<p>I was checking the news when I saw this pretty interesting video on the BBC about the increasing number of Chinese students applying to the US.</p>
<p>Mr. Latting, the director of admissions, was featured on it and they mentioned a lot about how Chinese students are using agencies to help them get into college. </p>
<p>I feel a little cheated when I learn about that, which is commonplace in China now. As an American student studying in Beijing, it infuriates me when I see students who brag about how they're teachers at local schools help them make up extracurriculars and position or how their agencies write the essays for them, especially since I've spent so much effort on my own extracurriculars and essays.</p>
<p>I'm wondering what JHU or any US college does to prevent this type of academic fraud, especially since there isn't a specific way of ensuring against it. </p>
<p>Chinese students or international students in general using agencies is not much different than U.S. students using independent counselors. Also, it is important to note that **some **agencies fill a role that guidance counselors may not be able to, because of a serious lack of experience with students applying to U.S. schools. </p>
<p>Assuming that Admissions Offices, such as Hopkins, aren’t doing their research and validation of agencies is naive. Our international admissions staff is very diligent in confirming the validity and accuracy of **ALL **documents – as Dean Latting discusses in the video. </p>
<p>And I think the final quote of the video is important to note:</p>
<p>I can say that this type of thing is extremely common as wealthy middle class chinese put a HUGE emphasis on education (translation: they’ll pay anything they can for any means of getting in) But if you are an American national I think that may help. I do not work for JHU (just a student) so I can’t say how aware admissions is of the situation but I doubt they’re stupid about all the fake extracurricular that get put onto international applicants’ applications.
Unfortunately the situation in China is that while local schools are very rigorous they lack dimension and while international/private schools provide enrichment, their curriculum is not known to be the best.</p>
<p>Being of Chinese origin, I totally agreed about the wealth impact of international students on US college admissions. I’d even speculate that the surge of applications in recent years (and the future) is largely related to international applications, namely from China and perhaps the former Eastern European countries like Russia. Money is no problem at all and just imagine the size of the student population hungry for overseas education! The only obstacle is getting the required visa, which is generally easier if the applicant is accepted by a selective university.</p>
<p>While many many of these international students are smart, hard-working, ambitious, and add to diversity, manufactured resumes are not uncommon. For example, it is not too difficult to “buy” sports, EC and even academic achievements like research expereinces that are hard to verify. There’re experts who write these papers (sometimes a book) at a cost! Some would go even to the extent to make up hardship stories like the dramatic death or sickness of a parent etc. (of course some here do that too)</p>