<p>I was just wondering. Why would being an international student hinder my opportunity at top schools? I am, for example, from Peru. wouldn't then my competition be the rest of the applicants from south america? which happen to be very few and are, and of course, in general weaker than those from the states?</p>
<p>Thank you for your time.</p>
<p>I would say that you are competing with the rest of the international students, who are stronger in general than US students.</p>
<p>let's take this example: only 10 international students apply to X school. 8 from asia, all with perfect SAT's, 1 from africa with a 2000, and 1 from south america with a 2100. Wouldn't they take the South American and the African with intents of increasing the diversity in the school? Im sure the one and only south american can offer a lot more to the community than the 8th asian. Under this light, wouldn't one be competing against people with the same background?</p>
<p>Why would they increase diversity this way? Are you assuming that there are no 2400(or anything good) from South America prep school? Can't they just find some in-state URM with higher scores than the South American or African URM?</p>
<p>I am not expert on international admission affirmative action seriously, but AA only goes so far.</p>
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Why does beign an international student hurt one's chances?
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<p>Simple. Because the admissions rate is much lower than for those from the US. There isn't nearly as many spots for internationals as there is for us. Also, those internationals that do get accepted tend to have ridiculously amazing stats since the competition for so few spots is huge.</p>