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BEIJING – Wenzy Duan dreams about becoming a delegate to the United Nations.
“I know this [ambition] is pretty high,” said the 17-year old Beijing native. “But I think I can give it a shot.”
To prepare, Duan wants to study international relations at an American college – someplace like the University of Washington. “I hear [it] is good at social science," she said.
The University of Washington is one of approximately 10 U.S. universities Duan plans to apply to in the coming year with the help of an education consultant she hired last summer.
“I know that the scores is not the only thing that the university will consider whether you can get in or not,” said the high school senior.
Duan is not alone. Today, China sends more of its students to America than any other country. During the 2010-11 academic year, 157,588 Chinese students were studying in the U.S. – an increase of 23 percent from the previous year, according to the Institute of International Education.
The growing market of Chinese students wanting to go to the U.S. has created various cottage industries in China and the U.S. – among them are education consultants who help students navigate the maze of college applications and "brokers" representing American universities who seek student candidates paying full tuition. But it's also fueled anxiety among American students and their parents about increased competition from abroad.
Education consultants: the main cottage industry
“When [Chinese students] decide to come to the U.S. and study in the U.S. school, they have no idea,” said Steven Ma, president of ThinkTank Learning, the consulting group with which Duan is working. "What do colleges in the U.S. look for anyway? What do they want? What type of students they want? And that’s where we come in.”
ThinkTank Learning, based in Santa Clara, Calif., offers tutoring and college counseling. Most of the students contracting its services have been Asian-American, but Ma said increasingly his firm began fielding calls from mainland Chinese families wanting their advice.
Eventually ThinkTank Learning opened a branch in Shenzhen in 2009 and then in Beijing a year later. It charges anywhere from $17,000 to almost $40,000 for tailored consultation packages lasting six to 12 months, dispensing advice on choosing the right schools, writing essays, or preparing for interviews.
“They’ll just tell you when you need to get something done by what deadline and how do you prepare your application to the school’s standards,” said Julia Yin, Duan’s mother, a petroleum engineer who hails from Hunan province. “Basically, everything is DIY [do it yourself.]"
Go West, Young Man (and Woman)
China sent its first student to an American college in 1850: A native of Guangdong Province named Yung Wing earned his degree from Yale University, paving the way for thousands more over the following century.
The flow of students from China to America dried up in the 1950s when the establishment of the People’s Republic of China gave way to tumult and isolation, and did not re-start until 1974 1978.
From then until just a few years ago, "It was almost all graduate students, most of them funded by the host universities through research assistantships or teaching assistantships," said Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president at the Institute of International Education (IIE).
Now, Chinese undergraduates drive the growth, particularly in the past two years. At the start of the 2006-07 academic year, 9,955 Chinese undergrads were enrolled in U.S. schools. The following year, that figure jumped to 16,450. By the 2010-11 academic year, 56,976 undergraduates made up a third of all Chinese students living in the U.S.
“What you’re seeing is the growth of the middle class of China who can really afford to send their kids to the U.S.,” said Blumenthal. “The Chinese undergrads are all coming virtually self-funded.”
Adrienne Mong
Wenzy Duan (centre) and her mother, Julia Yin, go over college choices with a ThinkTank Learning consultant in Beijing.
The fact that so many students pay their own way has not gone unnoticed.
"Foreign students spend about $21 billion a year in the U.S. in tuition and living expenses for them and their families,” said Charles Bennett, Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. embassy in Beijing – where Ambassador Gary Locke has made among his top priorities the expansion of visa processing capacity in China.
“That’s a very large sum of money for U.S. academic institutions,” continued Bennett, especially as so many face shrinking endowments or reduced state funding.
The Chinese comprise at least 21 percent of all international students newly enrolled in American schools, which means that they and their families contribute roughly $4 billion to the American economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Edging out American students in America?
Recent reports, however, have suggested mainland Chinese students and their ability to pay full tuition are costing American students placement in American colleges. A bankrupt state school system in California – one of the most popular destinations for Chinese students – has meant that its well-regarded schools are seeing record enrollments from out-of-state and international students.
For the 2010-11 academic year, California welcomed the most international students – 96,535. And for the tenth year in a row the University of Southern California was the leading host U.S. institution for overseas students, enrolling 8,615, according to the IIE.
But the IIE argues adding mainland Chinese students is helpful for diversity. “Most Americans will not study abroad. On the other hand, their careers will be global,” observed Blumenthal. “They need to learn how to interact with professionals from other countries, and many of them will be from China. There are very few industries or business not affected by China.”
Moreover, at the graduate level, Chinese students aren’t competing against American students for a seat in the classroom, according to Blumenthal. “There still aren’t enough Americans in the pipeline wanting to get graduate training in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math,” she said.
But detractors note other challenges have surfaced as a result of so many Chinese students going to U.S. schools. Among them is whether some applicants from the mainland are cheating their way into admissions by falsifying their academic records or achievements.
One consulting company in Beijing that works U.S. universities, Zinch China, says 90 percent of Chinese undergraduates submit false recommendation letters for their U.S. college applications and that 70 percent enlist someone else to write their essays.
The dishonesty works the other way, too. A growing number of “education brokers,” who work on behalf of U.S. institutions to solicit Chinese students, have led to misrepresentations and predatory fees, according to a revealing report from Bloomberg News. Some agents promise admission to top-flight schools, charge exorbitant fees, in some instances including a portion of scholarship funds, and students can end up at schools that are a far cry from the "dream schools" they hope to attend.
Can China produce innovative thinkers?
The desire among Chinese students to seek an American college degree has grown stronger over the years owing to a number of factors.
Adrienne Mong
The parents of Dolly Luo believe an American college education will improve their daughter's future career prospects.
Above everything else, there is the fierce competition for gaining admissions to a preeminent Chinese university. The selection process is decided solely by the gaokao, an annual national college entrance examination that lasts nine grueling hours over two to three days.
This past year, more than 9 million students across China took the gaokao. And believe it or not, that number has been declining since 2008 as more students opt out of the gaokao and sign up for exams like the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), both of which are generally prerequisites for applying to any U.S. college or university.
A lively debate is growing about whether China’s education system can produce innovative thinkers who can enable the country to lead – not just catch up with or follow in the footsteps of industrialized economies like the U.S. or Britain. Such concerns triggered a widespread discussion online when Steve Jobs died earlier this year.
“The students here are not as robotic as Americans think,” said Gene Hwang, a 27-year-old Taiwanese-American, who has been working in China for ThinkTank Learning for almost two years. “But they are held back by some of the systems in schools, which emphasize rote memorization…. We work with them on [developing] critical thinking.”
Broadening those horizons
“When I get into America, I can get [a liberal] education [that] could open my mind,” said Zhang Yuqi, a soft-spoken but intense 17-year-old high school senior.
He’s been working with a ThinkTank Learning consultant for three months, reviewing which schools to apply to and working on his essays. A possible math major, he has his eye on Carnegie-Mellon and Emory where he hopes to find a climate that differs from his elite Beijing high school, which he says has too many “planned activities.”
Duan wants to study in the U.S., because “they accept all different kinds of different ideas. You can dream about anything,” she said. “In America, I can experience more…maybe all kinds of things I will never experience in China.”
For high school junior Dolly Luo, it's simply about getting the best education. “The U.S. has the most well-developed college education," said the 16-year-old Beijing native who loves Harry Potter and dreams about attending an Ivy League college.
Her parents have similar faith in the U.S. college experience.
“She will have more opportunities, and it will broaden her horizons,” said William Luo. In fact, Dolly’s father had harbored his own U.S. scholarly ambitions, but he didn’t have the financial resources to enable him to pursue his graduate studies in America.
“I hope when Dolly goes abroad and she learns American values or Western values that she can absorb the Western education – the good parts: the culture, the education,” continued Luo. “In China, we would need that.”
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Guess a lot of Americans who think they are middle class really are not. Most Americans who think that they are - never even considered that they had the money to send their child to a foreign college. Many can't afford to send their children to in-state colleges with in-state tuition. Guess many so called middle class should really be classified as lower-lower middle class.
Anyone wonder if the Chinese Government is really funding these so called middle class Chinese Students? Otherwise many would question if truly middle class families can afford forty thousand for a course designed to get Chinese students ready for American Colleges - or the tuition, housing, travel expenses involved.
It's obvious from reading some of these comments that many Americans are simply too STUPID and IGNORANT to compete with the Chinese students anyway.
From the very moment a child enters the US Public School system - they find that they don't have do much at all to get good grades and pass from one class to the next. Lawsuits and Threats of Lawsuits means that Teachers, Principals and Boards of Education bow to the "sick" demands of Parents and Students.
LOL - in fact (in some school systems) Teachers are forced to practically beg students to accept good grades - that is - to at least put on a show of earning the grades they are given. Oddly - students refuse to behave, study or learn anything. In one school system - barely 70 percent of students actually graduate - this - in a system that has easy work and practically give good grades for simply showing up in class.
Strangely - a Chemistry Teacher that had high expectations of his students and was an excellent Teacher was forced into retirement simply because he refused to give unearned grades to students.
Democracy at Work! Heheh.
Sending your child overseas to an American college is not "middle class." It is only an option for the world's elite. The American Education is being sold to the highest bidder. Most Americans can't afford tutors and consultants.
America is a nation run by "experts" who can't stand their fellow citizens.
yes bring me your rich and your poor as long as i can enslave them both and tax em all to death.
The problem isn't necessarily that Chinese or other foreign students are being admitted into American Universities more readily. it is that the universities themselves are not in the business of education. They are in the business of business. They are out to make a buck and they do that by admitting out of state and international students because they can charge more for tuition. Something like 30-40% of out of state applicants to universities are admitted. From my experience tuition for a graduate program as an Indiana resident to a university in Washington DC, the tuition is 2 1/2 times the in state/district tuition fee. This obviously gave me the competitive advantage during the selection process. Admissions counselors even made it clear that being an out of state applicant would give me a better chance of being admitted. This is an issue of the colleges and universities thinking like wall street execs and banks, as well as the issue of lazy American students. Asian/Middle Eastern students tend to have an excellent work ethic and also choose concentrations that require a great amount of commitment which American students are not prepared for. In the fields of hard sciences, mathematics, and engineering foreign students make up a significant amount of applicants as well as current students. Don't blame the students. Blame the universities and our public school systems that are not out to educate as much as to survive as a profitable business. Our American public school system(which I went through) can suck it. They constantly cut funding and give up on poorly performing students while rewarding student athletes who have sub-par grades. An issue that was never brought up was that of the number of students that are on athletic scholarship who are taking the place of hard working students who would otherwise have been admitted if it weren't for the new quarterback who was admitted with a 2.8 GPA and 1600 SAT score. Sickening. As an athlete I recognize that many are hard working and earn their scholarship, however, there are an outstanding number who are just along for the free ride and earn general studies degrees while taking up precious scholarship money that should be awarded to more worthy candidates.
Hey un-intellectual, you said. Asian/Middle Eastern students tend to have an
excellent work ethic and also choose concentrations that require a great amount
of commitment which American students are not prepared for.
Can’tagree with this at all. I think you might be looking at an Asian work ethic
from the outside. From the inside many Asian students treat study as a social
ethic or practice and congregate for long periods of time studying very little
and rarely mix with anyone else giving the false perception of a “hard working
ethic”... truth is many of these students cram at the end too. Most of what you
have said is true in other areas.
The Colleges make more money off the Gooks than they do off American students.. Americans are being sold out in every way by those being funded by our own tax dollars..
Rofl, looking for China to blame again even in education? I thought people here said only evil dictators constantly looking for external sources to blame for their internal problems?
Btw, middle school and high school are also bankrupt, I guess people can blame the Chinese for that too. 100k foreign student is not a lot. Each major California campus has roughly 70k student and we are talking about diffusing the 100k across the 2nd biggest country in the world through the entire continent.
People may be frustrated at the recent free falling of this country, but yeah blame the Chinese get you nowhere. People here citing internet sources from China with anti-american sentiments but here is also a perfect example of vice versa.
Foreigners
in china have been shut down for doing this kind of business before. Yet at the
same time its ok for the Chinese to rip of school brand names such as ABC, Disney
and many more without ever paying royalties. You see in china you must submit a
business proposal for a private school or any other such business for that
matter. Then what the Chinese do is compile all of the “viable” business applications
and sell it to a Chinese friend or even just run it themselves on the side. If they
are capable of doing this in the education sector then I begin to wonder what
other sectors they have been diddling the books with?
In
china ThinkTank is passing itself off as a Chinese company while in America it’s
passing itself off as an all American company, well image wise that is. Thing
is the Chinese government has not pounced on them at all, wonder why? Most people
know how one sided and strictly china has controlled education over the past
few years to stop foreigners maintaining any real financial interest in that
sector. Do the statistics in the article also cover the huge amount of Chinese
students entering catholic schools as well?
The
thing about Chinese education recently is that not many foreign teachers want
to teach in the English department of any state/gov run school in china. Why? Because
that’s where the Chinese put students who can't pass tests at anything else end
up. And the students can play democracy with the foreign teacher, by that I mean
if you actually make the students study and hold them accountable for their
study they will complain and you will lose your job and then be black listed
from teaching in china. Most of these kids have rich or powerful parents and don’t
give a flying hoot about what anyone says and are deemed uncontrollable or
redundant in educational terms. You do get the odd few who are an exception to
this rule of course.
So
what’s the real issue her apart from one Chinese company being allowed to
corner the market, that foreigners have been prevented from entering on any
large organized scale? I think the bigger picture is academic fraud and plagiarism,
if the U.S. slips down the road of taking in students with these lesser
qualities then it will lead to the demise of the U.S. as an educational world
leader, and that could be what china wants. To stand up and say they have a world
class education system. On the other hand why not just cash in and help the
economy? After all a teacher has the right to fail any student who can’t perform
their tasks.
And
yes while I mention it there are thousands of businesses in china who do write
papers, take tests, even offer to send a Chinese English teacher or university
student to take a test for you. I am sure many teachers in the U.S. can account
for what I am saying here and probably respond with, “You know these Chinese
students write like dickens and Hemmingway at home (pardon the pun), however
get them in the classroom and I am hard pressed getting a simple sentence out
of em.” And my other favorite is, “I swear these students are Shakespeare reincarnated,
as the entire written assignment was word for word.”
Foreigners
in china have been shut down for doing this kind of business before. Yet at the
same time its ok for the Chinese to rip of school brand names such as ABC, Disney
and many more without ever paying royalties. You see in china you must submit a
business proposal for a private school or any other such business for that
matter. Then what the Chinese do is compile all of the “viable” business applications
and sell it to a Chinese friend or even just run it themselves on the side. If they
are capable of doing this in the education sector then I begin to wonder what
other sectors they have been diddling the books with?
In
china ThinkTank is passing itself off as a Chinese company while in America it’s
passing itself off as an all American company, well image wise that is. Thing
is the Chinese government has not pounced on them at all, wonder why? Most people
know how one sided and strictly china has controlled education over the past
few years to stop foreigners maintaining any real financial interest in that
sector. Do the statistics in the article also cover the huge amount of Chinese
students entering catholic schools as well?
The
thing about Chinese education recently is that not many foreign teachers want
to teach in the English department of any state/gov run school in china. Why? Because
that’s where the Chinese put students who can't pass tests at anything else end
up. And the students can play democracy with the foreign teacher, by that I mean
if you actually make the students study and hold them accountable for their
study they will complain and you will lose your job and then be black listed
from teaching in china. Most of these kids have rich or powerful parents and don’t
give a flying hoot about what anyone says and are deemed uncontrollable or
redundant in educational terms. You do get the odd few who are an exception to
this rule of course.
So
what’s the real issue her apart from one Chinese company being allowed to
corner the market, that foreigners have been prevented from entering on any
large organized scale? I think the bigger picture is academic fraud and plagiarism,
if the U.S. slips down the road of taking in students with these lesser
qualities then it will lead to the demise of the U.S. as an educational world
leader, and that could be what china wants. To stand up and say they have a world
class education system. On the other hand why not just cash in and help the
economy? After all a teacher has the right to fail any student who can’t perform
their tasks.
And
yes while I mention it there are thousands of businesses in china who do write
papers, take tests, even offer to send a Chinese English teacher or university
student to take a test for you. I am sure many teachers in the U.S. can account
for what I am saying here and probably respond with, “You know these Chinese
students write like dickens and Hemmingway at home (pardon the pun), however
get them in the classroom and I am hard pressed getting a simple sentence out
of em.” And my other favorite is, “I swear these students are Shakespeare reincarnated,
as the entire written assignment was word for word.”