So the thing is I’ve lived in the US since I was a toddler but I wasn’t born here so I’m not a citizen. I’m not a permanent resident (green card holder) yet, meaning that I’ll be lumped into the international student category. Will this lower my chances of admission into a T20 competitive university?
I know that there’s 2 main reasons why international students have a harder time:
Most colleges are not need blind for international students and reject international students needing financial aid, but I calculated my family’s expected financial contribution (ECF) and it’s the full tuition cost of most universities so I wouldn’t be getting need-based financial aid anyway and would be paying in full regardless of whether I was international or not.
The international student pool is more competitive compared to the domestic pool and better applications are needed. The thing is though that I already go to one of those ultra competitive high schools (think Palo Alto type) where every student is curing cancer so I don’t know if this would be any different than if I were included in the domestic pool and if my application was reviewed next to my high school peers.
That being said, do you guys think me not being a permanent resident or citizen (and being marked as an international student) will lower my chances of admission? I know I wouldn’t be getting financial aid even if I was marked as a domestic student, but would this ruin my actual admission chances for a competitive T20?
Being an international student will not end your chances at attending a top ranked university. There are a significant number of international students at all of the top 20 universities (the military academies might be an exception, but I do not know if any of them are ranked in the top 20).
However, admissions is indeed much more competitive for international students. Most international applicants to the top 20 universities are very competitive students, but the acceptance rate for international students is in the range of about 1% at many top schools.
If you get your permanent resident visa (aka “green card”) before applying to universities you suddenly become a domestic student. However, even for domestic students top 20 universities are reaches.
I don’t think you really are an international student. It sounds more like you’re an undocumented student (technically speaking). On the common app, if you select no for U.S. citizen, what is the next prompt?
I take undocumented to mean being unable to prove that you’re legally allowed to be in the United States (even if you’re only temporarily unable to prove it—in limbo so to speak). It sounds like this is the case with the OP, that maybe they’re waiting for a green card (which could be a while due to covid). If that’s the case, I briefly looked and don’t see many clear policies. Penn is the one school that directly states such a student would be considered an international applicant.
Irrespective of other considerations, if you expand your horizon to top-40 colleges, then your choices after decisions arrive will improve dramatically:
I felt like we might be in similar situations here. I’m also on visa and currently lives in the states. I think it depends primarily on the specific college: for instance, Duke puts non-citizens, even if they resides and goes to school in the states, into the international applicant pool, which can be more competitive, while some other colleges don’t. Some colleges will only compare you to other students in your high school, meaning you are not in the international applicant pool. In that way, aside from financial aid, you are in little to no disadvantage. Some state schools might even grant you in-state tuition if you are an international student but lives in the state for certain years, I think maybe Texas?
The OP can be both, for some colleges he can be an undocumented student and for some he can be an international student, depends if he has a valid visa.
Some colleges are need blind for undocumented, but no for international, he needs to check the colleges.