Good enough for Stanford/Ivies? + other queries

I want to ask a question about UK and US best universities, perhaps already answered.

I am not British but I'm from the EU . Unis in my country are awful and since I am a good though not perfect student I considered applying to UK and US unis,
I knew I wanted to study Maths-Physics stuff and I looked at SAT and A-level papers which didn't impress me at all tbh and then I came up with the Oxbridge admission papers (MAT,PAT,STEP) and interview videos and I liked them so much especially STEP because they really do measure potential. From the UK unis Oxbridge became my first choice (eventually Cambridge Maths with Physics).
From the other side I was looking at unis such as Harvard, Stanford and MIT which have similar rankings so that I have a second choice , but everything seemed so chaotic to me. I couldn't find a nice bit in the whole process ; there were no admission tests ,I got the impression that interviews are not subject based but I''m not sure about that and they gave me the impression that their criteria are very strange as well (eg they'd prefer a less talented candidate if the other more talented one is arrogant according to his/her teacher) . Their educational system is way too complex for me to understand.
Given that fees and aeroplane tickets are extremely high compared to Oxbridge I totally ignored US unis.

You now say how difficult it is to get into Ivy-stanford-MIT using acceptance rates all of which are less than 5% while Cambridge has 20%....what's going on ?
I applied to Cambridge because it is considered to be the best uni (or at least at top 3) in the world for Maths (QS rankings 2016) . STEP III is a very demanding exam as well, but still getting into Harvard or MIT is 4 to 5 times more unlikely and in the case of an international students 20 times (???) Many students who are applying both to US and UK top unis claim that US unis are much harder to cope with. An IMOer from my country had an unconditional offer from Cambridge Maths and preferred MIT (which is 4th btw) without getting any financial help. I just want a justified opinion explaining the great difference in acceptance rates between Oxbridge and US top unis. I want to know more about US unis because if UK exits EU admission fees will rise dramatically, so I might apply to US unis.

xxx

?

You've been saying the rate is always 4.7% lower for *any* elite university...

No
... but is always lower...

the international rate for elite universities is never lower than the domestic acceptance %, even if we limit it to regular action, and assume all regular action applicants are domestic

Is top posting in forums a thing in America?

It's bloody irritating here...

You, again, are missing my point.

You said:


And now you say "always lower".

I'm old by your standards...

Eh? Who's standards? It seems you have no idea how old I am... put it this way, I've been around a fair bit longer than the internet.

Anyway, again you miss the point. It's usually considered best to follow the convention commonly used in the communication media you are enjoying. So if everyone is bottom posting then why not follow that style...?!

Eh? Who's standards? It seems you have no idea how old I am... put it this way, I've been around a fair bit longer than the internet.

Anyway, again you miss the point. It's usually considered best to follow the convention commonly used in the communication media you are enjoying. So if everyone is bottom posting then why not follow that style...?!

like this????

No, it doesn't happen for elite universities...here are some numbersInternational applicants can now apply early action to MIT, just as any other student.I'm going to assume that MIT received all 3971 international applications as early action, even though it's not true...here are the regular decision numbers...i'm going to include the early action applicants that were deferred to be fair, and like I said before, assume ALL Internationals applied early action and were admitted early action, even though it's not true... I'll even not include the applicants that were put on waitlist and later acceptedNow we both know that most international students applied regular decision, but I'll assume that out of the 16,322 that applied regular action, none were internationals..... If I subtracted international applicants and and international admits from these numbers, the admit rate for domestic students applying regular decision would go upBy assuming that no regular decision applicants were internationals, the admit rate will be as low as possible for regular decision domestic applicantsI'm really interpreting the data in the most generous manner possible16,322 students applied regular action... I'm including deferrals, as if I didn't include deferrals, the admit rate would go up....842 were admitted... not counting the waitlist applicants later acceptedI'll even assume that all 131 internationals were deferred to regular action, and were admitted... And only those 131 admits were deferred... So the regular action rate for internationals is 100% to minimize the rate for domestic students... We assume all the other regular action applicants were domestic.....so 16,192 applicants, and 711 admits for domestic students applying regular actionthat's a admit rate of over 4% for domestic students applying regular action ...IF we assume this crazy scenario I just listed. can't possibly be lower than that...Of course the scenario I just listed did not happen...the truth is that it's significantly higher, likely 6-7% ... very similar to overall admit ratethe international rate for elite universities is never lower than the domestic acceptance %, even if we limit it to regular action, and assume all regular action applicants are domestic

Not if you're poor or middle class.

The top schools have policies where if your household income falls below a certain threshold (most common is $65k (£45k)) the university covers your full cost of attendance with a financial aid package. The threshold for getting tuition waived is usually higher ($100-150k (£70-105k)), so all the parents are paying for at that range is the living expenses.

All of the above applies to both domestic and international students alike. It's only when your parents earn a crapload that the price of education at a top private US uni becomes obscene.

For stanford the cost is a relevant factor. If you are an international student, your application is not treated the same as a us application (i.e. it is not need blind) so you must declare on your application that you need financial support and that will be used to help decide whether to offer you a place. Given that a significantly lower proportion of internationals get given money (around 25% of people there) it is reasonable to assume that requiring assistance is going to make it go from an already extremely competitive one to a situation where you are literally competing with hundreds if not thousands of others for around 30 spots