International Applicant in the US, Which Pool?

[Etranger]

This question is especially directed to migration dude. I wonder if international students (exclusing Canadians of course) in the US "U" are put in the US pool or in the International Pool (along with "I"). For example, I am a Chinese student at Dartmouth, and I know my application is put into the pool of East Asian nationals (China, Korea, Japan) even though I hold a degree from a US college.

[chillinlikeavillain]

Why excluding Canadians? What are Canadians considered?

[Etranger]

Because Canadians (and Mexicans perhaps) are normally treated the same as US applicants, especially with regard to internal financial aid. Other interantional students (East Asian, East European, etc.) normally compete for a fixed quota of offers.

[migrationdude]

Hi Etranger,

My own feeling is that there are no longer applicant "pools" at the graduate level, given that most institutions fund their graduate students from their internal money anyway. The one difference may be at state universities, which may have certain restrictions imposed upon them by state governments. This being said, there are some universities where it's very hard for internationals to get funded (e.g. Michigan), but this doesn't mean they won't accept you if you're international. In other words, in some borderline cases it may be harder for international students to get funded, though admission shouldn't be much different than for U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

[chillinlikeavillain]

Hmm, that's very interesting that Canadians and Mexicans are considered the same as US applicants...I wonder why?

[chillinlikeavillain]

I wonder if it is more advantageous to be considered in the US "pool" or the international "pool".

[migrationdude]

1. As far as I know at least Canada has agreements with the U.S. Government, through which Canadians can take out U.S. federal loans (or a similar arrangement). Thus, Canadians (and Mexicans?) are less of a financial headache for universities.

2. I strongly believe there are no real "pools," unlike in undergrad admissions. I can't believe in departments setting goals like "this year we're taking 3 internationals," because of the totally idiosyncratic nature of the admissions process. If 5 extremely good international applicants are seen as good enough to gain admission, I am sure that the department will seek to find funding for them; I would think international student status would come up only in the borderline cases (i.e. if the university will only offer loans as financing, it cannot accept international students, as they will not get the visa, most likely)

3.Ad absurdum, if there were separate pools, make no mistake about it, being in the U.S. pool would be much better than being international. International student may have a certain degree of "exoticisim" going for them, but then they are expensive (bc. of visa requirements), ineligible for most national funding sources, and if they did their undergrad outside the U.S. they are likely to have a harder time adapting to their new university. My own feeling as an international has been that I always have to do a lot better than my American peers, only for me to enjoy the same chances as them.