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<p>International applicants can be well-rounded too! But I feel in order to assess this statement you’ll have to divide the domestic pool with the international pool. </p>
<p>I think there’s no doubt that ECs and well-rounded-ness is something that is heavily looked upon in the domestic pool, because there’s more room for selection and like you said, more opportunities in the US.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel like international admits fall into two categories: 1) the academically brilliant and 2) the life-story brilliant. I think there’s no doubt that MIT attracts academic heavyweights from other countries such as IMO medalists (I forgot which year, but there’s one year where virtually the entire Chinese IMO team decided to enroll at MIT), IPhO and IChO medalists…etc., but I feel like MIT also looks at applicant uniqueness and activities when assessing international admits. I personally know quite many international students at MIT who are NOT medalists nor brilliant researchers in their own countries. </p>
<p>I feel like given the very narrow quota allotted to international students, they’ll inevitably be held at an extremely high academic standard, but this is not to say that they’re all nerds. I feel like MIT also looks for ECs, personal traits, and life stories when admitting these international students. You may perceive that Harvard admits more “well-rounded” students, but that’s sometimes just because they can admit more intl’s and thus they can have a better representation of not just the olympiad medalists. Personally, I feel the things they look for in all of these elite schools are pretty much the same.</p>