So I see a lot of admission stats where international students are put as a separate ethnicity compared to Asian, White, Black, etc… Is this for the stats or am I actually grouped into that “ethnicity”?
I’m Asian, but I’m international so which group am I in? Does it help to be in the international group?
They put all non-US students into International because for many Unis admission for internationals is need aware or they only admit certain percentage of internationals. It is not unreasonable for US schools to treat internationals differently than US students.
International
For most colleges it hurts. For highly selective colleges, the percentage of international undergraduates is capped at around 10-12% (although some are higher, some lower). Acceptance rates for internationals can be half (or lower) of the domestic acceptance rate.
So in terms of admissions am I competing only with those 5,000 internationials applying to see if I can top them? Or am I competing with the 30,000 USA applicants? Or am I competing with everyone (35,000)?
Does being a resident of Japan help me at all?
And I’m guessing other than that all I can do is deal with it? Any advice?
You will be read relative to applicants from Japan ->Asia->International.
My daughter was living abroad as an American. She was read relative to applicants in her country (was she top 10% in GPA and test scores), but was in the US pool when it came to admission.
“but was in the US pool when it came to admission.” … so you mean she got accepted/admitted as if she was one of the locals, but then when they listed the stats they listed her US? Bit confused
“You will be read relative to applicants from Japan ->Asia->International.” bit confused what you mean here?
An American is part of the American pool for admissions. It does not matter where they live. @oldfort should not have confused the issue, since this does not apply to the OP if /he is not American.
So if I’m indian and I lived in Japan my entire life… Am I in the indian pool for admissions?
You will be in the international pool of applicants, and at most schools initially compared with other Japanese applicants.
All US schools are reaches for international applicants. If you require financial aid, US schools will be far reaches. Make sure you have safety schools on your list…probably in the country of your citizenship, either Japan or India.
Not necessarily true, if the international student has sufficient money and targets schools other than the most selective ones. Of course, those who post here are typically those targeting only the most selective ones and needing financial aid to afford any US school, so those students will find all US schools they are interested in to be reaches.
So this is the thing. I don’t think I qualify for international aid, but at the same time I don’t have money saved up for college so I’m taking a full loan probably. Is that okay? Does that mean I can “pay” for the college at least in the college’s mind and they won’t think about not accepting me or sth because of me taking a loan?
You are in the international pool. You will be compared against applicants from your school and from Japan. If any college further divides the pool, it will be college-specific.
Does the same apply for private universities? Are they also pretty harsh with international applicants?
How will you take out a loan for approx $300,000?
Doesn’t that make my chances very good because Japan has less competition compared to let’s say China? My school is also pretty small.
No nevermind. I will be only taking a smaller loan and will be paying most of it upfront. Do colleges look down if you need financial aid. Does paying it upront help in admissions?
Yes.
Nobody can say that your chances are “very good” because nobody has seen your application. No applicant’s chances to a highly selective US university are “very good” unless they have an unbelievable hook, and even then, their stats have to be in the ballpark.
A Japanese applicant may have a slightly better chance than an applicant from PRC or ROK, but most colleges do not break out acceptance rates by country, so no way to gauge.
This doesn’t make sense to me, if your parents are well-off enough to sign surety for approximately $200-300k depending on your target college, surely your family can afford to pay at least some of the college costs upfront?
Totally depends on the college. The top ones (maybe… to top 50, sometimes further down depending on major) yes. Lower down if you can be full pay it’s an advantage, but only compared to other internationals similar to you. Full pay is never going to compensate for grades, ECs etc at a competitive college.
Yeah , nevermind. They can pay most of it up-front. So i’ll be taking a minor loan. So being able to almost pay upfront for an international… is there an advantage? Just need to re-confirm what you said about top 50 and lower colleges and their upfront pay is same for internationals…
I do have good ECs, good grades, ok sat score… im just asking to see if i could have an edge in my applications against other internationals if i can pay most upfront
So am I not competing with the US applicants at all? I’m a bit confused how this works for international students?