Am I in the int'l pile?

b_r_um
Mon, 29 Feb 2016 08:33:47 +0000

It’s more complicated than “domestic” or “international”. Your application will probably be read by the admissions officer assigned to the region your high school is located in, and your academic performance will be compared to your American classmates. You won’t need to complete the CommonApp “International Supplement to the Secondary School Report” because you were educated in the US, and there’s a good chance that you won’t need TOEFL scores for admission either. (Succeeding at an American high school is proof enough that you know English.)

On the other hand, you are squarely international for financial and legal purposes. You won’t be eligible for financial aid from federal or state sources, and you may not qualify for college-sponsored scholarships for domestic applicants. If you attend college on an F-1 visa, you will not qualify for in-state tuition (unless you happen to obtain a merit scholarship that bridges the gap between in-state and out-of-state tuition.) You will also need to prove that you can afford to pay for all 4 years of your college education in order to get your visa. (Unlike your classmates, who can figure out their finances one semester at a time.) You will be listed as an “international student” rather than a ‘white’ or ‘Asian’ or ‘African-American’ students in official college demographics.