| I don't believe you should worry too much about your SAT Verbal score for admission as an international, especially if you are intenting to pursue education in science or engineering. Admissions officers don't expect you to have the same mastery of english as native speakers. That's why they have the TOEFL. I am familiar with a number of french students applying to top engineering schools. Their transcript and French Baccalaureat or IB results and letters of recommendation were the only things that really mattered. It was understood that pursuing many ECs was just not common in high school in Europe. Some were even admitted as sophomores, which saved them a year in tuition.
For some schools like UCLA, being non-resident is a bigger issue. They just don't take many out-of-state students, let alone internationals. I don't know what the admission rate for internationals is at Caltech but is probably very low with many highly qualified students from China and India applying. I know at MIT it is only around 4% but that is partly because MIT offers full financial aid to internationals. Caltech does not, so it may not be as hard. You should really check each school's policy in regards to interrnationals. Some are very friendly, especially if you don't expect any financial aid. |