<p>So I was wondering what determines if you are an international applicant or not. </p>
<p>Right now I am studying at boarding school in the UK and my parents live in the Philippines but they may move with their company to the US by the time I apply next year. If they then rent a house in the US and have a work visa etc would that make me a home applicant despite studying in the UK? </p>
<p>The reason I ask is because I want to try and avoid this international competition as my top choices, Princeton, Stanford and MIT have very few places for international applicants especially MIT which has an international acceptance rate of about 2-3%, much less than the 8 or so percent for US applicants. Also, would it make it easier to get in if you lived in some sort of catchment area so if my parents move to NJ would it increase my chances of being admitted into Princeton than if the moved to, let's say CA? </p>
<p>For statistical reporting purposes, an international applicant is anyone who is not a US citizen or permanent resident, regardless of where they live. The same is true for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>For academic purposes, an international applicant is one who was educated outside of the US.</p>
<p>For tuition purposes at public universities, international students whose visa status allows them to establish a legal domicile (e.g. H-1B dependents) are treated differently from international students who cannot establish a legal domicile in the US (e.g. F-1 students). The former group may qualify for in-state tuition status if they meet the residency requirements, while the latter are never considered in-state students.</p>
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No, that shouldn’t make a difference. While private universities are open about the fact that they might give preferential treatment to applicants from the local community, they are also quite clear that a “local applicant” is one who has lived there for a substantial period of time. Moving there during your senior year of high school won’t make a difference (neither would renting a mail box near Stanford to apply with a local mailing address…). </p>
<p>In summary, I’d have to say that you are quite squarely an international applicant in every sense of the word. You would be in the US on a temporary visa and you have completed most of your education abroad as well. </p>
<p>Also each school may define international applicant differently. You cite MIT and Stanford, who both define “international” the same way. They define an international applicant as anyone who does not have US citizenship or a green card, regardless of where they live. Every year these schools get a bunch of international applications from students who have lived in the US nearly all of their lives, and a bunch of domestic applications from students who have rarely set foot in the US.</p>
<p>MIT offers need blind admissions for all internationals and promises to meet full financial need for four years for all admitted students. Stanford offers NEED-AWARE admissions for internationals and promises to meet full financial need for four years for admitted students. That in part explains MIT’s 2%-3% admit rate for internationals.</p>
<p>NO, you can not apply as a Us citizen.
A US applicant is one who is A US CITIZEN, PERMANENT RESIDENT, or REFUGEE.
Everyone else must apply as an International student, regardless of your residence. There are tons of high schoolers, living in the US with their parents or guardians paying taxes in the US, but are non residence, and as such do not fall into any of the 3 categories above. So, when applying to colleges, they are considered international students.</p>