Applying to US universities as an American living overseas
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Does anyone have any insights as to how American students living in other countries are classified in college admissions? We're US citizens living overseas for a few years and my understanding is that they were viewed as Americans and assigned to a particular state applicant pool from where they last lived in the USA, but I've been told by other colleagues that their kids were considered as part of the international student pool of the country in which they are living, which is typically more competitive for HYPS and other elite schools which may accept only 2 kids from a particular country. |
Anonymous
| call the colleges you are interested jn |
Anonymous
| I was an American living in abroad but with family still in the US, complicated also by international boarding school (though immediate family was also outside the US). To this day I don’t fully know. I was counted as a US applicant in many ways (I wasn’t part of any international quota and I eventually showed up with US family address somewhere in records) but I’m quite sure my international status and high school (it was a good one) was a help. |
Anonymous
| My son’s roommate this past year was an American citizen who grew up in India (he was born in NC to Indian citizens and they moved back to India when he was 5). He was considered an international applicant. |
Anonymous
| Previous poster here - I’ll add that I think it’s probably pretty subjective. There isn’t a huge pool of applicants like this, at least not that I knew. I got into three ivies (the lesser ones hah) and a bunch of NESCAC schools, went to a top NESCAC |
Anonymous
|
We are dual citizens, and have asked a few consultants and AOs this. The American aspect is critical for financial aid, which is not available to most internationals at most schools. So be glad for that. If you qualify for aid, it doesn't matter that your family lives overseas.
As for getting in? I was told that we would be evaluated from within our high school's region because the AO who will read our app needs to understand the ed system here. (It is different from the US in term of subject selection. Foreign language is not considered a core subject and very few study languages in junior and senior year, and many kids specialize young in their area of interest.) It helps that we are from a less populous country than, say, China or India. But we still expect it will be difficult. I imagine that the SLACs might be good for us, as we know they are excellent but many international families are chasing internationally recognized big name prestige, as opposed to an excellent education. (I do realize they might get both, but the motivation is almost always prestige.) If anyone can confirm the above info about the schools considering our last state of residence, please do. I didn't see a place for it on the common app? But have not looked the app over fully yet. It would help. Rural Maine. Maybe work this into the additional info if relevant? |
Anonymous
|
I previously read international applications for a school that read by school group when possible, because the local school context matters. Is it an international school or does it follow local curriculum? Do they offer APs? How many? Etc.
If I only had one app from the school, I was still using the school report to understand the options available to the student and how they were availing themselves of them. We did also have a sense of what was typical for a given country, so we would know that students might not have the same access to extracurriculars as American students. On the other hand, a student like yours with American citizenship wouldn't have to provide evidence of English proficiency, unlike many international students. Also, I suspect that in final decisions, the student's American identity would come into play, largely in beneficial ways. The university would be able to predict that the student might smoothly enter the American university system, while bringing interesting perspectives from their time abroad. |
Anonymous
| to OP - American universities are a mess. Why aren't you considering great foreign schools like Oxbridge or any of tge others? far more cosmopolitan. much cheaper. admissions based on merit not skin color. I'm sending all of kids to Britain |
Anonymous
We are sending our kids to Canada (McGill) |
Anonymous
OP here. Thanks a bunch to all who responded-this is helpful--I can understand the dynamics better now. As to Oxbridge--very different admissions process than for American universities....lost of work for a high school kid to manage both categories of application type, but definitely they're wonderful schools. |
Anonymous
|
It varies between different colleges and also by student’s specific circumstance.
In some situations, being US citizen applying from an overseas school can be an admissions hook. This is likely a hook if the family is a resident in state X for tax purposes and applying to a public university in that same state X. Also can be a hook if family are either US Foreign Service or US military and have been stationed overseas on government orders. |
Anonymous
| My DC was considered an International Applicant at most schools. Had an International AO assigned to the country. Every school is different so check the universities. The ones that like international students will have Multiple AOs for example, one for UK Ireland, one for Europe and Middle East, one for China and Korea, one of Australia New Zealand, one for LATAM, etc etc. The ones that don't recruit well internationally will have like a handful of AOs for the whole world. |
Anonymous
LOL no. Have you been to Oxford or Cambridge? The UK is NOT Cosmopolitan |
Anonymous
|
You have to inquire school-by-school. My DD did IB MYP, then International A Levels for last 2y. Grading standards, subject selection... everything is completely different from what American schools get from their US applicants.
DD's HS contacted the handful of US schools that she was interested in to find out what they wanted in terms of A Level results, so we didn't bother with SATs or AP exams. In the end, she couldn't justify the expense differential at the undergraduate level, so we stuck with EU and UK options. Although the US unis were able to articulate target IAL scores, if your child is in this system, I'd still suggest that your kid plans on taking a US standardized exam, just to have actual results in hand. UK is used to conditional offers and has a system built for it. But it will be hard to apply to US schools with potentially zero actual grades before 15 Aug, 2 weeks before they're supposed to begin uni! |
Anonymous
| My experience with this is old but growing up in an EU country, I was considered international. I never lived in the US so there was no state to call home. I’d inquire from schools DC is interested in. I will say that I entered college as a sophomore and graduated in 3 years after filling out 2 forms… |