<p>What it comes down to is how you compare relative to your classmates, and to students from your own region. Most of those top schools have a “quota” for each region. I have been studying D2’s school’s Naviance for those schools. They are pretty numbers driven. Students on the top right corner were admitted (high GPA and SAT/ACT). It’s harder for adcom to understand international student’s ECs, there are fewer legacies and athletes, so they probably make their decisions more based on numbers.</p>
<p>I think if you really wanted to study in the US, you should have applied to more lower tier schools.</p>