Which pool do you think I belong to?? Will I be compared to all the int'ls from my own country or the state where my high school is in? My GC, teachers, transcripts, curriculum will be all American. </p>
<p>2) International students tend to have freakish test scores(800s all over), but as a student who performs maybe a little sub-par in the standardized testing department but have scintillating ECs, I decided to apply to LACs who care more about transcripts and tend to allow a more "hollistic" rreview of the application. Do you think my approach was... smart? Or was this stupid?</p>
<p>I would love and appreciate any quick input from you guys, because you guys are the best!!</p>
<p>2) You should just apply to schools that suit you. If LACs are your thing, go for it. If you might be socially claustrophobic, don’t apply to LACs.</p>
<p>In general, you should be considered within the pool of American applicants for admissions purposes since you have a similar background. However, if you are requesting financial aid then it will unfortunately be more difficult. Most schools are not need-blind for internationals, and I assume that you will have to be compared to the international applicants since you will be competing with them for limited private funds. I’ve never worked in an admissions office, but I assume that this would put you at a disadvantage since schools are more likely to want to give these limited funds to exceptional internationals from abroad (the ones you mentioned with the very high scores) in order to diversify their student population. I think this is the reason why US citizens who live abroad are at an advantage in the application process (they provide diversity without the need for special funds), whereas internationals who live in the US such as yourself are at a disadvantage (less diversity and need for special funds).</p>
<p>Also, hellomacy, I don’t know which colleges you are considering. MIT imposes a quota on international students, so even those resident in the US will be considered in the intel pool.</p>
<p>EDIT: Okay I see you’re applying to LACs. I haven’t any idea about LACs with quotas.</p>
<p>If you’re not requesting finaid then there’s no reason why you should be at a disadvantage compared to any US applicant. I was saying this hypothetically because most people on this thread are requesting finaid, and I overlooked the fact that you said that you attend a private US high school. I would not be concerned about competing with internationals if I were you.</p>