<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Im planning to apply to some of the Top 20 schools in the US, and was wondering if my citizenship (Filipino) would play a role in their decision. I don't think there are many Filipinos applying to these schools, and maybe this would this work to my advantage. But I also heard that we are grouped with the Chinese and some other Asian countries, so I don't really know. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>You will be disadvantaged, because you are an international student.</p>
<p>Disadvantaged? I thought that admissions look for minorities.</p>
<p>US citizen or permanent resident under represented minorities. For top 20 schools, there’s no shortage of international applicants. You’re severely disadvantaged. However for 2nd tier schools or lesser known privates, full pay internationals are very welcome.</p>
<p>Oh damn… I was so sure that this would help me get into one of my dream schools like Dartmouth. So all international students are grouped as one? Would you know my chances if I’ve got a great essay, great teacher recs., leader of a city-wide organization for impoverished children, varsity soccer team, 200+ hours of extracurriculars and predicted to get 38 in my IB program. I still have to take my SAT I and II next month.</p>
<p>Your GPA/Transcript/scores will be your first measure. Are you one of your schools top scholars?</p>
<p>Ya im about #2 or 3 in the class, and we are graded with the IB system. So my average is about a 6 out of 7 in both my Standard and Higher Level classes. But im not really confident about my SAT scores because it is really different from what i am learning, especially the subject tests. Will this make a huge difference?</p>
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<p>The international pool for top 20 schools is very competitive even for students with very good SAT scores</p>