Rejection (International Student's Perspective)

Applying to College Admission Stories
1

Hey guys, I just wanted to share my story, because I know there are others who are in the same boat that I was in just 12 months prior. Maybe I can provide comfort, wisdom, or both :slight_smile:

I’m an international student. I don’t know what you guys might know, but international students have extremely harder time being accepted into the top U.S. colleges. That makes sense. U.S. colleges should prioritize educating U.S. citizens first. I get that. Furthermore international students have hard time affording U.S. and Canadian colleges. The North American institutions for higher education are unreasonably expensive and most do not provide financial aid/scholarships to international students or provide very small amount of financial aid/scholarships. Furthermore for me, coming from an international country that cultivates a crop of great applicants every year (South Korea! Whoop whoop!), I knew it would be a challenge for me to be accepted into the top colleges even if I had a great resume.

I applied to the top colleges (Ivy League schools, Northwestern, McGill, UBC, etc…) and I thought I had good to great chances to be accepted into some of those schools. I had 2300+ SAT I scores, perfect SAT II scores, 5’s on my multiple AP tests, a great admission essay, and a spectacular list of extracurricular activities ranging from Model United Nations to basketball to flute club. I also have an interesting background of having lived in three countries including the States which I thought would be a huge plus.

I only applied to those mostly private top schools and not public top schools like UVa or UCB not because I thought the public schools weren’t as good, but because I knew that I had absolutely no chance of affording a public school. Money is tight in my family. I really wanted to go back to the States for college so I was praying that my stats were good enough for the top colleges that I applied to and enough financial aid/scholarships would be provided for me.

I remember Ivy Day like it was yesterday. Since I was living in Asia, I woke up super early on Ivy Day to check my results. To be honest, I couldn’t sleep the night before. I tossed and turned all night with butterflies in my stomach.

I logged on the computer and I opened my email. I checked the most “unlikely” schools first. Open Harvard’s email. “I’m sorry to tell you we are unable to offer you a spot…”.
Open Yale’s system. Same thing.
Open Dartmouth’s system. Same thing.
Open Columbia. Same thing.
Open Brown. Same thing.
Open Cornell. Same thing
Open Northwestern. Same thing.
Open WUSTL. Accepted. Yes! Check scholarship. 5000 USD for 60,000 USD cost.

I hope you don’t have to go through the same thing I went through that day. To open those emails one by one, anticipating with fingers crossed to see the words, “Congratulations!”, only to see those words… it was heart-breaking to say the least. I hope I never see the words “I’m sorry” again in my life.

I got into McGill and UBC as well, but those were also unaffordable.

Needless to say, I went into a deep depression the last couple of months of senior year. All I did was sleep, my appetite was horrible, and I shunned friends that I wouldn’t be able to see after graduation.

I cursed my situation. Why wasn’t my family rich like other international students so that I could at least go to public school? What was wrong with my application and interviews? Would the story have been different if I was born in the States and was treated as a domestic student? What didn’t I do enough? I bet it was me not doing flute club for one more year that made the difference. What was wrong with my application? What was wrong with my essay? What was wrong with me?

About two weeks after Ivy Day, I received an acceptance offer from one of the top universities in Hong Kong.

I thought… Hong Kong? That’s China and China is in Asia. I don’t want to go to university in Asia. I want to go to an American college. I should have been happy with the acceptance, but in my depression I didn’t care about the acceptance. I treated the offer like it was handed out to everyone.

The summer passed and with no other options I boarded a flight to Hong Kong to begin my studies.

I boarded the flight back in late August, but it might as well have happened in my previous life seeing as I have been completely transformed after attending my university.

After arriving at my university, I met so many intelligent and talented people. People here were geniuses! They were also talented in so many things like dancing, sports, debate, and more.

I also saw the acceptance rate for my university the year I applied and it was less than 10% for internationals.

Even if I didn’t see that acceptance rate, I would have still known I was lucky to be at my university.
Sure I don’t get to go to crazy frat parties or cheer on my team at a thunderous football game, I still knew I was very lucky and blessed to be at my university.

I came to Hong Kong depressed and angry, but in about a week when I board my flight back to my home for the winter, I will leave feeling blessed and happy.

I guess what I’m trying to tell you guys, you international students who are in the same boat as I was in last year is that there is such a big world out there. You international students who have excellent grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, but fail to get into the U.S. colleges, just know that there are excellent universities elsewhere that you will come to love over time. I know it might sound impossible, but trust me. And if you guys are really talented, it shouldn’t matter where you guys go for college; you guys will grow academically and personally wherever you guys go and will become leaders in whatever fields you guys pursue. Also, American college culture and traditions like football and fraternities are really fun, but other places can be really fun too! Here in Hong Kong, I do dragon boating, indulge myself in dim sum, and celebrate in countless Chinese celebrations!

Guys don’t take the rejections personally. I took it too personally and that led me to depression. Rejection doesn’t mean someone who was accepted is a better student or person than you are. College admissions are really random and rely on so many factors that it is unpredictable. Even if you are accepted, don’t celebrate or gloat. Treat the acceptance as a sign that you should work harder and challenge yourself even more. Where ever you guys go, I know you guys will come out shining if you guys keep working as hard as you guys did in high school. And there’s always graduate school if you do really want to go to the States right?

I hope the best for all of you guys and I’m praying for you guys even though I don’t know you guys personally. I pray for the best, but expect the worst. I pray that even if the worst happens, you guys will laugh it off and come out as a better person and don’t give up.

Good luck and Merry (early) Christmas everybody! :slight_smile:

P.S: PM me for any questions or help! I will be glad to help you guys out to the best of my abilities!

2

Hey fellow Hong Kong-er here! Yep agreed I think there’s so much pressure for international (ESPECIALLY East / South East Asian <em>groan</em>) students who are applying to top tier US schools. Which uni do you go to in HK? :slight_smile: It’s awesome to know that you’re doing well here!

Also, just a note for people who are thinking “ooh Hong Kong? Where’s that? Should I apply there?”, OP is right HK universities are pretty damn good. HKU medicine / law students (but of course not just them, there are tons of other great courses and students there as well) are some of the most brilliant students I know. And yes you can mostly survive on just knowing English! There are many different courses in English across the different HK unis.

Have a merry Christmas!

3

That’s a great post, with lots of insight. I am so happy for YOUR happiness. Your experiences so far sound wonderful. I hope some fellow international students feel comforted by your advice/experience. Best of luck as you continue your studies. :slight_smile:

4

Thank you very much for this post! I am an international student needing loads of financial aid as well. I am really happy for you in Hong Kong! I guess it is true that we always land in the right place, even though it might be miles from where we would like to imagine ourselves :slight_smile: Although I have yet to receive any letters from unis, whether positive or negative, I hope my little story will have a happy ending as well :slight_smile:
Merry Christmas, and good luck with everything!

5

This was a really heartwarming post. I’m so happy for your success and wish you the best in college. The US universities really missed out by not accepting someone as mature and intelligent as yourself. :slight_smile:

6

So sad :(, I can’t believe, that most universities just rejected you only because you want financial aid.

Good luck!

7

Thank you for this post. :smiley:
I actually feel a lot better about applying to colleges in the U.S. now. I’m an international student myself and it’s really upsetting to know that you’re at a huge disadvantage just because your family can’t afford to pay for college. But I hope I’ll end up some place where I’ll be happy and I’m glad things have turned out well for you. Good luck with everything :slight_smile:

8

Hi! As an international student that already passed though the stressful college application process, I want to say a couple of things. The OP made a HUGE mistake, or was misinformed, and thus applied to extremely selective college with international acceptance rates of lower than 10%. For other over achieving internationals, there are many other options, such as applying to lower ranked schools that offer both merit and need based aid. This is what students from my school, including me, do. I know many students who have gotten full rides at lower ranked schools, such as St Marys in Texas or Mercyhurst, with SATs around 1600-1800 but with good GPAs. A good student with a 2000+ SAT score is ALMOST guaranteed a scholarship at schools with around 1600-1800 average SAT scores. Also, to anyone wondering, there are only SIX need blind schools for internationals that DO NOT take into consideration your financial situation- Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Amherst College, MIT. Any over achiever should apply to these schools, but also remembering that the acceptance rate for internationals is less than US citizens due to quotas.

9

I enjoyed your post! Best of luck to you!

10

As an international student who applies to the U.S the second time, I totally understand what you have been going through. I was depressed and slept all day, just like you were. Thank you for this awesome post.
I hope that you will have wonderful experiences at your current university :slight_smile:
P/s I actually consider applying to a top-notch university in Korea hehe.

11

I was rejrcted by Upenn, and deferred by Umich. Now I’m anxious about my other schools.

12

“I cursed my situation. Why wasn’t my family rich like other international students so that I could at least go to public school? What was wrong with my application and interviews? Would the story have been different if I was born in the States and was treated as a domestic student? What didn’t I do enough? I bet it was me not doing flute club for one more year that made the difference. What was wrong with my application? What was wrong with my essay? What was wrong with me?”

^^^This is EXACTLY how I feel as an international student. 100%.

13

I don’t understand why you applied to the most difficult to get into schools (even as an American).
If going to a USA school was your goal, then you should have not applied to the most selective colleges that don’t give merit awards anyway.

You would need to apply to schools that are cheaper (e.g., SUNY Binghamton is less than $30,000 for out of state) or have aid for international students.

14

@lboss1223 I agree with @bopper that those were quite alot of reach schools, and not even domestic applicants with amazing SATs, GPAs, extracurriculars etc. will have somewhat decent odds at making them. That being said, I do understand what you went through. I made the same mistake (my school didn’t really emphasize on balance between safeties, targets, and reaches) and I ended up applying to 3 safeties and 8 reaches (Some Ivies) MIT, Caltech, Stanford etc). I made my safeties and 1 reach (Cornell) but was rejected and waitlisted on all others. Cornell was also my last letter to receive, so I felt horrible going through the process. It paid off for me in the end, but I hate that the process can be so grueling.

15

You are really talented, it shouldn’t matter where you guys go for college.Best of luck to you!

16

That was an awesome story OP! I am so glad that you ended up happy at ur univ, it is encouraging to see an “everything will turn out fine” story once in a while. Also, by how much is International students disadvantaged in the admission process of US top Tier schools?
Would it be different if it is a canadian international? (some schools are need blind to canadians and they also don’t need a student visa)
(I am Asian- Canadian, already expecting the tough admission game *sigh)

If you have any insights, that will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!