Which school should I choose for ED??

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>So, with early decision applications right around the corner, it is very stressful to choose a school. For an international, this stress is even worse! :(
I would like you guys to tell me your opinion of which school I should choose for ED and why. Personally, I have narrowed down my ED school choices to Dartmouth, Amherst, and Williams. But, I can't narrow down that list any further. Once I think I have decided on a school, I read a new article that sends me right back to the mind boggling choice! </p>

<p>Amherst and Dartmouth are need blind to internationals, while Williams is not.
Amherst ED acceptance rate: 33.6%
Dartmouth ED acceptance rate: 29%
Williams ED acceptance rate: 40%
Of course, these numbers are for all applicants(domestic and international), but since there is no info on internationals only, I would like to believe that these number are somewhat pertinent. </p>

<p>On the other hand, Dartmouth claims, "With highly recruited Division 1 athletes removed from the Early Decision applicant pool, the rate of admission during Early Decision falls back to a level that is more comparable, although slightly higher, than the overall rate of admission." This leads me to believe that applying to Dartmouth using ED is worthless, since RD is quite similar, statistics-wise. </p>

<p>I would imagine that Amherst's ED applicants are less geared towards sports, since it is a NCAA Division 3 school, while Dartmouth is a NCAA Division 1 school. Please correct me, if I am wrong. Nevertheless, only 20 international students, who are seeking aid, enroll at Amherst every year! </p>

<p>Williams, on the other hand, is not need blind, but has the highest ED acceptance rate of the three. Williams is also, like Amherst, a NCAA Division 3 school, which leads me to believe that its ED acceptance rate is less "rigged" than that of Dartmouth! But, I am afraid that Williams' not being need blind may negate the whole ED advantage.</p>

<p>Some numbers I came up with after research:
Dartmouth:
Enrolled Ints: 297
Ints with aid: 259
Average aid: $45k
Percent of ints aided: 87%</p>

<p>Amherst:
Enrolled ints: 120
Ints with aid: 82
Average aid: $45k
Percent of ints aided: 68%</p>

<p>Williams:
Enrolled ints: 132
Ints with aid: 128
Average aid: $48K
Percent of ints aided: 97%</p>

<p>These are just my main three, but feel free to refer to any other university that you feel might be fit for an international EDer (i.e. Middlebury, Macalester, etc..). I am hoping that maybe some of you could reveal key information that may sway my mind to a certain school!! </p>

<p>Now, I understand that some of you will want to burn me on a stake for trying to choose my ED school using numbers and not just choosing the school I liked the most. And, I agree, to an extent. But due to my not living in my home country for the majority of my life(native language requirements), I cannot go to any of the "government" universities in my country. This leaves me with one university in my home country that I can apply to, which has a tuition of $22k. I think that such an exorbitant tuition is ridiculous, considering that this university has no international reputation whatsoever. I am forced to make the most prudent choice, since I have no "safeties" in my home country.</p>

2

<p>Be very,very careful with ED.Only apply ED if you are completely invested and have done THOROUGH research about that school and have weighed absolutely all options and have decided that that school FITS you better than any other.That said,I would go for Amherst.Amherst just loves international students and is on an ongoing drive to diversify their student body.But I’m biased because it’s one of the colleges I happen to like a lot :D</p>

3

<p>I agree with you that paying attention to statistics is a good idea, AFTER you have thoroughly researched your options and are confident that you would be happy at a particular college. </p>

<p>That being said, general statistics are very very very misleading. I wish Petersons still had their international admission statistics online, just so that I could show you how different international admission rates are from the domestic admission rates. (For example, a couple of years ago Berea reported an international admission rate of 4% along with a domestic admission rate in the low 30s. If you had only seen their overall admission rate of 28%, you might have not guessed just how competitive their international pool is.)</p>

<p>When I was applying to college, I was playing a similar game and targeted colleges that were funding a large number of international students. When results came out, I was surprised that I fared better with the colleges who funded fewer students in total. I assume that’s because these colleges also receive fewer applications. Think about it this way: when a college is need-blind, every needy international student under the sun will apply there thinking that his odds are better than at the need-sensitive schools. Meanwhile, schools that fund only a handful of students will receive only applications from international students who really want to go there because everyone else is deterred by the numbers.</p>

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<p>Also be aware that Williams has recently changed their financial aid policy for international students, with the goal to “spend” less money on international financial aid. The statistics you quoted reflect the old policy, not the one you’ll be judged by.</p>

4

<p>I couldn’t find anything that stated that Williams changed its policy. Can you tell me where you saw this info?</p>

5

<p>Turns out they changed the policy last year, not this year. Man, I’m getting old fast. </p>

<p>Williams was need-blind for international students until last year. 3/4 of the students in the Collegeboard statistic were admitted under the old need-blind policy, so you should not orient yourself by those numbers.</p>

<p>[Admission</a> adopts need awareness for internationals : The Williams Record](<a href=“The Williams Record – The Student-Run Newspaper of Williams College Since 1887”>The Williams Record – The Student-Run Newspaper of Williams College Since 1887)</p>

<p>One more thing to note is that the number of “enrolled” international students only counts the students being on campus that year, while the number of “financial aid recipients” also counts students in study abroad programs. (This was clarified by a college representative last year, as people started to notice that some schools reported more financial aid recipients than students.) So</p>

<p>Enrolled ints: 132
Ints with aid: 128</p>

<p>does not mean that 97% of the intl students are on financial aid. It could also mean that 75% are on financial aid and 40 intl students are abroad and not counted as enrolled.</p>

6

<p>Well, Williams reports that 7% of undergrads are ints(not sure if this includes study abroad kids). So, 2029*.07=142. 128 are aided, so the percent aided would be around 90%. Also, I would think that the whole study abroad thing would apply to all of them; in which case, the safest way of estimating would be taking the highest one, since it is quite hard to try to figure out how many ints are in study abroad programs!</p>

7

<p>Also, the Collegeboard says, “Number of enrolled international undergraduates received aid: 128.”</p>

8

<p>I really don’t care how Collegeboard phrases it - the fact is that colleges don’t interpret the instructions the way you would think. </p>

<p>The study abroad thing become significant when some colleges let international students use their financial aid to study abroad and others don’t. </p>

<p>That aside, why do you care about the percentage of international students receiving aid? It would seem that the fact that they are funding 100 international students is significant, not whether there are 50 or 500 self-funded international students in addition to the financial aid recipients.</p>

<p>And in the end neither number reflects what you really care about: how competitive these funds are.</p>

9

<p>Well, which of the three would you say is the easiest for an int, who requires aid, to get admitted to, given he applies ED? And, do you know anything about the whole sports thing and ED?</p>

10

<p>Different college looks for different students. Without knowing your SAT scores, I am unable to make comments.</p>