<p>Abhay:</p>
<p>The US college enrollments from your school over the last five years or so that I looked at are nothing short of amazing. Every year, there are a two or three dozen amazing acceptances including many at Ivies, many at the top liberal arts colleges. A very impressive list. Being number 7 in your class is the same as saying you are #7 in your entire country. So, from that standpoint, you have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Why do some kids from your school get accepted to one college and not to another? I have no idea. My hunch is that US admissions from your school are more like “arranged marriages” than random kids mailing in applications and taking their chances. I would bet that the admissions officers are in direct contact with your school’s guidance counselors reviewing the list of applicants from your school that year, both in terms of “good fit” for each college and finanicial aid issues.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I have no idea of the specifics of that process, so there is no way to say that you will be the one that gets an acceptance and aid package from Swarthmore, or the one that gets it from Williams, or Hamilton, or wherever. For example, more than 80% of the Swarthmore international students receive financial aid, but I don’t have a clue how that aid is determined.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor is the expert on Nepalese admissions. What does he/she say?</p>