Columbia is a big deal, and that is an understatement. As a top university in the United States and member of the famed Ivy League, Columbia also has the bonus perk of being located in one of the most famous and popular cities in the world: New York City. For international students, it isn’t just the allure of the top academics and bright lights, though — it’s also the three convenient international airports. Students coming from abroad who want to be able to go home are often surprised to learn how far many top universities are from a major airport with any chance of offering regular direct flights. For many, it’s hours of driving, or a mix of trains and busing, to even start getting home. From the Columbia Campus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, it’s as little as 30 minutes to your terminal.
How to Get into Princeton as an International Student: Strategy
Princeton is a globally renowned university and member of the famed Ivy League. It is also one of the most popular schools in the United States for high-achieving international students. The university has become known for fostering a welcoming community for students from around the world while offering some of the most competitive academic programs on earth, literally. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that getting into Princeton is no walk in the park. Admissions is intensely competitive, and even more so for international applicants. In this post, we’re going to break down three steps prospective international applicants must be taking now to raise their odds of a Princeton acceptance. First, though, we’re going to get into some numbers.
How to Get into the University of Pennsylvania as an International Student: Strategy
International students are drawn to the University of Pennsylvania for good reason. It’s a top-tier Ivy League university with global respect and a powerful program. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that it isn’t easy to get in regardless of where one is applying from. In this post, we’ll break down what prospective international applicants need to know — and do — to increase their chances of admission. First, though, let’s talk numbers.
How to Get into MIT as an International Student: Strategy
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is one of the most respected engineering, science, and technology universities in the world. It is also one of the hardest to get into. For international students considering MIT, we highly recommend pursuing a proven strategy early. Every year we help international students get into outstanding schools, including MIT. In this post, we will give you a look at our playbook. We share three proven steps towards an MIT acceptance, along with some additional tips and tricks for the strongest possible application. First, though, let’s break down some statistics.
How to Get into Dartmouth as an International Student: Strategy
As an international perspective applicant, Dartmouth is a bit of a black box. It’s an Ivy League, and one of the hardest colleges to get into in the United States, but they don’t share much data about the details. While some other Ivies breakdown their admissions data to give applicants insight into the odds, Dartmouth doesn’t. In this post, we’ll demystify Dartmouth and give international applicants the tools they need to stand out for admissions. First, though, let’s talk about what statistics are available.
How to Get into Brown as an International Student: Strategy
Brown is a prestigious university that has become immensely popular with international students for combining top-tier Ivy League academics with a creative community and open curriculum. Unsurprisingly, it’s also extremely difficult to get into. It is hard to gain admission to Brown for any student, but prospective international students face a particularly steep uphill battle. And yet, we regularly support international students from around the world in earning an acceptance letter. In this post, we’re going to give you a peek into our playbook — and how we pull it off.
How to Get into the University of Chicago as an International Student: Strategy
The University of Chicago is a top-tier American university on par with the vaunted Ivy League and other exceptional schools, like Stanford. It is exceptionally hard to get into as an American, but especially hard to get into if you are an international applicant. Only 16% of undergraduates at the university are international students, which is a lot if you are not an international student but is a tiny slice if you’re one of the thousands of international applicants trying to get into the university. We routinely help international students pull off an acceptance by the University of Chicago. In this post, we’ll give you a peek into our playbook.
How to Get into Duke as an International Student: Strategy
Duke is a top American research university with amazing academics, stellar resources, and a fabulous campus life and community. They received over 54,000 first-year applications in the 2023-2024 cycle, for a class of 1,739. The acceptance rate was only 5.4%. Getting into Duke is hard for anyone, and every year we support international students in doing just that.
How to Get into Harvard as an International Student: Strategy
If you are an international student eyeing the Ivy League, we understand the allure. However, if you are considering Harvard there are some things you absolutely must plan for in advance. That is where we can help, as we’ve assisted international students in gaining acceptance to the Ivies, including Harvard, for over a decade.
Applying to Cornell University as an International Student
Cornell is Ivy League, baby. This major research university in Ithaca, New York, home to over 16,000 undergraduate students, is unique as a super prestigious university and member of the Ivy League that offers educational tracks and opportunities, like the hospitality school and the agricultural programs, that no other top schools have. Truly, not a single other Ivy League or Ivy-adjacent school offers what Cornell does.
Applying to Williams College as an International Student
Williams College is an Ivy-caliber small liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. If you daydream about what it looks like to go to a small liberal arts college in the northeast of the United States, you’re probably thinking of a place like Williams. The college offers outstanding academics in a close-knit environment surrounded by the mountains. So, if you’re looking for a city experience, this isn’t it. If you want an outstanding education and college experience nestled in the Berkshire mountains of New England, “learning with others who are dedicated to becoming deeper thinkers and more effective leaders,” it may be a perfect fit.
Applying to the University of California (UC) System as an International Student
The University of California undergraduate programs cover dozens of academic majors, hundreds of degree programs, and nine distinct universities scattered around California — a state in the United States that is larger than Vietnam, the U.K., and France (although not combined). Some of these campuses are predominantly popular among California-based students and fairly accessible for those outside of the state, while others are globally-recognized as top-tier universities and are very hard to get into.
Applying to The University of Chicago as an International Student
The University of Chicago is one of the top schools in the United States, and is frequently mentioned in the same sentence as Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale, and other top colleges, like Stanford. Located in Chicago, Illinois, it is an exceptional school ideal for analytical, curious, and internally-motivated students who want to gain an understanding of the world around them so that they can change it. 7,600 undergraduate students call the university, most often called UChicago, home, and experience a liberal arts educational experience with the backbone and resources of a research university.
Applying to Hamilton College as an International Student
Hamilton College is a small liberal arts college in Clinton, New York, a small town in the upstate Adirondack region. The college is home to about 2,000 students who share a deep commitment to the humanities and a passion for being around nature and experiencing all four seasons. If you want a winter — they’ve got a winter!
Applying to Wesleyan as an International Student
Wesleyan University is a small liberal arts school in Middletown, CT twenty minutes from the city of Hartford and under two hours from both New York City and Boston. The school is home to just over 3,000 undergraduate students who are passionate about the unique educational perspective Wesleyan has to offer. With over 45 majors, more than 900 courses, and an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio, the school is a favorite of liberal arts-minded students even before you account for the Open Curriculum.
Applying to Colby College as an International Student
Colby College is a small undergraduate liberal arts school in the city of Waterville, Maine. The college offers a balance of rural and urban, small community and broad resources, and a highly-respected package. 64% of classes have fewer than 20 students, and the college is well-known for offering a level of access to professors for counsel, mentorship, and even just conversation, that larger schools simply can’t facilitate. Students have the opportunity to explore broadly, dive deeply into what they care about most, and have fun while doing it.
Applying to Bowdoin as an International Student
In the United States, there are the colleges everyone knows about because they’re so old or famous or big that you really can’t avoid knowing them — and then there are the colleges everyone knows about because they are both so beloved, and so hard to get into, that you feel like you never stop hearing about them. Bowdoin is one of the latter. In this post, we’ll break down how to break into Bowdoin if you’re an international student applying to college in the United States.
Applying to the University of Michigan as an International Student
The University of Michigan is a major research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan that is regularly ranked in the top five public universities in the United States. The university is a powerhouse academically, athletically, and socially, and they offer more than 280 degree programs across 14 undergraduate colleges and schools. There are over 50,000 students overall, and about 33,000 undergraduates. Of that undergraduate community, about 9%, or nearly 2,900 students, are international. The international student community at the University of Michigan (or Mich, for short), represents more than 120 countries and brings a diversity of thoughts, cultures, perspectives, and traditions to campus.
Applying to the University of Pennsylvania as an International Student
The University of Pennsylvania, commonly called Penn or UPenn, is a major top-tier research university nestled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university is home to about 24,000 students, about half of whom are undergraduates. The undergraduates are spread across four colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Nursing, and the Wharton School, the only undergraduate business school in the Ivy League. Yes, Penn is part of the vaunted Ivy League and considered one of the best universities in the world.
Applying to Middlebury as an International Student
The idea of going to college in rural Vermont in the far northeast of the United States where the winters are long and cold may sound like a hard pitch for exceptional international students. Surprisingly, it’s not. Middlebury College is one of the most prestigious colleges in the U.S., and one of the most popular among international applicants. In this post, we’ll break down why Middlebury is so popular for international students and how you can increase your chance of acceptance if you apply.