In short, because
there is only a limited number of international students they can admit, but
relative to the number of international spots, there are A LOT more
international applicants. The acceptance rate for international students are
often less than 1/10 or even 1/20 compared to domestic applicants. For example,
Stanford's international acceptance rate was < 1% when the domestic was
still at 10%.
Keep in mind not all
international students are the same. Applicants from East Asia have it worst,
but applicants from Africa and South America have it considerably easier.
1) International
students are less knowledgeable about American universities. As a result, most
of them shoot for the top schools as "reach", but their target and
safety schools vary a lot. So while an American student may pick 2-3 reaches,
3-5 targets, and 2-3 safeties, the international student is more likely to
apply to 5+ reaches, and their targets tend to vary starting from colleges
ranking 30 and below. Therefore, for colleges that are ranked 30 - 100, it may
be easier for international students to get in.
2) International
students have little incentive to go to state schools. A lot of state schools
have 3 tiers for tuition: in-state, out-of-state, and international. Often
times, the state school costs almost as much as the private school. To put it
another way, going to a less competitive university costs almost as much as
going to a competitive university. Therefore, they have more incentive to try
to go to a more competitive university.
3) International
students (at least ones from East Asia) tend to have similar profiles. Since
most of us cannot compete with Americans in English/humanities, we tend to try
to distinguish ourselves with math/science abilities. However, since college
admissions is about building a diverse class, you want top math people from
abroad AND from the US, so you can't take all the IMO/IOI gold medalists.
People who may be top in English in their own country are likely still not that
good relative to native speakers, so it makes them less competitive.
sources : Quara
Thanking you.
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