Chinese Students in American Universities

This topic has been on my mind as of late because I have been interviewing students under an alumni admissions program my alma mater, Carleton College, offers. Those who have been applying or those related to an applicant will know that students have been stressed recently with final applications deadlines closing.

Anyone who has set foot on an undergraduate campus in the past few years will have noticed the rising number of Chinese (PRC) students. Even in the small, midwest, and scarcely known (albeit highly ranked) liberal arts college that I attended, the numbers of PRC students entering the incoming freshmen class was 2 in 2004, 10 in 2007, and 19 in 2009. Of course, the total number will be significantly higher, and constitutes a significant number for a school of about 1,800.

Having been on campus not too long ago and as a current participant in the admissions process in China, there are some trends that I have observed.

Chinese students going abroad used to be able to be easily separable into two fairly distinct groups: exceptionally capable students with strong academic backgrounds and exceptionally rich students with poor grades. The gifted students would basically apply independently (there is no counseling system in China, students are admitted through the gao kao or college entrance exam) and, due to their good grades and ambition, get into good universities. In contrast, there are many extraordinarily wealthy families in China with what one might call spoiled children who often went to private schools (in China, private schools are usual lower in quality), and who are unable to test into a Chinese university. As a result, their parents pay their way into a mediocre university in usually the UK and Australia, and sometimes the United States.

This trend is changing. No longer are there two extremes; the ‘middle’ group is taking interest in studies overseas. Overseas education has become a popular alternative in part because of the high paying careers obtained by students who have studied abroad (they have, in effect, raised the bar for higher education), and in part because the gao kao is becoming more competitive with more students competing every year for limited spots. Regardless of the specific reasons, American universities have increasingly become the place for Chinese students pursuing tertiary education abroad.

There are clear consequences for both China and America.

In China, there has been the rise of education consulting firms which specialize in sending students abroad to study. However, there are significant ethical issues that have arose with the emergence of these companies. Simply put, these firms write the application materials for the students. In America this is considered cheating, but there is a bit of a culture gap here. For the average Chinese family who is accustomed to a means-tested education system, a system in which you take a test and get into a university, they are unfamiliar with the admissions process for an American university and most likely figure that the student takes an exam, pays a fee, and the company takes care of the administrative issues. It should also be mentioned that China is a very results-oriented society, especially in regard to education. A mixture of an exam-based education system (who cares what you learned or how you grew if you did not test above the cutoff mark?) and an extremely competitive environment has given many in China an ‘ends justifies the means’ mentality. However, in the United States, the discovery that a student paid someone to write the entire application materials is means to effectively blacklist him/her. Already, admissions officers are wary of these organizations and what the services they offer students. As American universities recruit increasingly from Chinese high schools, the need for transparency will increase as well. How this will materialize is anyone’s guess, but already we are witnessing American colleges establishing direct relationships with schools. The gist of these relationships is that the high school or organization has top students apply, and the university can accept them conditionally (i.e. more English instruction etc.). I can only envision more types of these relationships emerging.

This has become a high profit and thus a highly competitive market. There is sufficient demand and insufficient knowledge on the part of the consumers, allowing companies to demand high prices. Also there is a sufficient number of Chinese students who have the experience studying abroad and who have recognized a good business opportunity.

In American campuses, there has emerged an interesting and sometimes troubling dynamic. To illustrate this, imagine that with two Chinese students on campus. These students will naturally find their own interests and circles of friends. They are simply too few to construct a social group. With twenty, they become a clique. Then what follows is a classic high school story: exclusive lunch tables (speaking only Chinese), deviant members scolded for not acknowledging members of the same group on the way to class... This has made a group that was previously considered open and friendly on campus to be increasingly seen as aloof and insular.

(It should be noted that this is not necessarily a new problem. Exclusivity and intra-group politics have characterized other groups on campuses, including international students in general.)

One possible (and probable) trend for the future lies in American high schools. My contemporaries at Carleton had all applied from China, either from public high schools or foreign language schools. Recently, many students entering American universities during the past two years have either attended high school in America or have attended some type of exchange in America for extended amounts of time (1-2 years). Education consulting firms have already targeted this market and have begun sending students to American high schools and boarding schools. I would not be surprised that if in a few years as the competition for American universities becomes increasingly competitive, we will start to see a similar rising trend of Chinese students attending American high schools. Let’s not forget, it was only a few years ago when articles came out describing the phenomenon of the large numbers of Chinese students entering American graduate schools.