carakay

Hi all, I'm new to this forum so just wanted to say a massive congratulations to all of you receiving offers and i have my fingers crossed to all of you awaiting positive news. I am in the latter camp ☺️ I have received quite a few rejections already and the only school I'm still waiting on is Princeton so I am not holding my breath, but I am eager to learn from this cycle and apply again next year. I'm an international student and don't know anyone from the US education system so I'm feeling a bit lost in this whole cycle and am trying to work out where to focus my energies next time. I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts on... Do you think being an international student has any impact on admissions (positive or negative)? Do you think me not being able to speak/write another language may have an impact? Is there anything else you think I should be aware of when applying again next year? Just for a bit of context, my background is: first class undergraduate and master's degrees from good universities (Cambridge and Oxford) GPA 4.0 equivalent GRE 95 - 99 percentile (subject and verbal) 1 publication (not a particularly well known journal!) + no conference presentations Strong references Contacted faculty in the schools I applied to and had positive email exchanges r.e. supervision What I think is a well-researched SOP (but I have not had anything to compare it to, as over in the UK our SOPs are more like a thesis proposal) No facility in foreign languages Part of me is wondering whether I am in a position to make a competitive application at all and maybe I should not spend the money, hope and time again next year. I have a full time job and caring responsibilities so the thought of trying to get any more articles published in my spare time is a bit daunting for me. So I'm so grateful for any of your thoughts! Please let me know if this isn't the most appropriate thread for this question - just looking for any insight from those of you who may know the US system better than me. Thank you so much! C