https://www.1843magazine.com/features/the-long-march-from-china-to-the-ivies
Since I flatly refuse to open links posted here…could you put a summary of this article here. @Much2learn
I just read it… While there have been many articles written about this, I found this one to be the most interesting and engaging. Good read. Thanks for sharing the link, @Much2learn!
Can’t really summarize. It’s a long-form article following the journey of 2 Chinese college applicants.
It’s worth reading if you want to understand the world better.
@thumper1 , you might have read it, it’s been posted on cc before. Tells how chinese students prep for getting into prestgious US colleges. It maks me feel very jaded about the US system. At least I get it now, and thank goodness my kid will start college in September and I don’t have to think about all this for another couple of years for my 15 year old-- haha, yeah right =))
Nice article.
Thumper - this is the premise.
"Chinese students are products of an educational system that, for all of its high achievers, is built to suppress intellectual curiosity, creativity and individuality – the very qualities that American admissions officers value most. How do students construct a unique persona that appeals to American universities? "
Tinfoil hat?
The extremes of poverty tourism and EC padding
Yes, there’s that nasty stuff, but the author managed to find two girls who were actually authentic in their applications and pointed out that once a student opts out of the Chinese system, they are forever out and must find a spot overseas. One of the girls profiled is the daughter of a high level party/army official, lives in a military compound, if she decides to live in the U.S. Will never be allowed to visit her parents again. She’s headed to Smith. These kids were all enrolled in an expensive program to guide them through the process. Once they bow out of the exam process their days are pretty free to hone their applications. The article does brush on the cheating and bribery and excess that money can buy, but it was balanced.
It also pointed out that there is a new strategy - getting your child at 14 into U.S. Boarding schools because U.S. Colleges will trust their transcripts and test scores. And then I’ll bet, use those kids as “international students” in their profiles :))
Lower down on the Chinese food chain are the “parachute kids”. These are the ones who cannot afford $60k fancy boarding schools. The parents put them in public or lower tier US private schools, and the kids live w host families-- often with inadequate adult supervision.
I’m sure that happens.
The military princelingette (“princess”?) is heading to the U of C. The middle-class girl who’s family had to sacrifice and scrape and who was inspired to study in the West after reading those Western books her grandfather hid during the Cultural Revolution (a huge risk to take in those days) and needed a massive amount of fin aid is the one heading to Smith.
^ U of C was her early admission and the article says she was still waiting on outcomes from the regular round to make an enrollment decision.
@PurpleTitan , I stand corrected. I got their schools backward.
Where did you get this idea from?
^ What they said is that the parents would not be able to visit her in the US “freely”.
This isn’t any different than other FA receiving int’l students from other countries. These kids’ parents don’t jet off to the US, either.
Even poor American kids who attend faraway US colleges don’t enjoy the luxury of their parents visiting them at college.
I got the impression that the “freely” had to do with govt / permission, not $$ for travel. In other words, even with all the $$ in the world (tea in China? Ha ha) diplomatically it would be a problem for them to go back and forth multiple times.