Foreign Interest in East Coast Boarding Schools

Prep School Admissions
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<p>We are really just beginning the process for our kid this year, but in reading this board, and from the couple of school tours we did this summer, a question is raised in my mind. I would like to ask this question respectfully and do so out of honest intellectual curiosity. Anyone who comments should please maintain the same mindset.</p>

<p>My observation is that a truly enormous number of students from asian countries appear to be focused on attending east coast boarding schools. You can derive this fact from particpants on this board, as well as by visiting the schools. We have only visited two schools (both in the past month), but at each school there were groups of asian families taking tours and visiting in the admissions office. I can only imagine the intensity increases as we go into the fall. These families appeared to be part of organized groups -- perhaps touring a string of schools. English was not what they were speaking. No similar european groups or indiviudals were observed. In fact, I did not see many americans either. Have others observed this?</p>

<p>My question is why there appears to be such interest on the part of so many asian students to travel all the way to the east coast to attend american boarding schools? I do not think there are that many americans who want to go to school in asian countries. Do asian countries encourage their students to travel to US for high school? Are the east coast boarding schools agressively marketing themselves in asian countries? Are students from asian countries also agressively pursuing spots at European boarding schools? Again, I sincerely interested in understanding this phenomenon. Please -- only constructive comments.</p>

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<p>I think that schools in the United States are view as prestigious by Asian parents, and in order for their children to get into a good US university easily, many parents choose to let their children study in US so that they are able to have higher chances of getting into a good university.
It is the general mindset of Asian parents that schools in US and Europe are better than local schools, hence the surge of students going there.</p>

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<p>I can’t explain what the motivations are, but I did observe that any waiting room we were in last year as we went through the process was at least 50% asian families. It is a curious state of affairs when there are as many or more asian students (from asia) who want to go to boarding schools than Americans. This may be true at the college level too. It does beg the question of what responsibility does an American school have to educate Americans vs. foreign students.</p>

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<p>Don’t panic. International students are limited to about 10% at BS. This adds to the diversity of students which enriches the education of Americans. If you think otherwise, you have the option of staying in local schools that won’t provide the same diversity of thought.</p>

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<p>First, I agree with pwalsh: no matter how many Asian prospects you see in admissions offices, their acceptance rates are still relatively low at top boarding schools. Those who are admitted are really the best of the best who apply. They are not only the brightest but also those with a variety of interests. (Hint to Asian applicants: play a sport or two…small boarding schools require all students to find a slot in the afternoon program.) There are boarding schools who offer ELL (English Language Learner) programs, and they may have a higher percentage of Asian and other international students (e.g. Cushing, Lawrence Academy, Chapel Hill-Chauncey Hall, etc.).</p>

<p>Second, you see admissions offices swamped with Asian families for the very reason you mentioned: many families whose parents do not speak English well opt to come do the boarding school “tour.” It’s a huge racket for the people who run these. A very nice business opportunity if you are fluent in Korean or Chinese, in particular. When they arrive on their mini-buses, they flood the building. On the other days, the office looks more diverse.</p>

<p>Third, the families you are seeing are very, very wealthy. These are full pay students. These families are finding ways to make sure their children have every advantage. The reasons why vary by country.</p>

<p>For China, many of these families are protecting their fortunes by giving their children an international education that could possibly be an exit strategy if all hell breaks loose. (I’m not kidding. How long will a supposedly communist regime last if the 80 members of the Central Committee are collectively worth $90 billion? Where did they get that money? When will the people of the People’s Republic say “enough”?)</p>

<p>For Korea, they have a word for these international education seekers: wild geese. The problem has been with Korea’s own education system. Korean universities are outstanding, but admittance is solely by national exam. Unfortunately, most Korean students tell me that their high schools do not teach kids what they need to know for the exams, so they go to night academies, often until 11 p.m., go home and study until 3 a.m., and then get up and do it again. Many families who can afford to seek another way.</p>

<p>For some that means foreign boarding schools and foreign universities–especially the ones well known in Korea (e.g. one of my students almost chose University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign over the University of Notre Dame because her parents had not heard of the latter…nothing against UIUC, but it is not the obvious choice unless you’re an engineer).</p>

<p>If Korean nationals spend a certain amount of their lives outside of Korea, they can also apply to their own top universities through a different application route, outside of the national exam. This is why Koreans are flooding middle and high schools through the English-speaking world, from the United States to New Zealand to the Philippines. (It’s a big business in Manila: it’s cheap to live there, there are many IB schools or other international schools, and the country is widely English-speaking.)</p>

<p>That’s a long answer, sorry. I think this applications bubble will last as long as the Korean won holds up and as long as the Chinese elite continue to make their fortunes. There are excellent international schools in both countries, so it is not like their children cannot find a good English-speaking school there. It is to our benefit, though, because some of these kids we get in the U.S. are truly spectacular, and they definitely add to the boarding school mix.</p>

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<p>

True with the selective schools, but not true with many other day or boarding schools that are trying to make money off this new wave from China. Also, as more and more Asian/Chinese students are applying, the top boarding schools are gradually increasing their international student enrollment as well, which is a natural response to the market condition as we have observed in college admissions. They are not expanding proportionally to the size of the Asian applicant pool of course, but some schools are going faster and others slower in taking more Asian or Chinese students every year.</p>

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<p>Wow. With no disrespect to any individual asian student, the collective mass impact of potentially millions of asians coming to the US for boarding school and college is truly disturbing. Hopefully, institutions here will draw the line. Shouldn’t American schools be principally for Americans? A little international presence is fine but it should be <10% of the student body and it should be from countries throughout the world – not four Asian countries. Where does all this lead us?</p>

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<p>One of the AOs we met last year told me during a conversation on diversity, that “Schools with financial difficulties will admit more full-pay forweign students.” He made the claim that there are some schools with a 30% Asian student population. I found that statement very hard to believe, though certainly some schools have a larger foreign population than others. We also saw a school which has a policy of admitting no more than 2 students from any foreign country to each class year… (meaning only 2 from Singapore, 2 from France, etc).</p>

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<p>I’ve had a child in a New England American BS and a European BS. It is true that less Europeans apply to American schools. I know Asian families from both schools and the main reason a family will send a child to one or the other is for college preparation in that country.</p>

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<p>I think a more accurate percentage of international students at boarding schools is in the 10%-20% range, based on my and my teacher-friends’ experiences and a quick scan of Boarding School Review.</p>

<p>At my school (not one of the all-favored “TOP 5!!!” but a respectable little place), the students from China and Korea are lovely–active in all areas of school from academics to arts to sports, and all able to speak and write excellent English. They are well-integrated into the community (we rarely see our Chinese or Korean kids hanging out exclusively in affinity groups). Lots of Chinese and Korean families tour, but the admissions office really does its job in finding those applicants who will make an impact on and benefit from our community. I know that an anecdote is not as good as statistics, but our International kids are fantastic.</p>

<p>I mention this because sometimes applicants on this board worry that after the TOP 9!!! there is nothing but a howling chasm of mediocrity, and I like to gently challenge that notion every now and again.</p>

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<p>Yes, it’s true for schools experiencing financial difficulties, as reported by a Bloomberg article two years ago:</p>

<p>[Chinese</a> Students Lose as U.S. Schools Exploit Need - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>

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<p>Thanks, hogsark. That’s a very enlightening article. I guess that AO wasn’t kidding about the 30%!</p>

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<p>@Trinity,

Would you feel the same way if it were four European countries?</p>

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<p>@Oldmacdonald,</p>

<p>Do asian countries encourage their students to travel to US for high school?
THEIR PARENTS DO</p>

<p>Are the east coast boarding schools agressively marketing themselves in asian countries?
YES</p>

<p>Are students from asian countries also agressively pursuing spots at European boarding schools?
YES</p>

<p>Another interesting article
[How</a> China’s New Love Affair with U.S. Private Schools Is Changing Them Both - Helen Gao - The Atlantic](<a href=“How China's New Love Affair with U.S. Private Schools Is Changing Them Both - The Atlantic”>How China's New Love Affair with U.S. Private Schools Is Changing Them Both - The Atlantic)

I had fun decoding the school names :D</p>

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<p>It is important that this discussion rise above the value of the individual students. I am very certain that all admitted asian students are exceptional and deserve a spot at a school based on merit. The issue is the shear quantity of candidates. To answer the above comment, I would be similarly concerned if, at every school we visited, half the families in the waiting rooms were Spanish (from Spain), that there were groups of Spainards touring in mini-buses going from school to school, that a disproportionate number of commentators on this board werer Spainish, etc. I am not xenophobic (SSAT word), but rather believe that things need to kept in balance. Exeter could no doubt fill 100% of its slots with highly qualified asian (or Spanish) students as good or even better than their current student body. But should they? If Americans can’t get into their own shools due to foreign displacement, is that concerning to anyone?</p>

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<p>

Exeter doesn’t, so why are you insinuating that they are trying to? The elite schools could easily fill 100% of its slots with rich domestic students too, but they don’t do that either. </p>

<p>It is the lesser known schools that are struggling because AMERICAN students are not applying there in sufficient numbers-- not the Exeters…</p>

<p>

So what? The elite schools deliberately limit the number of int’l students and limit the number from any one country.</p>

<p>I’m confident that if the schools actually got applications from 219 different countries and 50 states, they would have even more countries and states represented. But even Exeter & Andover get the bulk of their applications from NEngland & China/SKorea.</p>

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<p>TrinitySeven: Millions? Let’s be honest. We are still talking about thousands (tens of thousands?) at this point. There are over a billion Chinese, but the rich elites of Beijing and Shanghai are the only ones who can afford to send their kids to school abroad.</p>

<p>If an American school chooses to take 30% Asian students, they can choose to do that. Most private schools still consider their financial aid to be meant for American students, but if they pull more full-pay from abroad to float those American students on aid, then that’s a choice. Schools with high endowments will probably not do this, but the others might need to. If so, that is probably a decision their board of trustees has deliberately made.</p>

<p>The biggest drawback in such a situation is actually felt by those international students: if you make any one community too large (whether Korean or Chinese or Spanish) then they have enough numbers to stick together as a group. (And they generally will. If you have not lived abroad yourself, trust me that Americans do this A LOT overseas.) If they stick together, then they fall back on speaking their own language outside of class. A key benefit of American schooling is then undermined as the students do not improve as quickly in their language skills. I have seen this happen in an international school where 30% of the school was Korean. Those Korean students did not make the progress their parents had hoped and sacrificed for, largely because their kids took the easy road and stayed with Korean friends most of the day. Why? It’s intimidating to break through those barriers. This is high school. Life is hard in high school.</p>

<p>On another note, one important benefit of American schooling is the classroom environment. So many of my Korean students said that their parents wanted them to go to school where the teachers did not demand mere repetition, but showed them how to think and write critically. It was really hard for those students to get the courage to do so–at first, they even thought it was rude to ask a question! But as they grew more confident, they realized that lively discussion and debate was exactly what I wanted. A new model of secondary school, called the Singaporean system, is to match this discussion-based American humanities curriculum with the Asian math methodology. I have not seen this in practice, but the idea is appealing.</p>

<p>From my end, I did love the respect Asian students showed their teachers. When my Korean students handed in a paper or test, they did so with both hands as if it were an offering. Even as we broke down some of those filial barriers throughout the year, the kids had a hard time breaking that one habit. It may be over the top, but what a nice influence they could bring to U.S. schools!</p>

<p>Finally, there are many other Asian groups in our schools, from the Philippines to Singapore to Japan to India. This conversation has mostly focused on China (and I have mentioned Korea), and I wonder if this is somewhat motivated by the impression that sharp Chinese students are now making university admissions even harder for American students. It seems that college admissions is always the tail that wags the dog. We don’t worry as much about students from Spain, as someone brought up earlier, because they are not “taking our children’s spots” at Harvard. If that is the inspiration here, please know that the competition between Chinese and Korean students to get into any of these colleges if FAR harder than it is among American students. Top colleges do limit their international student populations (by country, even if they don’t admit it), and to be one of the very best candidates from China or Korea is excruciatingly difficult. I do not think they have it easy in any way. And, while it may be a stereotype, their parents are far more demanding about grades, homework, and college admissions than most of their American counterparts (this forum excluded, of course!).</p>

<p>I still think the American schools are the winners in this, all around.</p>

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<p>[Chinese</a> Students Bolster U.S. College Budgets](<a href=“Chinese Students Bolster U.S. College Budgets - The New York Times”>Chinese Students Bolster U.S. College Budgets - The New York Times)</p>

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<p>@OldMacDonald, I suspect part of the reason for the large tour groups could be the school schedule in the Asian countries. It makes sense to visit the US during breaks, rather than miss school days. You will see many students from Asia during the interviewing season in the US, but not such large numbers. You will also see large tour groups from Asia touring the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc. I don’t know if they are all prospective students–some may be tourists. </p>

<p>The students from Asia at my kids’ schools have been a positive presence in the student body. They’re usually bright, hardworking kids who devote themselves to their schoolwork. Schools take care in selecting students.</p>