What can students do when applications to the US are rejected?

Despite being nestled in the south-eastern corner of Kazakhstan, close to the Chinese border, Almaty is a city that has long looked west. In the days of the Soviet Union, it was the home to exiled Germans, Crimean Tatars and Jews. Today it is connected to the West by the strands of culture and sport, with Chelsea FC recently making a record 6,000km trip to Central Stadium to fulfil a “European” football fixture.

In education too, West has been best. The city is witnessing an explosion of international schools, offering curricula including the AP, IB and A levels. In my seven years at Haileybury Almaty, a British international school catering primarily for central Asians, I have witnessed the pupil numbers steadily rise and graduate destinations become increasingly prestigious and Western. 

In the mid-2010s, the graduation cohorts were small, with a significant proportion going on to study at institutions in the former Soviet Union. In 2024, by contrast, 54 graduates made their way to international universities, principally the US, followed by Russell Group institutions in the UK. With the growth of a Kazakh middle class has come an increased aspiration for a place at a well-known university.

US universities: drop in offers and scholarships

In 2025, while we have had some good-news stories from the US, with offers and funding at institutions such as Brown, the picture has been unsettling. Overall, US offers were down significantly and scholarships meagre in comparison with previous years. 

Chatting on our counsellor forums and WhatsApp groups, other counsellors at international schools shared similar stories. One described it as “brutal” this year. 

Many fee-paying pupils have rolled with the setbacks, shifting their focus to the UK or Europe. Rejection from the US may be a painful ending of a childhood dream, but not the end of the road for their education. 

This is not the case, however, for our annual cohort of around 12 means-tested merit-based scholars. Over recent years, these exceptional scholars, most of whom are International Olympiad medallists, have benefited from US largesse, allowing them to access high-quality education outside Kazakhstan – something that would be impossible without scholarships or financial aid. 

But this year was different. Take Maxim (not his real name), a recent International Mathematical Olympiad silver medallist, who was knocked back by all of his US applications. Instead, he and many like him have had to look east – particularly to China – in search of funding.

The spectre of Trump

So what has caused this cataclysm? Demographics are not on the side of international applicants, with a record 3.93 million US high-school graduates due to enter tertiary education in 2026. 

However, it is the spectre of Trump that has upset the application landscape most dramatically. Recent decisions to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students and to defund Columbia have been designed to “sow fear and chaos”, as our school’s US college counsellor put it. 

It has worked. While several hundred international places to Harvard have been lost, there are arguably thousands more that have disappeared through universities’ self-censoring. Universities are also worried about losing high-paying students mid-course in an age of quick and unpredictable legislation. For example, in March, Brown advised its international students and staff to delay travel away from the US because of potential travel bans and restrictions. 

Our pupils too are opting to think again about the US, even if they hold a place and the correct funding. Even before the recent pause on processing student visas for the US, we have had a flurry of students confirming a Ucas place or putting in extra global applications despite holding a US offer.

What does this mean for counsellors? First of all, it means that we must inform parents and pupils about the landscape as it currently stands. Despite recent upheaval, the US will remain the dream for many parents, and therefore they need to be made to see the reality – or at least the reality for the next few years. 

In a recent parent workshop, we focused on the plight of our applicants this year, not to mention the alumni who were in contact with the school, looking to transfer from the US as a result of the more hostile environment. For the first time ever, our school has put out a policy document with a suggested application portfolio, mandating that anyone applying to the US should also have a plan B in another territory. 

This plan B is increasingly in Asia.

Go east, young man

In recent years, we have made an effort to visit more Asian universities and make more connections with admissions officers in the region. Even accepting the flaws of rankings, it is undeniable that there is a general rise in the quality of universities in Asia, primarily driven by an increased proportion of income spent on research. The universities of Tsinghua, Peking and Tokyo all now regularly make the top 30 in global rankings. 

Many campuses are brand new and benefit from significant state funding. Last October, for example, our school took a cohort of STEM-orientated pupils to the new HKUST campus in Guangzhou, a growing destination for our scholars. The opportunities available to students at these institutions are often beyond what is seen in the West. A recent alumnus, a first-year medical student in Shenzhen, reported having first-hand exposure to genome editing CRISPR. 

These universities are also hungry for talent, with the Hong Kong education authority recently vowing to roll out the red carpet for those caught up in the Harvard ban on foreign students.

For pupils who still hope to gain a Western degree in times of turbulence, it is worth increasing their knowledge of the local then global route. In recent years, Coventry and De Montfort university have set up campuses in Kazakhstan, following in the footsteps of numerous institutions such as Nottingham and NYU, which have opened campuses across Asia. These institutions offer UK or US degrees either entirely in the country or via a hybrid approach.

There are also great options outside the big names, if you know where to find them. For the first time our school has deeply engaged with Narxoz, a local university that offers double-degree programmes with La Rochelle and Queen’s University Belfast, among others. In a time when parents and pupils are feeling anxious about a Trumpian US and a UK government buffeted by anti-immigration sentiment, such courses and institutions can be a valuable option in an uncertain world.

While the US and the West will continue to provide an excellent educational destination, it is increasingly time for university counsellors to look at the options in the East, both to take the risk out of their pupils’ application portfolios, but also to open them up to exciting opportunities.