For which universities is there anecdotal evidence that they pre-screen international students before giving out interviews, for instance? If I’m not mistaken, I’ve read that Stanford and Harvard do this, while UPenn and Princeton don’t, for example. How about other elite colleges, like Columbia, UChicago, Yale and so forth?
Hard to tell. But my daughter was the only MIT applicant of the kids who applied from her international school that was offered an interview. Since they had alumni in the city, if they were not pre-screening you would expect all the applicants to be offered an interview. Don’t know what to take away from that.
In Harvard’s case, they pretty much say as much on their website. Generally, I would assume it boils down to the number of alumni they have in a given country.
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look/interviews
COUNTRIES WITH LIMITED INTERVIEWS
If you are located in one of these countries, you are in an area where we have a limited number of interviewers. If the Admissions Committee requires more information about you, you will be contacted by the Admissions Office.