What's different about international admission process ?

Applying to College
1

<p>I was looking at all this posts about chances and admissions and ec's and I saw most american students have awards , internship , ap classes , various honor societies ( I don't even know what they are :P ) and who knows what else . And I realize that I don't have any of that . Like in my country in my school we don't have all of this , we don't have as many competitions or clubs or even the possibility to do internship cause it's actually illegal when you are under 18 . So what I'm asking is , what am I supposed to do ? How am I supposed to prove that I do the best I can even if don't have 300 clubs , leadership position and whatsoever ? And since I'm applying to ivy leagues and sort of same level LAC's what do they expect from me ? D: D: D:
Thnx :)</p>

2

<p>Penny, Penny, Penny-My opinion is that they will want you to be in the top 1/2% of the applicant’s from your geographical area. You will be judged primarily against your own country. BTW you will stiil need great grades and boards. GL</p>

3

<p>I still need more ec’s . Being an international student is horrible .</p>

4

<p>No, most american students do NOT have “awards , internship , ap classes , various honor societies.” The students here are generally NOT an accurate representation of american students.</p>

<p>The Ivy leagues and peer schools will expect you to be in at least the top 1-2% of your class, have excellent SAT scores (~2200+), solid essays, recs, etc and money. Most American schools do not offer financial aid to international students and less than 10 offer full need to internationals( a few more will give money to a fraction of accepted international students).</p>

5

<p>Well most american students that apply to ivy schools do have that or have the possibility to do that . And yeah financial aid is my damocle’s sword .</p>

6

<p>Same problem here. </p>

<p>You can only do your best! But most admission officers know that in other countries, students are not offered any competition factors to distinguish themselves because they simply don’t put an emphasis on competition.
Have strong essays and recs, because colleges will expect you to since your teachers are not writing thousands if them :)</p>

7

<p>Thanks :slight_smile: I’ll try to make them write nice recommendations ;)</p>