Chinese applications to U.S. schools rise

The University declined to release exact numbers for how many Chinese students apply each year, but the number of annual applications from Chinese high school students to some American universities is growing rapidly, according to a September article in Inside Higher Ed, which reported that Chinese applications to Duke were up to 500 this year from 175 just three years earlier.

“Because we do not separate applicants into categories based on their country of origin, we do not generally release statistics about admit rates for a single country,” University spokeswoman Emily Aronson explained. “The University does not view students as being in ‘country categories,’ and so we do not release statistics that would falsely imply that we admit students this way.”

The number of international students at Princeton has increased over the past few years. In 2007, 3,242 international students applied to Princeton and 192 were admitted, or 5.9 percent of applicants. In 2008, the international acceptance rate rose to 6 percent when 208 international students were accepted out of 3,448 applicants. Last year, the number of applicants continued to grow: 3,632 international students applied, and 223 were admitted, for a slightly higher acceptance rate of 6.1 percent.

In 2007, the University accepted 9.5 percent of all applicants. That percentage dropped to 9.25 percent in 2008 before rising to 9.79 percent last April.

“We welcome applications from students around the world and review all applications in the same manner, regardless of citizenship or country of residence,” Aronson said. “Every year, we continue to see an increase in applications from foreign nations.”

In addition to the application materials required of American students applying to Princeton, international students must submit the Common Application International Supplement, which consists of questions better suited to the educational systems in foreign countries. Most students whose native tongue is not English must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Because China does not offer the SAT, Chinese students are required to travel to Hong Kong to take the exam.

“One has to go [to Hong Kong] at least two times for both SAT I and IIs, and many people take it more than once, so it’s lots of trouble associated with missing school and arranging stuff,” Chinese citizen Lingzi Gui ’10 said in an e-mail.

Around the same time that U.S. college applications are due, Chinese students are also preparing for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, more commonly known as the “gao kao.” The gao kao is China’s equivalent to the American SAT. The nine-hour exam, offered only once per year, is the sole factor in determining Chinese college admission decisions.

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“Normally in 12th grade, students don’t learn anything new, and the entire year is dedicated to the gao kao prep,” Gui said. “The biggest risk was not getting in any good U.S. colleges and failing at the gao kao at the same time, which actually happened to some of my friends.”

Zhihan Ma ’11 echoed Gui’s sentiment, saying, “It was pretty stressful to apply for U.S. colleges and prepare for gao kao at the same time. So a lot of people did not choose to apply.”

“But it is getting more and more competitive these years, as far as I heard,” she added.

Ma said the process of applying to Princeton from China was particularly challenging due to “the huge difference” between the American and Chinese education systems.

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“It’s very easy to get an A in classes in Chinese high schools. Schools distinguish students by our ranks in midterms or finals, instead of our overall grade in a class,” Ma explained in an e-mail. “So a top student and a mediocre student can both have an A, but their actual performances differ a lot. However, this is not reflected in the transcripts or in the U.S. college application. So everyone’s transcript may look kind of similar in the end. And people may therefore question the transcripts.”

Differences in documentation may also hinder foreign applicants, she added, noting that her high school did not provide official transcripts in English.

“In the end, everyone just makes their own transcript (in both Chinese and English),” Ma explained. “The staff will check to see if the grades are correct and then sign it. That’s how it works in my high school.”

Gui said she has heard that some Chinese applicants also write their own recommendation letters.

“I understand that many Chinese high school teachers don’t know how to write American-styled recommendations, and they would still use a lot of ‘communist-like words’ to describe students, which may confuse American admission officers,” she explained. “But I still think this is extremely wrong and dishonest to do that.”

Despite the pressure to do well on the gao kao and the complications of applying to American universities, Gui and Ma persisted.

“I didn’t want to give up, because I thought my background was fairly unique (lots of acting experience and extracurricular activities), so I knew that U.S. colleges were a better fit for me,” Gui said. “And I didn’t know if my grades alone could get me into the best Chinese universities, because the admission process is automatically done based only on test scores.”

Ma said she was fortunate that her parents were supportive throughout the process, adding that it was a “very, very busy time.”

“I felt extremely lucky that I got into Princeton in the end, given there were only five people admitted (out of a couple hundred) from mainland China that year,” she said.