<p>so called less famous colleges are schools from 25~50 on ranking(lets say from USNews, like NYU, Boston, and few public ones), since they are not as attractive as ivies internationally. Will they tend to weigh some international students (the ones dont need fin-aid) over domestic ones with similar stats?</p>
<p>plz dont follow the rankings, the rankings are bunch of bull crap it is just an estimate on where school stands that fit that ranking category, NYU, Nortre Dame, CAL, UCLA, UT Texas, UVA are all good schools either way</p>
<p>I am just giving some examples, isnt necessary be exactly the same as the ranking. I know they are great, but they attract a lot less international students than ivies, even though they are very famous to local students</p>
<p>i guess those schools attract less int'l students because they do not offer much financial aid...</p>
<p>anyway, if u pay the college yourself and dont ask for financial aid, those schools worth a good try.</p>
<p>I heard some of those schools are lacking of intls, so they want us for diversity reason</p>
<p>Do you have a list? And I believe no university gives need-based scholarships for int'l students, right?</p>
<p>as I mentioned earlier, we dont count in fin-aid factor.
Here is the list of school :
notre dame; NYU; boston; U Mich; UVA; U \Chicago etc.</p>
<p>Actually there are alot of schools apart from those you mention that want to diversify its students population like college of williams and mary and all that but they dont give any aid at all..</p>
<p>but those LAC are pretty unheard of internationally, dont you guys think so>?</p>
<p>UMICH's alumni is the biggest in the world, University of Chicago's LAC is one of the best in the WORLD, NYU is always growing, and UVA is a very good. Your probally worried about getting a job when you return to your home country. Remember its not what college you graduate from. I know many Harvard, Yale, Princeton students do get nice jobs in the US and oversea, however remember there are more people who didn't graduate from these universities then graduated from Harvard, Yale, Princeton. Its ultimately what you can offer.</p>
<p>thank you, any other advice?</p>
<p>International experience, rather than just citizenship or foreign residency, generally helps differentiating a candidate. E.g. a student, born in Sydney and spent considerable school years in Singapore and Manila, is likely "ranked" higher than international students who spend their entire life in any of the three countries alone. So, being an international student alone doesn't add too much of an edge. For schools that I know, local alumns, who often interview the candidates on behalf of the schools, add considerable weight.</p>
<p>Okay here's it. International students don't exactly compete with the domestic students in college admissions. Whether or not individual college admits this or not, there is some degree of 'class-engineering' in every college admission's process. They'll seek to hit particular quotas in terms of ethnicity, male-female, jocks-superstars, domestic students - international students etc. This basically means not every college applicant is competing on even footing anyway - international student or not. And especially in the case of nationality, domestic students and international students are more often than not evaluated in different pools. Like honestly, do you really think you can compare a typical domestic student takes part in 5-7 extracurricular activities with a PRC student who came from a school with no extracurricular activities whatsoever? Even comparing international students across different countries is hard - though admission officers have to find a way around it somehow. The rule of thumb is this: Just make sure you stand out from the pool of applicants from YOUR country. And you should do fine. (Hence it sucks if you're from Korea, Singapore or China.)</p>
<p>To answer your question - it's ultimately an issue of demand and supply. Indeed the supply of applicants may be less at your so called less famous colleges, but on the other hand, the demand of applicants by these colleges may also be less if they are less enthusiastic about international diversity. Since very generally-speaking, the 'better colleges' are bigger on diversity.</p>
<p>woebegone: Just curious. Where/How did you learn about the "class-engineering" theory?</p>
<p>ummm.. this should not be taken as there is no competition for international students. Since there are so few seats and so many ppl applying, it's far more fierce than domestic competition... Had there been a level competition, US univs wud have been probably full of international students</p>
<p>Some <em>public</em> universities have to cap the number of out-of-state students (including international). But, I don't believe most if not all colleges subscribe to a quota system for international students. </p>
<p>At undergrad, most international students are usually discouraged by the lack of financial aid and knowledge (about US colleges). But at graduate level where opportunities are generally more available, international students significantly outnumber domestic students in many fields.</p>
<p>liangshengtm: Ability to pay the full fare is definitely to your advantage if you apply to colleges that practise need-aware admission.</p>
<p>liang, NYU is certainly not a school which is lacking international applicants. I have a daughter who attends there and it is incredibly diverse. I remember when we first attended an information session there the year before she applied. They had students from every state in the U.S. and from 120 different countries. Also, NYU does not give need-based aid to internationals.</p>
<p>Perhaps I put it in a too matter-of-factly tone when I expounded the 'class-engineering' theory. It's really not quoted from anywhere, but rather some term I came up with to represent a rather commonsensical concept. Having said that, however, it's not a totally unsubstantiated theory either. I definitely have come across similar articles by admission deans and officers that speak of this 'class-engineering' thing, though the terminology used might differ. </p>
<p>"But, I don't believe most if not all colleges subscribe to a quota system for international students." </p>
<p>When I said quota, I don't mean a fast-and-fast rule like "we must restrict the number of internationals every year to 7.8%," but rather a general guideline that doesn't stray too much from the current demographic data. I suppose it's reasonable to agree that even if college X wants to turn more 'international', they would endeavour to do a gradual year-on-year increase rather than to suddenly double the international enrolment/admittance (not just because they don't want, but also that they cannot - unless they want to compromise on the admission standards). Hence, whether deliberately imposed or not, there is some kind of quota on internationals.</p>
<p>First of all, one advice I will tell you is to ignore the rankings sinc they are commonly inaccurate and biased. An example is Boston University, which refuses to work with US NEWS, thus its ranking is lower. Also consider this dilemma, certain state schools (such as Purdue and Indiana) are ranked lower since they lack particular majors. Purdue lacks a law school, while Indiana does not have an engineering major. This is due to the fact that when the land grant was attained, two colleges were chosen to be formed instead of one so as to generate more revenue and build business around Indiana. Had the two schools (Purdue and IU) been one, they would definately have been top 25. It is also biased since it looks at SAT scores and GPA as a factor of rankings which is pathetic since performance in high school does not mean success in college. They are two different things. I would recommend you apply to colleges that have a nice feel, areas where you know you would enjoy living for four years. Don't look at rankings. First look at the college environment, housing possibilities, weather, transportation, campus strictness and safety.</p>
<p>Well, we all know the evil truth is ranking does matter. :( Nonetheless, it is relatively well known that the methodology used by US News tends to hurt larger state universities. Personally, it will be really helpful to see a new ranking based using inputs from recruiters or hiring companies and perhaps recent graduates.</p>