<p>^^^I’m not sure there’s a standard for selection. It varies from school to school. When dealing with small liberal arts colleges, every students needs to contribute something to the class. A smaller school with 1,800 students needs just as many football players as a school with 4,000 students. Same goes for violinists in the college orchestra, actors for college productions, artists for art shows, etc. I’m sure that schools of Bowdoin’s size begin assembling a class with an eye toward what they envision the end result to be. If they don’t have many well qualified domestic Hispanic applicants, they may seek that diversity from the greater international pool. Colleges like to say that they have diverse and international student bodies, so that’s a plus for you. But there are MANY international applicants who are extremely well qualified AND can pay full fare. You need to demonstrate, through your application and essay, why they should choose you over hundreds (and in some instances thousands) of other international applicants.</p>