<p>Your chances of admission will be higher, all else equal, if you do not require financial aid. (This applies to international applicants only.) There is still a maximum total number of internationals (for complicated bureaucratic and legal reasons, among other things) but not applying for financial aid does improve your chances.</p>
<p>Incidentally, the total percentage of internationals is also capped at other top U.S. institutions (MIT, Harvard, &c.). If you want my personal opinion, I don’t think this is such a great policy, but the issue is complicated.</p>