<p>Hi everyone.</p>
<p>So,I´m an international student from Portugal and I got rejected from harvard. I really want to go there and I don´t mind finishing high school in my country and then taking a gap year to reapply to US colleges. Do you think the chances of getting in are worth the shot? What can I do until the early action deadline to improve my chances of getting in? btw i will need financial aid. Thanks for your attention.</p>
<p>Financial aid is always going to be tricky for international students…
Did you apply to any other schools in the US? Harvard has its reputation of being the best school in the US, but there are many other great schools to choose from. So, please DO NOT limit your choices to only Harvard. There is an 8% acceptance rate, probably lower for internationals.</p>
<p>^^Now the acceptance rate is 5.9%, and yes, probably considerably lower for international applicants.</p>
<p>^Wow, that’s insane! But exactly my point…</p>
<p>This year I applied to 4 american school(cornell, columbia, Upenn and harvard) because of the financial aid issue, but if I reapply I will go for more than 8 universities probably and I will choose less competitive schools. In this case I really want to know your opinion concerning Harvard… What should I do?</p>
<p>To be completely honest, I wouldn’t recommend going crazy trying to get into Harvard. I’m not sure if it’s even worth it. Apply to schools that are more in your range that you really like and not just because it has an ivy league name. There are so many great schools out there…don’t just limit yourself to the schools that are the most well-known.</p>
<p>Ok… but if I´m going to take a gap year I will have to something to stand out, even for other schools. I though doing the havard summer school program but it´s very expensive, and I would only do it if I knew that it had an impact on undergraduate admissions</p>
<p>Nope, that really doesn’t make an impact, unfortunately. Those programs just prepare you for college and as you said, are very expensive. You would have to do some kind of volunteer work or internship. BTW, what schools have you been accepted to for this year?</p>
<p>none of those 4, that why I want to reapply to those and apply to others. I really want to go to the US.</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend getting this Princeton Review book here to help you decide where to apply and what colleges are in your range.
Link right here: [Amazon.com:</a> The Best 376 Colleges, 2012 Edition (College Admissions Guides) (9780375428395): Princeton Review: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Colleges-Edition-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0375428399]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Colleges-Edition-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0375428399)</p>
<p>anyone else can give me their opinions please?</p>
<p>If you are going to take a gap year and go through the process again using what you learned the first time around, by all means, apply to Harvard and any schools you choose. You might as well. </p>
<p>Just bear in mind that you are buying lottery tickets when you are applying to such schools with low accept rates. If you are serious about getting into a college that will accept you and pay for you, take a look at Momfromtexas’s thread on full ride colleges. That is the methodology to use to have some real chances at some schools that might pay for you. These schools are not ones that you will find on any main stream lists.</p>
<p>Anything else is a lottery ticket, for ANYONE looking for full rides. For internationals, it’s even more difficult because many schools have even more limitation in terms of money for international students and those that don’t are the most selective schools in the country, possibly the world. </p>
<p>College is not an entitlement in the US. Though there are some federal and state funds to assist low income families, they are available to US citizens and legal residents only, but they are not enough to make more than a dent on the costs of most boarding colleges. They are intended to help pay for local state schools so that any kid can commute to college.</p>