<p>@Chris & Jeff:</p>
<p>I think it depends largely on where you come from.</p>
<p>I went to one of the top schools in my country, but no one there besides me decided to apply to the US because it’s such an emphatic process. Neither was there any encouragement from teachers. All the kids that went abroad to study went to the UK because it’s cheaper, closer and much easier to apply - and even most of those kids took a year off. For me, it would have been extremely difficult to apply while still in school and I know that my SATs, essays and/or schoolwork would have suffered if I applied while still in school.</p>
<p>I think a lot of the internationals that apply while still in school apply either from schools where there is a culture for applying to the US, or from IB programmes.</p>
<p>Additionally, some countries have mandatory military service, which also forces students to wait one, two, three or even four years.</p>