<p>I'm sixteen. Where I live, till very recently it was illegal to get a paid job before youre 18.
Plus, its difficult to explain this on a college app but in some countries you're just not going to get a job as a high school student. (Because skilled labour is so cheap, why should they hire a high schooler when they can get a college graduate for an affordable wage rate?)</p>
<p>Basically, I haven't got any paid work ex. </p>
<p>Is this going to disadvantage me compared to US applicants? If I try to explain the situation is it going to look like I'm just making excuses?</p>
<p>International applicants are not expected to be exactly like US applicants. Many US students work part-time while they are in high school. Most international students don’t. The space for work experience is there so that applicants who do indeed have some paid work experience can describe it. You, and all the other applicants (including a whole bunch of them who are US students) who don’t have any paid work experience can just skip that line.</p>
<p>This is not something to panic about, so please don’t!</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I doubt there is ANY international student who has a job. But if nothing in the world can convince you of that, you may ask one recommender to clear this out.</p>