<p>I am disappointed that Stanford, being one of the very best institutions worldwide, is still unwilling to expand its aid to international students. With the initiative of Dartmouth College, which expanded its FinAid program to need-blind admission to int’l students, I hope Stanford reconsiders its aid program</p>
<p>Stanford’s excuse is that they have less endowment per capita than HYP. However, they do not mention that Middlebury and Williams College are both need-blind for internationals, despite having a smaller endowment per capita. (Middlebury: $1 billion x 2,350 students = $425,500 per student. Williams: $1.9 billion x 2,003 students = $948,500 per student). Stanford has $17.2 billion x 14890 students(including u-grads and grads), which is approx $1,155,000 per student, almost 3 times the endowment per capita of Middlebury College. </p>
<p>/BIG rant. Sorry, but my hopes just went crashing down at the fact that less than 3.5% of international applicants for FinAid are accepted compared to the 10 + % acceptance of domestic applicants</p>
<p>Stanford wants to expend more money in other directions – building, student services, etc. rather than financial aid for internationals. In addition, I don’t think Stanford cares as much about increasing diversity in this way, since it already has much domestic diversity. LACs tend not to have as much of that, so they’ll try other areas.</p>
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<p>It’s 10% total. But really, your “hopes just went crashing down”? Did you really have any hopes at 10%? It’s not that big a difference. Sure, it’s about 1/3, but 10% is not a whole lot to begin with.</p>
<p>International admissions are competitive everywhere. And given that Stanford is already extremely competitive, I’m not surprised that its international admissions are so tight.</p>
<p>^IMO 3% vs 10% is a BIG difference, especially when most of the internationals are studymaniacs from India, Korea, China, etc.</p>
<p>Also, we can’t count all the graduate students, since Stanford offers very little, if any, FinAid to them.</p>
<p>Either way, money is no excuse for Stanford not being able to afford need blind admissions.</p>
<p>Also, what about Dartmouth? What is Stanford’s next excuse for not affording need-blind admission to int’ls? Surely Dartmouth has as much buildings to build as Stanford.</p>
<p>PS: I put the multiplying sign, since the multiplying sign means “por” or “per” in spanish</p>
<p>You counted grad students in your original calculations, didn’t you?</p>
<p>And in fact, I’d be willing to bet that Stanford gives them more financial aid. Why? Because they want to attract the best grad students. As such, it will fund their education, and even give them stipends. Grad students are always more expensive than undergrads. (Which is why the “spending per student” figure never works, unless the school has no grad students.)</p>
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<p>As I said, I don’t think Stanford feels the need to attract more international students. It gets plenty of extremely qualified, diverse internationals who can pay.</p>
<p>Not to mention many universities are wary of accepting international students because those students sometimes (if not often) 1) get their degree, and then 2) leave the US.</p>
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<p>This doesn’t really matter but… I’ve never seen that (and I speak Spanish fluently). I’m genuinely curious.</p>
<p>not that this matters much but…kowloon is right about the x thing. its used as a short form for “por” when taking notes or whatever (in spanish instead of saying “4 times 5” you say “4 por 5”, hence x=por)</p>
<p>Well Stanford is different from the Ivies because it is a Div 1 school that gives athletic scholarships. I’m sure that makes a decent difference.</p>
<p>By the way, Dartmouth is nowhere near the size of Stanford.</p>
<p>Anyways kyle, my point is not to insult Stanford. In fact, it’s my DREAM school where I so desperately want to get in that I’m ranting. maybe Stanford has its own excuses, but I believe that if Stanford wanted, it could wipe out the need-based aid policy against int’ls with their huge endowment. I mean… 3% admit rate? What kind of international student gets in with such competition? Even HYP’s admit rate for int’ls is about 10~12%.</p>
<p>Btw, I always respected kyledavid for his helpful posts. I think you are feeling overly defensive about my post (which I understand), but my point is that such a grand institution like Stanford should SERIOUSLY consider eliminating need-based admissions for int’ls, which would further elevate the already renown prestige of Stanford worldwide.</p>
<p>I’m not getting defensive about Stanford – in fact, I agree with you that they should be need-blind for internationals – but I’m simply offering an explanation.</p>
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<p>Yes, I know, but the operation was not “times” but “divided by.” =p</p>
<p>As a Stanford '12 admitted student who’s not international I can say that I fully agree with you that Stanford should be need blind for internationals, though I don’t think it detracts from Stanford’s status as a leading institution (which I don’t think you fully believe because you want to get in so bad). But what can I say? If they don’t have the money or they lack the will (they=administrators) there’s nothing you nor I can do but hope for deserving students of need to get in.</p>
<p>^fred, I didn’t fully understand you. I’m just saying that being need-blind woud ADD to Stanford’s already-glowing-prestige.
Arg… I just… wish that I had as much of a chance as Americans in the admission process. Nothing more, nothing less. I mean, being in a lower socioeconomical status is beneficial for domestic applicants, while it is a BIG minus for int’ls.
Sorry if I sounded offensive towards Stanford in anyway. I’m just as desperate as you guys to get in (btw, I’m '13 applicant), but now found out that my chances are virtually 0, especially when my SATs aren’t like <em>normal</em> (normal as in CC normal; 2300 +), and when I can fill about only 4 spaces in my EC section</p>
<p>Don’t give up hope. There are plenty–and I mean plenty–of examples where int’l students aren’t amazing and they get into schools like Stanford.</p>
<p>Even then, though, you want to try to find a school that’s more realistic. I would tell this to every Stanford applicant, international or domestic.</p>
<p>^yeah… I’d love to get in @ Stanford, but I am searching for other good, international-friendly univs (which aren’t very common).</p>
<p>I’d really be thrilled if Stanford followed Dartmouth’s initiative by 2009, because that’d mean that my chances would go up (at least statistically).</p>