International applicants can also be deterred from choosing to apply to college in America because universities in their home countries are highly subsidized or free, admissions officers and international students said. Westphal said she and other admissions officers try to counter these concerns by emphasizing that Yale is an investment that frequently pays off in career opportunities down the road. They also spread the word of the University's financial aid offerings — Yale is “one of only a small handful of U.S. institutions” with need-blind financial aid for international students, Westphal said in an email.
Sunnie Tölle ’12, who attended a public high school in Switzerland, said there is little incentive for Swiss students to study abroad, because Switzerland offers free upper-level education.
“People see the $200,000 for four years of schooling, and there's no way they’re going to choose that,” she said.
But Eva Guadamillas ’14, who is from Spain, said that after she researched Yale's financial aid policy she realized that it could be an option for her after all. Cooper added that the University’s need-blind approach for international students gives it a particular edge over some of its peer institutions, which do not share that policy.
When choosing students from its international pool, Yale also does its best to bear in mind the circumstances those applicants grew up in, Lee and Westphal said. For example, they said, international students simply may not have the time to participate in extracurricular activities the way domestic applicants do.
“If students are required to be in school ten hours a day, there just isn't time to be debating or playing on a sports team,” Westphal said. Lee added that admissions officers travel not only to share information with prospective applicants, but also to learn about the worlds in which those applicants live.
Still, some barriers cannot be overcome. Lee and Westphal said they conduct their information sessions in English because students who plan to apply and come to Yale must speak it fluently.
Senem Cilingiroglu ’13, who went to an international school in Turkey, said that in her experience, students who attended private, international schools are far more likely to meet the necessary standard than those who went to domestic schools.
Last year, 17 percent of 25,869 applicants to Yale College were international students.
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