<p>I submitted an inquiry form to a 2nd(or 3rd) tier school early Januarary and got their email the next day, saying that they'd already received over 100 applications from China while there were only a few spots available. Therefore, they wouldn't take my application(they assumed that I was applying this year) as the deadline was in a week.</p>
<p>The "agencies" in China reported that most top tier schools got over 100 applications from China this year. For instance, [a top girl school] used to be a "safety" for the agencies, however, people now need a 100+ TOEFL to get in(or something like that).</p>
<p>I'm just really curious about why there are more int'l kids applying. Chinese people get richer? More people got to know US prep schools? They heard more stories about successful BS alumni from their country?</p>
<p>Question for you:
What are int'l students like in your school? Are they just random and rich kids who don't care about learning and living at all? Or they're just as smart and nice as domestic students?(sorry for assuming things, but I really want to know!) Thanks!!!</p>
You just answered your question. All are valid reasons why we see a surge of applications from China.</p>
<p>My impression is that at top schools, only very few of the exceptionally qualified international students get selected. Many of them went to international schools and have little or no language barrier. They are motivated and competitive academically. So yes, “they’re just as smart and nice as domestic students”.</p>
<p>My son had a Chinese tour guide at one school and I think he sort of fell in love with her (kidding!). But she WAS great, really smart and friendly - laughed at his jokes. There was definately no language barrier. If she hadn’t told us where she was from, we wouldn’t have known that she wasn’t American.</p>
<p>I think the schools have a “quota” for international students, so you are not competing with international students. Of course, in the long run that quota may increase as more international students are applying. The Koreans are especially strong and some of them are academic superstars right from the beginning.</p>
<p>My Chinese friend at Hotchkiss told me that my Math will be good anywhere in the US, when I talked to her about my Math…but, she added, “if you’re not competing with Korean kids”.</p>
<p>I’ve heard a lot about Korean kids and families!!! I do think that Chinese parents will eventually end up like that…this freaks me out sometimes. I personally know some Koreans and they’re just insanely smart and hardworking!</p>
<p>Th international students in my D’s school(Saint Mark’s in Southborough) are academically excellent and so nice. About half of them are from junior boarding and they have BS expereinces. Another half of them are from international schools. I do believe that their existence helps kids very much for diversity. But the international students population is about 10% or so of the total number of students in most of the top schools, which means the international students are facing with much more tough time in admission. Korean students used to be dominant among international students body. However, as Chinese economy picks up, we will see more students from China.</p>
<p>So if more applicants are applying from China, will the the schools accept more chinese students or will the proportionality constant be kept? I don’t think it’s fair if they accept more chinese/asian over other international and domestic applicants with good stats.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to see how the topic of increasing int’l students is brought up on CC.</p>
<p>So I’m from China…Personally I think the predominant reason is that Asian parents are becoming more aware of the benefits of going to a top BS (A Chinese boy got into Harvard after attending Andover for two years, he published a book about his experience, and then all the sudden the idea of going to a prep school in the US becomes really popular).</p>
<p>I do think Chinese students have many advantages – they are EXTREMELY strong in math, science, and possibly music (particularly piano and violin), etc. However, the biggest concern from the perspective of the admissions is their language barrier. When I visited Exeter, my interviewer was telling me how they have to reject many bright Asian students simply because they couldn’t communicate fluently (to engage in class discussions, participate in various ECs, etc) to fully contribute to the school community.
So guys you really shouldn’t worry, because apparently the acceptance rate for students whose first language is not English is much lower…</p>
<p>somnusc, do you currently go to an international school? I ask because I am continually impressed with the written English that some Chinese and Korean teens have exhibited on this board. When do kids who are as fluent as you start to learn English? (I am assuming that your mother tongue is not English.)</p>
<p>I think you are correct about the language barrier being difficult to overcome.</p>
<p>I’ve been going to a Canadian boarding school for 3 years - I started learning English in Grade 3. When I first came to Canada, all I knew was like “wheres the washroom?” “excuse me” etc…I guess the environment has really forced me to learn.</p>
<p>Well, usually asian students are better at writing/reading rather than speaking, because that is the main focus of English courses in Chinese schools (I’m assuming that is also the case in Korea). That is the predominant reason they added the listening (or speaking?) component to TOEFL. </p>
<p>From my personal experience, people who have attended international schools tend to be more fluent in English, because that is the instructional language in classrooms. But other than that, many asian students who go to typical schools where English is taught the same way French is taught in Canada do struggle a lot (like myself), when they are put in a completely foreign environment.</p>
<p>UF: I guess they won’t admit more Chinese kids. Deerfield and Choate have roughly 3 new students from mainland China each year. (and they said they wouldn’t admit more) I’m pretty sure that there aren’t THAT many qualified kids here. Yeah I mean it. </p>
<p>Neato: English is taught here just like Chinese nationwide. It’s one of the most important 3 subjects(others are Chinese and Math). Kids need to learn it from 9 to 24.
I go to a school which send several students to the Ivies and a lot to top Us and LACs every year. The main focus here is foreign languages(but we’re like the strongest in everything!). Hopefully my English doesn’t sound that bad???</p>
<p>Somnusc: can I have your IM or something? Good to see you!!! Most kids here are with zhongjie. This is bad and sad. Chunjiekuaile!</p>
<p>The number of applicants from China has been very high for years. Most schools have a quota for Chinese and Korean applicants, and in some cases they won’t interview more than 100 in a year. I can think of some lower tier schools that told me they get 100-200 Chinese applicants and accept about 3 or 4 of them, so it is very competitive. Most won’t accept new Chinese or Korean applicants after the deadline since they know they will meet their quota.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Cheshire Academy accepted a high rate of Chinese students (not sure exactly how many) which they did because they had enrollment problems and had no choice. But of course it back fires, since the Chinese parents are not happy to have a freshman class filled with Chinese kids who obviously won’t be helping their student to speak English.</p>
<p>There are so many students from China interested in coming here, that many Catholic schools with enrollment problems are accepting students from China and Korea and offering them homestays. (even a few K-8 schools do this for 7th-8th graders) Sometimes the schools don’t offer the right visa, but the families don’t understand this and it causes problems later on. There is also Lexington Prep, a study school in MA that was just started to help Chinese kids make it to prep school. It is a huge huge market. The TABS boarding school fairs in China has thousands of people attending.</p>
<p>I think it is all really interesting. And I have always heard that the Chinese students who do make it here are fantastic. For example, NYMA, a non-selctive military school had a Chinese kid get a perfect score on the SAT, and another school I know which is for kids with learning disabilities enrolled a Chinese boy who did not have learning disabilities, and he also got a perfect SAT score and went on to an Ivy. Many Chinese kids will go to any US school that will take them, and then they go on to do very well.</p>
<p>During our interview at a HADES school. we shared a waiting parlor with a lovely American family currently living in Shanghai. They told us some pretty fascinating stories. Their son took the SSAT at a testing centre in Shanghai with over 1000 other applicants. (By contrast, our son did his at a testing center with 20-30 other applicants.) In addition, we heard that a standard part of the Chinese equivalent to our 8th grade was intensive training in taking the SSAT test. Yes, they’re all over it in China!</p>
<p>I heard most chinese parents want their children to get the best education no matter the cost. It really is huge business. I just hope the chinese students who get accepted are the ones that can speak english well and branch out.</p>
<p>Education has be to one of the few large exports left for US. </p>
<p>Students from China (all levels combined) will soon reach 100K/year. Let’s see, if each students spend 10K on tuition, a conservative estimate, that is 10 billion! Not to mention there are Korea and the rest of the world.</p>
<p>They are not going to accept more international students in most of the top BS since they do not want to change their geographical and racial distributions very much. Then what will be the large Chinese application’s impact? – The international students pool (especially Asian students) becomes much more competitive. Most of the top BS wants to control international popultaion at around 10-15%, the immediate impact is on Korean and Chinese students. It will be so tough for them to get admitted. Some sencond or third or fourth tier BS may accept more chinese students, Then their schools academic profiles will look much better later since those Asian students SSAT and SAT scores are usually very higher than doemstic students. I don’t think the increasing Chinese students application will not affect US domestic students admission very much due to the 10-15% international students quota in most top BS.</p>
<p>Great insight! Thanks for posting!
There are 4 kids who went to the HADES with full aid in China. And they are helping a lot of people by posting their stories on a forum just like CC. Most of the parents on that forum don’t speak English but I can see that they care so much about their kids! In contrast, the majority of the kids don’t show any sign of initiative. [possibly I’m the only one who post on CC]</p>
<p>I determined to apply for aid. But there are SO many parents urging me to pay full tuition if i’m admitted to schools like Andover. </p>
<p>The pool will be just as competitive as the undergraduate one statistically, but I assume there are more kids who don’t understand the whole thing applying. (some of them ask me to write letters. The “agencies” do everything for them, including write essays, recommendations. And some of them even “guarantee” admission. )</p>