<p>Ive heard before that “there is not such thing as a need-blind admissions policy”…</p>
<p>How “blind” do you think is need blind?</p>
<p>Referring to Penn, obviously…</p>
<p>(refrain from jokes / stupid commentaries) ← hope not to be counter-reproductive :)</p>
<p>I don't think it's very blind for international applicants. Basically, when you're an international, your application ends up in one of two piles. The first pile is for people who don't need Fin-Aid, and the second one for people who do. So, people in the second pile are competing for a very limited amount of scholarship money.</p>
<p>So, in a nutshell, international students have it much harder to get in. Especially if you do not have money to completely pay for university.</p>
<p>It is a fact that admissions are not need-blind for international students, not your opinion. What the OP is asking is if need-blind admissions are indeed need-blind (i.e., even though they claim to have a need-blind policy, is this really the case?)</p>
<p>By reading some of the OP's posts, I do believe he's an international. Anyway, I'm just trying to help :)</p>
<p>Yes I am... but from Mexico... and according to the website Penn is need-blind for American Citizens and Permanent residents, Canadian citizens and mexican citizens... therefore I fall into one of the categories of need-blind...</p>
<p>My question is what Rudess stated... if need-blind admissions are indeed need-blind</p>
<p>Ive been told they are not...</p>
<p>They are not 100% need blind. They see how much schooling each parent has completed, what jobs each parent holds, the area you live in, the school you go to, etc. All can show a general income (though not 100% accurate). If your parents had 0 college, are janators, and live in the ghetto, Penn can guess that you are not that rich. If your parents each are Wharton MBAs and work for big name investment banks, you go to private school, and you live in a very affluent area, Penn isnt going to think you are living in the poor house.</p>
<p>But that wouldnt affect admissions decisions right?</p>
<p>The threshold issue is whether an applicant not needing any needs assistance -would have an advantage over students needing aids (as opposed to the degree of need among those students ALL needing some type of need) </p>
<p>Unless the Admissions Committee is blocked from seeing the answer to the yes/no question on the common application "are you applying for financial aid"? - then the process can never truely be "needs blind" -since they can then SEE who does and who doesn't need aid</p>
<p>However the system might still be described as "needs don't matter one way or the other."</p>