<p>I'm interested to know where Chinese students go to find out good, unbiased information about colleges in the USA? Where do you go to learn more about the admissions process? </p>
<p>College Confidential is great, of course, but I know there must be Chinese language websites and forums that you find helpful.</p>
<p>I also know that many Chinese students turn to educational agents to help them through the process. But many of these are being paid commissions by colleges and universities in the US. Thus their advice may not be completely unbiased.</p>
<p>There are also some private educational consultants who work with Chinese students (I am one of those), and they can be helpful for some students. </p>
<p>However, I know there are a lot of "DIY" students who do not get personal assistance and guidance, but who seek out excellent information to help them through the process. So what are those helpful websites you use? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise!</p>
<p>No. I have to be completely honest with you, a lot of Chiense forums are just rubbish. They don’t give you the whole image of the school, they only show the good side and sometimes they mislead students. </p>
<p>Some agencies tend to make things into “If you dont have an agent, you’ll end up in some tier 3 universities”.
Some even use the graduate school rank to undergraduate students.</p>
<p>For the whole past year which I worked on my college admission, I never turn to any Chiese forum. I believe a Princeton Review’s 366 Colleges (it turned into 371 now?) is enough. I can select those universities I like out, and dig for more information on those universities’ website. </p>
<p>BTW, do you really think that Chiense forum can give more accurate information than American one?</p>
<p>I’m a Chinese student and I know most students including their parents select their schools based on the US News rank. CUUS and Taisha are good website for green hands to know more about how to apply and how to prepare for TOEFL and SATs and you can find some information about American schools. But most of them could not find out what exactly their school are like until they come to American. Besides, everybody can find information online or from books. Many experienced people would share their experience online so just go to Baidu.com and type key words in Chinese, you would find useful information. However, there also would have a flood of ads of agencies.
Many family turn to an agency to find and apply schools. And as far as I know, most of the agencies can do everything for their customers. They can recommend top ranking schools and can write essays and recommendations for the students, make fake certificates and transcripts to help the students stand out and fill out the common application. So some students just take the TOEFL and pay for the agency, then go to US. That’s why many kids hate the agencies so much…but some kids just don’t have time to know more about US schools and how to apply so agencies may be their only choice, but they may know nothing about their schools except the rank in US News…but I think not all agencies are that bad…
I’m a DIY student but since I can come to US high school for my senior year, I could find some information from the guidance office.I learned how to apply though school’s official website and chose the school I applied based on my test scores, view books and other internet sources. CUUS and ************** helps me a lot in knowing the schools. Now I have visit 8 schools that admitted me and making the final decision on where to go next semester.<br>
I forgot to mention that many students go to New Oriental School, which is big name in China,to prepare for the TOEFL and they could learn a lot from the teachers there…the school(Actually it looks like a education company) also has an agency department.</p>
<p>This is something I really hate to mention about. Some kids come to America in a way, let’s say, by cheating. How come they don’t have time to find all information they need.</p>
<p>I’m a DIY student, and yet I still find balance between my school life and college admission. I seriously doubt that those students lack time, they just too lazy or think their money (some wealthy kids, not all) can make their way all through to US.</p>
<p>For example, one of my friends decided to come to USA after the final test and all that she knew were TOEFL and IELTS… She prepared for that tests for months and In October she told me that she would come in Spring…I asked her what colleges she applied, and her answer was that she havn’t applied any but she wanted to go to Princeton???. I found that she knew nothing about SAT, common application or other process. So I have to ask her to find an good agency for help…you know the deadline for applications was January or about April for transfer…so I think it will be the best way for her to find a agency…She’s not lazy but work crazily hard on tests and of course got a fantastic score…you know, Chinese students…</p>
<p>Well, in that case, it’s better to find an agency. And yeah, maybe I was too extreme in #6.</p>
<p>But I still want to say, students can gain a lot of experience and knowledge from doing all the colleges research work by themselves. They can contact the admission officers directly (I would say it’s great since some Chinese students lack communication skill), to clearly see the school they have interest in, not just sit there have the SAT and essays and all the other things done for you.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your helpful advice. I am an independent college counselor, and I work with many Chinese clients. I am not an agent: I don’t get paid by colleges to which I recommend students. I work solely in the interests of my clients. </p>
<p>I also do not help students “cheat”: I believe that colleges in the US–especially the top-ranked ones–are very suspicious of Chinese students’ applications, as there is a recognition that agents play a very large role in the application process. </p>
<p>So my question is this: what would be the best way to connect with DIY Chinese students to let them know that there are ethical and knowledgeable alternatives to the agent system? I probably will need help posting to CUUS and Taisha, as I don’t read mandarin (I used to teach in Hong Kong, so I have a lot of experience with Chinese youth, however). </p>
<p>I’m one of the DIY Chinese students. I’m confused on how to find a suitable US univerdsity&college for myself. Could you please contact me and help me with that?</p>
<p>I’m a Chinese student in Shanghai right now and I find that books are one of the best and most unbiased ways of finding about colleges. I know that most Chinese parents look only at ranking and how strong the major that the child is doing is.</p>
<p>I agree with the second poster, Princeton Review’s of America’s 371 Best Colleges/Universities is probably one of the best books out there. It DOES do rankings, but at the same time it gives a very holistic overview of each college and it explains why each college recieved that ranking. I would really recommend it to anyone, because happiness at college is one of the most factors and that book can help you find a good fit.</p>
<p>Last year, one of the agencies pretty much manufactured an application for a student out of thin air! The student in question was a middling student with nothing to really make him pop out from the crowd. Somehow, the agency managed to “polish” him into a straight-A student with multiple volunteer trips and a paid internship with a Fortune 500 company–both of which never actually happened! He ended up going to a fantastic school (Top 10) with a great financial aid package. </p>
<p>For this “polishing”, agencies charge exorbitant amounts of money. I know an agency that charges 20K RMB for admission into each Top 20 University. It’s absolutely ridiculous! And yet students (especially the more privileged ones) are more than willing to splurge loads of their parents’ hard-earned money on these services. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>As for DIY students… Honestly, I think that their–or rather, our–interest in your guidance services would hinge largely upon the fee you require. Many students DIY because their families don’t have the financial resources to hire an agency or because they are unwilling to spend so much on agencies. I myself am a prime example of the latter situation. :)</p>
<p>As for help… I go to one of the best schools in China (call me arrogant or whatever, but my chest always puffs up in pride whenever I say that!) and we rely on a lot of information from our upperclassmen. Although our school highly discourages students from heading abroad, we had a fantabulous list of acceptances last year. There were acceptances at all the Ivies, some great LACs, and numerous other wonderful institutions. If you would like to know more, you can PM me, and I’d be happy to provide you with more information regarding my school and others in China. </p>
<p>As for Taisha, I guess I’d be willing to help you post a message there, but I personally doubt that it will be of any use. Good luck!</p>
<p>well, I’m a Chinese student from Shandong province. I’m just curious about what school you’re staying in. And maybe you can offer some useful info. I’ll appreciate you if you do so~</p>
<p>Attending undergraduate in the US is completely worthless and a waste of money. I did not learn anything different from what I would have learned in China except English. I know less applied chemistry than my friends in China. Too many classes are far too theoretical. Classmates are incompetent. The primarily limitation is English skill and not technical knowledge. 95% of jobs in China do not use English, 95% of jobs in the US do not use technical knowledge. Save your money for the GRE, graduate schools pay you.</p>
<p>A good point is you can change your major more easily. I switched out of an even more worthless Biology major.</p>
<p>Chinese student at top 50 university: Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering.</p>