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For those of you who have never heard of Yogi Berra you should do a search. Aside from being one of the greatest athletes in the history of his sport, he is noted for saying things that at first glance don’t seem to make sense but upon reflection do make us think. When Yogi was asked about going to a popular nightspot in New York, here is what he said: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”I bring this up because there is something I hear today from many students, parents, pundits and educators when it comes to commenting on who gets in to highly selective colleges and universities: “Don’t even bother to apply. Nobody gets in.” If these words were ‘true’ then the schools would shut down. Paradoxically, these schools, because they are deemed in rankings as the 'best', experience huge increases in applications each year. After decisions go out, however, the chorus of “nobody gets in” starts making the rounds again in ever-louder shouts.What follows is an interview with someone who is anything but a nobody. Samantha is one of the more talented students in the world. Her insights into education and developing her talents and passions demonstrate that she is not only accomplished but also self-aware and globally fluent.***********************************************************************Could you tell us a little about your family and where you grew up?I’ve lived in Vancouver all my life. I’m half Asian on my mom’s side; my mom’s side of the family is part of the Huaqiao community in Manila. My paternal grandparents both grew up in England, but they and my father have lived in many locations since. I often feel that this unique mix of cultures and backgrounds has given me many interesting perspectives.You attend a wonderful school West Point Grey Academy. How long have you been going there and can you share what you think it special about it? What is the atmosphere like among students? Is it competitive, cooperative or some of both? How hard are the classes and how are the teachers?I’m a lifer at West Point Grey Academy, so I can say without a doubt that it’s the best school I’ve ever attended! In all seriousness though, my school’s community, support, and opportunities are absolutely incredible. One thing people always notice when entering West Point Grey Academy (affectionately called ‘dubpeeg’) is the energy that bounces around in the halls; it’s a school where we greet everyone in the hallways and get involved in all sorts of co- and extra-curricular activities. The relatively small grade size (about 70 kids) means we all know each other, and the culture is very much about ‘showing up’ to things, whether that’s club meetings, debate competitions, student council meetings, or even watching other students’ sports competitions. The atmosphere among students is very much cooperative; although we all are driven to achieve our best, I think that the motivation is internal. In terms of the classes, we have the flexibility to choose from many different kinds of courses with different course loads. The teachers are yet another component of the school community that makes it so supportive. They are always willing to stay after class or during lunch to answer questions or supervise make-up tests. This really helps students (like me!) catch up on work after returning from trips. I remember last year, before I went to Lithuania (for WIDPSC), I asked my math teacher what I would be missing. He wrote out his lesson plan for the entire month of April and gave me a copy!West Point Grey Academy has had a tremendous record of success in the area of debate. You have been involved with debate for many years and have been recognized internationally for your abilities. Can you talk first about why you decided to join debate and what the school does to prepare students so well for success?Debate, Model UN, and public speaking are a huge part of dubpeeg culture. Our coach was actually the coach of the Canadian National Debate team when they won in Qatar. We regularly have students on the National Team. Actually, my debate partner will be travelling to Singapore this summer to represent Canada at the World Schools Debate Competition for the second time. But more than that, because of the large volume and success of kids in higher grades who debate, I think it’s a trickle-down inspirational effect for students new to the senior school. We also run our own Model United Nations, which involves a large portion of the student population. So, a lot of people get involved! Personally, I got involved with debate because the year before (grade 7) I was giving a lot of speeches as school captain and I did quite well at a speech competition. I thought, why not? (Plus, I’m absolutely terrified of basketballs, so I knew I wasn’t going to have that take up my time!) The school prepares kids by having many intramural debate competitions where the seniors mentor the juniors (we often call them pizza debates because everyone gets pizza at the end). WPGA also offers a course called Persuasive Writing (in grade 8 and 9) that helps teach debate analytical skills. Also, the course AP Comparative Government gives a lot of spec knowledge that is quite impressive to pull out in a round!You have travelled all over the world to compete in debate. Can you talk about where you have gone and what kind of debate you specialized in and why and finally can you share some of your international accomplishments too?I’ve gone the most exotic places for public speaking. WIDPSC was in Brisbane, Australia, then Durban, South Africa, then Druskininkai, Lithuania, and finally Hong Kong. For debate, my international trips include Dallas (Old Parklands Debate Competition), Claremont (PanAmerican Debate Championship), Olomouc, Czech Republic (Heart of Europe Debate Championship), and Oxford and Durham (Oxford and Durham Cup). I’ve also been able to see quite a bit of Canada through various national competitions, which has been a blast! I’m so lucky to have had the opportunity to travel so extensively; I’ve had so much fun learning about new cultures and meeting people all over the world. To me, it can be especially fascinating to realize that even when we live in different countries and have vastly different backgrounds, there’s still so much we have in common!I’ll just list a few of the highlightsWorld Individual Debate and Public Speaking Champion (2015)National Public Speaking Champion (2015)National Debate Champions (2014 and 2015); 4th place speaker and top BC speaker (2015)Oxford Cup Champion (Canadian qualifier for the Oxford Cup in England) (2014)Provincial Debate Champions (2015, 2013)Regional Debate Champions (2015)Canadian National Debate Team (2014-2015)International Independent Schools Public Speaking Competition: 2nd place overall, top U-16 speaker (2012)2nd place team, PanAmerican Debate Championship (2015)2nd place team, Old Parklands Debate Competition (2015)There is a lot of talk in the media today about the need for students to develop a passion. Were you born as a passionate learner or did others help you find your passion for debate and academic success?I couldn’t agree more. Funnily enough, I actually gave a speech on that- the need for people to step up to the plate, be leaders, and inspire others with their passion. I think I’ve always been a highly motivated learner but my passion was inspired in different ways. My passion for creative writing was kindled by an excellent English teacher in grade 4; for speech, in various student leadership roles in grade 7; debate, through immersing myself in the school culture and going on some fantastic trips. I’ve also become really passionate about other areas. My teachers have inspired my passion in biology and languages. The fantastic people I’ve connected with via those activities inspired my passion for music and service.How much pressure do you put on yourself to be the best? How do you manage your time to do all the things you do so well? What are the skills that you have aside from just being smart that helps you stay focused and permit you to achieve your goals?I’m motivated to push myself to my own best. I’m not the kind of person who will do things halfway or half-heartedly; once I decide to do something I will throw all my passion behind it. That said, I understand that I can’t always push myself to the limit on everything! It’s always been a balance, but in the last couple years I’ve worked on prioritizing. Sometimes I get back from trips and things are crazy busy, and I just have to accept that I won’t be able to do as well on assessments that week than if I’d been around. So I’ll ask for help and I’ll study as much as I can, but not to the point that I’m overly stressed or not sleeping. Specifically, skills that help me manage my time are focus and looking ahead. I try to start my work first after I get home rather than watching TV, etc., so I can get it done as early as possible. As for looking ahead, I try to ask my teachers what’s coming up so I can bring study materials with me when I’m away or ask questions well in advance.Do you have any mentors who have been important to you in school, in your activities or in any other way? If so how did they help you?Obviously my debate coach, who has worked with me so much on developing my public speaking & debate abilities, but also my confidence and adaptability skills. A grade 4 English teacher who ignited my passion for creative writing, and so many of my current teachers who inspire me about my next step, including my chemistry teacher and physics teacher. Finally, my cello teacher who has taught me to value of meticulous work and a woman who runs an organization I volunteer with who is my role model for connecting with people.When it came time for you to look at where you wanted to go to university how did you decide which schools to apply to and why did you look at US Schools?I don’t have a perfectly clear idea of what major I want, so the US liberal arts education really appealed to me. I like the idea of exploring a variety of courses before I choose my path. I did a few university tours in summers, did some research online, and chatted with my school university counselor.How many schools did you apply to? You ended up getting accepted to Stanford, the most selective schools in the US. There are many people in the world that would love to know how you did this? What are the things you think made you a successful candidate for Stanford? Would you be wiling to talk about the things you wrote about in your application?I actually only applied to four, but that’s because I received my acceptance from Stanford early. I was heavily leaning towards that school so I didn’t submit most of my other applications. I’m sorry, I don’t know what makes me a successful candidate for Stanford! I’d love to know too! One of my essays was about basically being a crazy old cat lady so maybe they were missing that in their class of ‘19 demographics? I just tried to write about the things that were most essential to my character. I also wrote about connecting to my Chinese culture, and learning how to do impromptu speaking!Why did you end up choosing Stanford?Stanford stood out as the school with the ideal fit for me. First of all, I really like the quarter system. I like that I get to take more courses than the semester system, which is important because I really want to explore a lot of different interest areas. Also, it means that winter and spring breaks are real breaks, not exam cram time, which is important because I’m sure I’ll need a real rest! I also really like the residence program where I move around every year. Various other programs are also excellent; other than the academics, I’ve heard that the debate and study abroad programs are wonderful. Plus, location! I’m very close to home and on the same time zone as my family in Vancouver. I also have family living in California. I’m about an hour away from San Francisco, a city I visited a few years ago and LOVED. And it’s beautiful and warm and sunny all the time!Do you have a plan for what you hope to study at Stanford?The only course I 100% know I’m going to take (funnily enough) is Mandarin. I’ll take a lot of human biology courses, because that’s the area I’m most passionate in. I’d also love to explore other areas like history, literature, and communications. We’ll see, I guess!Do you have any long-term goals about what you want to do when you graduate?Not really! I have a few vague ideas but I’m sure those will change a lot once I go through university and find areas I’m passionate about.Do you have any advice for students who are thinking about activities, and universities and doing well in order to reach their dreams?Balance! There’s no point cramming your schedule so full that you’re burned out early. Along those lines, there’s no point doing things just to look good on a resume. Obviously it’s good to push yourself to try different things and immerse yourself in them, but at some point you need to make sure that the enjoyment is still there. On a bit of a different note, I’d say the most important personal quality is self-confidence. Self-confidence to speak up, get involved, and seize opportunities. An inspiring guest speaker once shared a saying something along the lines of “opportunities aren’t a chance- they’re a choice”. I believe that self-confidence is what lets people make that choice.***********************************************************************Samantha has shared some things that will, I think I can safely assume, intimidate some readers. After all, there are only so many people in the world who can say they have claimed the top award in the world for an activity of some sort.On the other hand, anyone reading her words should come away thinking that she as person is anything but intimidating. Her words do not have to try to impress. Her actions already do that. Instead her tone is open-mined, curious and warm. Her advice about how important self-confidence can be should be something everyone can learn from.So too is her advice about mentors and passion. Early on a teacher sparked her interest in writing and she had the opportunity to work with a coach who is clearly one of the best given the record of success of debaters at her school.Samantha is also a perfect example of those students who will benefit most from a liberal arts education. Her interests are wide-ranging and she has chosen Stanford for all the right reasons given the way the education and environment matches her individual interests and even location in the world.Her words, then, apply not just to those who are looking to get into the schools that take ‘nobody’; instead, they apply to any student who wants to learn, grow and explore and will be able to approach the world with confidence instead of fear.At the same time, I also think it is useful for those of us on the outside who may not have her talents to understand a little better what it does tae to get into schools that accept about 5% of those who apply. A student who has worked hard, has strong grades and tests scores will end up at a great school. But almost all who have these stats and not much else will not be admitted to schools that take only very talented ‘somebodies’. Talent in this case means far more than numbers. Her debate skills, her global background, and her clear love of learning all make her stand out. Even her essay topic sounds like one this is both risky and unique. She had the confidence to submit something edgy.I would first of all like to thank Samantha for sharing her words here. I have learned much not just about her but also about how think about living and learning. I would also like to thank John Sy, a wonderful education counselor and admission expert in the Philippines. He is Samantha’s uncle and he provided me with an introduction to her after he mentioned her in an education counselor form in which he provides many great comments and insights.My guess is that Samantha will be able to share more insights that will educate us as she begins her journey at Stanford and then afterward on her career path too.

Overview of 2016 application seasonWhat follows is an edited text of a Webinar that I participated in on the social media site WeChat, Most of the data and advice applies to all students, but my talk was targeted to students applying to US schools from China since WeChat is used by millions of Chinese students.In 2016, the acceptance rates at the most selective schools fell yet again. For example, Stanford accepted only 4.7% of its applicants. If we consider Regular Decision applicants only, the acceptance rates are even lower. Why is that?The simple answer as to why it is harder than ever to get accepted to the top ranked schools In the US is: statistics.Let me give just one example. For the class of 2013, Harvard received 29,144 applications. For the class entering this fall, Harvard received 39,044 applications. This represents a 25% increase. At the same time, Harvard did not increase the size of its incoming class. This helps explain to a large degree why the acceptance rate has dropped each year.There are, however, some other factors that have affected the acceptance rates at top ranked universities. Students who are applying to the most selective schools are now applying to many more schools than in the past. A New York Timesarticle put it this way: For members of the class of 2015 who are looking at more competitive colleges, their overtaxed counselors say, 10 applications is now commonplace; 20 is taking on a familiar ring.Students are applying to many more schools because it is much more difficult to predict where even a very strong student will get in because the competition is so fierce. One student might get into Stanford but be turned down at Brown and Yale. Another might get into Dartmouth but end up wait listed at Princeton and Columbia. The increase in applications from top students only makes getting in that much more difficult for any individual. The Common Application, the platform that hundreds of the schools in the US use, permits students to submit information to multiple schools with the press of a button (and an application fee).In addition, universities are getting more effective at marketing. Schools are increasing their outreach to certain populations, especially under-represented students or low-income students in the US. Many of the top schools give full financial aid to US citizens that are offered admission. (Only 5 schools in the US are need blind for international students). More low-income students are applying because the schools have reached out to them by buying their names and addresses in order to send them materials.On the other hand, the number of international students applying to the top 30 universities in the US increases each year too-- students from around the world are seeking to further their education in the US. This has been particularly true for students in China. The number of applications filed by Chinese students has increased dramatically and so have the number of Chinese students enrolling in US universities and colleges. In 2004-5 there were 63,000 Chinese students studying in the US. Now there are over 300,000. What this growth means is that applications have soared from Chinese students, and not just at the most selective schools, but at virtually every kind of school in the US.What some students and families from China do not realize is that admission offices at selective colleges attempt to bring a diverse class of students from around the US and the world. In order to do this they have to limit the number of students they will offer admission to from any given country. Since China sends the most applications to US schools, it is true that it is harder to get in from China than any other country. The low acceptance rates quoted by schools are for the whole student body. If the acceptance rates for students from China were published, they would actually be even lower than the already daunting overall percentagesAn article published in The Economist puts it this way: "Competition for entrance into these schools is ferocious. Of the roughly 40,000 Chinese students applying to universities in the United States last year, around 200 were accepted into Ivy League schools. As a Beijing-based consultant puts it drily: “Harvard only accepts seven or eight Chinese students a year, and one of them is bound to be the offspring of a tycoon or a leader.” American applicants have it easy by comparison. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, accepted 9.7% of domestic applicants in 2015 – and a mere 3% of international applicants."One other factor that significantly affects the rates of offers of admission is whether a student chooses to apply Early Decision instead of regular decision. Early Decision is a binding program: students who are accepted early must withdraw their applications from all other universities and enroll in the ED school. Universities implement these programs as it permits them to enroll strong students without worry about losing them to other schools. In most cases, the difference in acceptance rates between ED and regular for the top universities is at least 10%. Some schools, like U Penn, tell students that they improve their chances if they apply early. Duke, this year, took half of its class early decision. For those students who clearly have a first choice then early decision is a good option.There is also a program called Early Action. Students apply in November and hear prior to regular decision deadlines (typically January 1). Students offered a spot in Early Action also receive a boost in admission. The difference in acceptance rates between early action and regular decision is not as dramatic as that between early decision and regular decision. I encourage students from China to apply to at least one school early action. If a student gets accepted early action he or she can decide before the regular decision deadline of January 1 whether or not to apply to more schools or to pay a deposit and enroll at the early action school. Students accepted early action may still apply to other schools and have until the national candidates replay date of May 1 to put down a depositWhy are so many students put on the waitlist?First of all, it might be useful to give some idea of how steep the odds are of getting off the wait list are for students who have applied to highly selective universities. To give just one example, last year the total size of the incoming class at Carnegie Mellon University was 1,557. CMU placed 5,526 on the waiting list . They offered admission to only 4 of them.For the purposes of creating a thought experiment, let’s say the May 1 deadline has just passed and one particular university is now looking over their numbers and sees it has 40 spaces to fill. They have over 2000 students on the waiting list. Why would this school have such a large waiting list and why would they not have them ranked? And if they do not rank students how will they go about doing this?At first this seems like a huge task and that having a ranked waiting list would make it far easier to select students. While this initially might seem like a good idea there are many reasons almost no school follows this approach.Each school has its own mission and institutional priorities that they hope to fulfill. For example, universities, by their very nature, have separate undergraduate schools within the whole university. In order to make sure they will have the proper numbers of students for each of these schools they will need to put various kinds of students on the waiting list.In this thought experiment let’s say the university has a school of arts and sciences, a school of business, and a school of engineering. It may well be that the students who have made a deposit have filled the spaces for engineering and only have a couple for business, but they have 50 spaces in arts and sciences to fill. Virtually every one accepted off the wait list will be in the arts and sciences pool. No one will get in to engineering and perhaps two or three to business.Institutional priorities also come into play in many other ways too. If, for example, the school in question is State Affiliated, then it may be that the number of in state students is low and the number of out of state students is just about right. In this scenario, all the offers from the wait list would go to in state students. The school will place a large number of both in state, out of state and international students on the wait list to make sure they have enough of each group in case one or more of them comes up short on May 1.Or let’s say a private school, hoping to increase their geographical diversity, notices that there are very few students who have accepted offers live in States west of the Mississippi. They may decide to pull all those students on the waiting list who are residents of those states and offer almost all the spaces to them. Some schools wish to demonstrate on their profile that they enroll students from many places. They want the perspective these students may bring but they also want more applications to come in too. In some cases schools want to increase their global footprint and therefore focus on taking more international students from the wait list.Or it may be that a given school the percentage of women the school would like to enroll is several percentage points higher that would they would like. They may then decide to give almost all the wait list spaces to males.Or it may be that the number of under-represented students is not what they had hoped it would be, so they may try to enroll as many of these students as they can from off the waiting list. For those who think this sounds like schools have quotas, they don’t. There is no fixed number of students that schools establish as that would violate the law, but there are intuitional goals.Given what I have just described about schools, I hope it is now clear why schools put many students on the wait list but rarely rank students. The wait list is one way a school gets to shape the class in terms of institutional priorities. If the school tried to rank students it would not be useful as the school does not yet know what groups of students they may be looking for. In other words, the wait list is not so much about individual students, although this is true to some degree; it is more about which groups the school wants to fill in based on what they already know about the incoming class.Finally, it is worth repeating that it is rare for more than a few dozen students to get selected from the wait list at highly selective schools. Students who are on a waiting list should concentrate on getting excited about the school they have been accepted to.Compared to 2015, was the 2016 season easier or more difficult?For most individuals and groups, 2016 was a year in which it was more difficult to receive an offer of admission from a highly selective college or university. The number of applications increased for almost all these schools and very few increased the size of their incoming classes. The acceptance rates for top ranked schools have steadily declined for well over a generation. It is not only the Ivies and other top ranked schools that have seen dramatic increases in applications; the schools that are close to the top 50-75 colleges and universities have also seen dramatic increases in applications. Schools that were, even a few years ago, selective for students from China have now become exceptionally competitive. (e.g. Georgia Tech).The good news, however, is that most of the other 4000 other colleges and universities are looking to enroll good students from China. Students who have adequate academic performance on the TOEFL and SAT and present a solid a transcript have a good chance of getting in to the vast majority of these schools. But there is one addition to academic credentials that is becoming increasing important to admission decisions—the ability to pay. More and more universities in the US need to enroll students who can pay full fees. This is one of the reasons for the vast increase in the numbers of students from China who have been offered admission, Some schools admit hundreds and a few offer admission to well over 1000. Both Michigan State and Purdue enrolled more than 1000 new students from China last year. If Chinese students look at the larger picture they can find wonderful schools to go to in the US.What factors affected college applications in 2016 season?Overall, the demographic trends in the US show that the number of people in the 18-25-age range has declined. What this means is that almost half the private colleges and universities in the US have seen a decline in enrollments. These schools did not meet their enrolment goals. Many schools, therefore, are doing more than ever to increase the number of international students on campus as a way of filling the class and filling them with full payers.In addition, the most selective schools are now looking to increase the diversity of the students that they accept from China. Diversity is a vague word, however, and it means many different things in admission. One that affects Chinese students is geographical diversity. While most of the students admitted to top schools still tend to come from a few cities-- Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen-- there has been greater outreach to other cities around China.More importantly, a few schools have begun to target low-income students from China. A recent Guardian news storydescribes this outreach:“Ivy League schools have started recruiting more economically diverse students from China after receiving multi-million dollar grants from public and private donors. Chinese billionaire real estate couple, Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, gifted $100 million to top U.S. universities last year- including $10 million to Yale and $15 million to Harvard – in a bid to help poor students from their home country.” The article goes on to state, “The admissions directors at Yale and Harvard say the investment they have received will help create the diversity sought by students and faculty. ‘We want to make sure that we get the most talented students from every corner of the world, and it’s just that simple,’ Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons said.”Only a handful of schools are need-blind for international students but the influx of money from donors for Chinese students will help some highly qualified lower income students to attend top schools. In order to satisfy the donors, these schools will make an effort to enroll at least a few low-income students from China each year.What factors affected graduate school applications in the 2016 seasonThe most important trend for graduate students from China is the decline in applications and enrolled students. According to the most recent statistics: “Between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015, and continuing a three‐year trend, applications declined among prospective graduate students from China (‐2%).”The reasons behind this drop have in part to do with a change on the part of the Chinese government. Recently, there has been an effort to keep more students at home instead of going abroad. As a result, I expect that applications from graduate students will continue to drop. The Chinese government has done far more than simply encourage students to stay. They have invested heavily into making domestic and universities rise in the international rankings. They have done this by building facilities that will promote innovation and a wide range of subjects, but particularly in STEM fields. The Wall Street Journal describes the influx of economic support this way:Longer term, China is working to upgrade its own education system to keep more of its students at home and attract others from abroad. Beijing has poured billions of dollars into its universities in recent years.In the US, many research universities have experienced significant budget cuts over the past decade and many have had to cut back on research and graduate programs. This is particularly true of State supported universities. In addition, some of the labs in China now rival those at many of the well-known research universities in the US. Chinese student can now stay at home and receive an education tat can rival or exceed those of many universities in the US.What has not yet received much attention but which may actually be masking the true drop in Chinese graduate student applications has to do with what is happening to the large number of Chinese students who have received an undergraduate degree in the past several years. As the number of Chinese students who come to the US for undergraduate programs has skyrocketed the number of students who, after graduation, stay in the US for practical training in hopes of getting real job experience for one year has increased too. Unfortunately, the US government has not increased significantly the number of HIB work visas for international people from around the world. Some Chinese students have jobs lined up in the US but they are not awarded an H-1 visa. The government uses a lottery system to determine who chosen to receives the H-1. It used to be that over 75% of those applying for work visas were approved. Now, due to the vast increase in international students the percentage approved is less than 30%. What a large number of these students who do not receive a visa do is to apply to graduate programs in order to stay in the US. They do this in order to increase their chances of finding a good job in the US (or, increasingly frequently back in China). To fill the need for these students many top ranked schools over the last ten years have created Masters programs in a wide variety of fields (finance, international business, engineering science etc.). These programs are expensive and are to some degree moneymaking ventures for the schools. These are not PhD programs that are used in most rankings of graduate schools. In some cases students receive a Masters degree from a school with prestigious name, but the skills learned are not nearly as deep as a PhD or MBA program. I encourage students to do a lot of research into Masters programs before making the commitment to attend. Some of them are composed mostly of international students and do not always help student find good jobs afterward. If these students were not counted in the graduate school attendance numbers the overall drop in Chinese applications would be even higher than is currently reported.What makes Chinese students stand out, beyond excellent test scores (for 2016 season)?For students who are hoping to get into a highly selective university they will need to do more than just present strong grades and test scores. These are a necessary but not sufficient part of what students must have. Coming to the US (and other countries too) has become what most families who are well off in China want their children to do. Here is how The Economist describes this trend:Among Western educators, the Chinese system is famous for producing an elite corps of high-school students who regularly finish at the top of global test rankings, far ahead of their American and British counterparts. Yet so many Chinese families are now opting out of this system that selling education to Chinese students has become a profitable business for the West. They now account for nearly a third of all foreign students in America, contributing $9.8 billion a year to the United States’ economy. In Britain, too, Chinese students top the international lists. And the outflow shows no sign of subsiding: according to a recent Hurun Report, an annual survey of China’s elite, 80% of the country’s wealthy families plan to send their children abroad for education.The large number of academically qualified students who apply to top schools from China makes it difficult for individuals to stand out. What I tell students they need to do is to become a subset of 1. By this I mean that the student has to come across as a unique individual. The ones who do this most readily are often exceptionally gifted in some way (international/national recognition in academics or other endeavors). If a student is the gold medal winner in the chemistry Olympiad then their chances of getting into top schools is quite good. Or if, to site another example, a student has won an intentional competition in public speaking then her chances will be good she will get accepted to a top school. But there are lots of ways that students can stand out other than being a star at something on an international stage. One way is to have a unique voice; another is to have a demonstrated passion.Almost anyone who talks about great writing believes that the key is to have a voice. By voice I don’t mean you have to write more beautifully than almost anyone in the world. After all, English is the second language for students from China. In fact, essays from Chinese students that sound as if they were written by published authors are often looked at with suspicion. Instead, your words should convey a sense of who you are that can’t be mistaken for someone else. This year, for example, a student I worked with wrote a wonderful essay about Star Wars. (I have posted it on my blog.) Another wrote a great essay about cupcakes and baking. Both of these students were accepted to highly selective universities. In a successful essay isn’t often the topic that matters as much as the way the writer conveys something that stands out. To do this, of course, requires a lot of work. Choosing a topic, writing drafts and spending time with words are what help your voice to sing.Another way students can present their voice is through interviews. Some schools offer interviews with admission personnel; others, with alumni. If available, students from China (or anywhere else) should sign up for an interview. It will permit you to demonstrate your ability to communicate in English and to talk about yourself in ways that can help you stand out. In addition to school related interviews, there are at least two companies that interview Chinese students and make the interviews available to colleges. Both Initialview and Vericant interview students in ways that demonstrate speaking ability and fluency in answering questions about activities and interests. I know the founders of both and they are wonderful people committed to helping students and universities create good matches. The fees they charge for these services are inexpensive and well worth the investment. Most highly selective schools will not admit students who have not been interviewed. Therefore, interview prep is something all students applying to these schools should do. At the same time, no one should go into an interview for a school, internship or job without some practice and advice from people who know how to prepare students.Many students from China join clubs because they think they will look good on applications. It is true that universities look for students who do more than just do well academically. They want to enroll students who will contribute both in and out of the classroom. Those students who get involved with things they really care about and keep with them over several years will stand out over those who have many different activities but little commitment to them. Schools increasingly focus on the few activities that you have spent lots of time with rather than looking for long lists of activities.Finding a passion or two can be a challenge at an early age and not everyone can do it, but trying new things early on in secondary school will likely lead to a few activities that matter to the student. If students develop leadership or become sincerely involved, then service admission officers will note this as an important part of their evaluation. Thee are several studies that show that students who are involved in activities for more than one year do better academically in school and life:"The predictive power of follow-through was striking: After controlling for high school grades and SAT scores, follow-through in high school extracurriculars predicted graduating from college with academic honors better than any variable." Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.For those students who attend the international sections of their schools in China it is easier to get involved in activities as the administration is aware of the importance of supplementing applications with more than academics in order to get accepted to highly ranked colleges. Those students enrolled in programs dedicated to taking the gaokao might have a hard time finding something in the school to be a part of, but there are many things outside of school that might help them develop skills and character traits that will not only help to get into college but will help in life too.How are Chinese applicants disadvantaged in the application process?Unfortunately, Chinese students face some difficulties getting into top schools because of issues centered on academic integrity. There are many agents in China who work with students. Some of the agents are wonderful and help in ethical ways. On the other hand, there are many who alter transcripts, manufacture recommendations, and write essays and resumes for the students. There have been many news stories in the US media about cheating on the SAT in Asia. As a result, applications from China are looked at with suspicion:"The reality is for international students, particularly in Asia, there’s a worry about whether the application is authentic, whether the essay is authentic, whether the person who shows up at your door is the same person who applied,” said Joyce E. Smith, chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Arlington, Virginia"This trend to see students from China as cheaters is, to say the least, unfortunate, as those students who do things ethically must somehow overcome negative stereotypes. The actions of unethical agents have hurt the reputation of students in the US. Schools should do more to check the credentials of Chinese students. Students should only work with ethical agents, counselors and companies.What do admission officers think about applications from China? What do they usually expect?Admission officers at highly selective universities and colleges approach applicants from China with very high expectations. They have seen the quality and number of applicants increase each year. Students must have superior standardized test scores to get a close look. An article in the China Daily that quotes a private counselor in China puts it this way:We've found that students should score higher than 110 (out of 120) on the TOEFL and 2,200 (out of 2,400) in the SAT to secure their admission to prestigious American universities. But in previous years, more than 105 in TOEFL and more than 2,100 on the SAT was adequate," he said.These high numbers are only one part of the high expectations admissions officers have about Chinese students. Most students now have done some sort of service work, either in school, or the community or over the summer in a different location in China or country. Schools like to see students who care for their country and community.Colleges and universities also want to see some significant commitment to a few activities. There are, however, no “right” activities. Students can have a passion for almost anything that will help them to stand out. Another characteristic that schools often look for is leadership. Schools, especially highly selective schools, hope their students will become leaders in the world after they graduate. Therefore, they look for students who have already developed some of the traits that predict future leadership and success.In addition, schools often hope to see that a student has done something significant over the summer. Many students think this means going to the US for programs offered by universities. Unless these programs are highly selective, summer programs in the US do not have much of a positive effect on admission. Instead, students should try to find projects that will supplement their own interests. A student might do an internship, or get involved with service, or supplement their education by learning a skill such as coding.At the same time, schools also want to see that students know well the college or university they are applying to. Most schools now ask the question ”Why are you interested in our school?” Students who do not have detailed and concrete answers are at a disadvantage. Applying to a school because it has a high ranking is not a good reason to want to attend; instead, students should have specific reasons: for example, a student who has reached out to faculty to find out about courses or research opportunities demonstrate interest in the programs and school in ways that stand out. It is also important to note that more schools are using demonstrated interest as an important part of the admission evaluation. If a student can visit the school itself, can sign up for an interview and respond to any outreach on the part of the school this may help them get in.What do you think about 2017 Fall application season?For the 2017 application season I would predict that applications will again increase for the most selective schools. This means that acceptance rates will again drop making it vital that students come up with a list of schools to apply to that include some schools where they are likely to get admitted.Many students will be taking a variety of standardized tests for admission. More international students are now signing up to take the ACT instead of or in addition to the SAT. The majority of US students now take the ACT.On the other hand, this year will mark the first time that students will take and submit scores from the newly designed SAT. The first testing shows that average scores are about 90 points higher than the previous version. While this should not affect admission significantly, any test takers will now think the test is easier than it was before.In addition to new testing, there is also a new platform that students can use to apply to 93 universities. The Coalition for Access and Affordability has launched an alternative application to the Common Application. The essay questions are slightly different and the format is different. The schools that will use this form consist of many of the most selective schools in the US. One thing this platform permits is for students to submit extra materials to be stored in what they call a “virtual locker”. Students can store presentations, videos, etc. and permit schools to look at them. Many in education are worried that students will submit too much material. Agents may advertise the virtual locker in ways that will encourage students to use their services. I am worried that students will submit materials that will not help with admission and may in fact hurt if admission readers feel that the students have had too much help with this new platform.Finally, a report came out this year from Harvard’s education school called Turning the Tide. It has the support of many of the top universities in the US. The report makes a significant number of recommendations about how students should approach their education and experience in high school. They also recommend how colleges should change the way they evaluate students for admission. It is difficult to say how many schools will implement any of these recommendations and in what way this will affect which students from China (or any place else) will be evaluated in ways that are significantly different than in previous years. The emphasis on service and community, however, does send a message that schools will be looking for students who have far more to bring to a campus than just strong test scores. Students may wish to contact universities they are interested in to ask how they may incorporate the report’s recommendations.

The education landscape around the world has changed more dramatically in the last several years than at any time in history. Those who wish to keep up need to monitor trends and issues that will affect students, families, secondary schools and colleges and universities. If what I have just written sounds like hyperbole, it isn’t. The data published over the last year supports my contention. In this paper I will focus on one of the major shifts--the huge increase in students from India going abroad for education-- and talk about a few of the thorny issues professionals need to address as a result.When statistics were released last year detailing the number of international students, by country, that had chosen to apply and then enroll in colleges and universities in the US, some leaders in education did not believe them:For the first time since the council’s reports began, in 2004, first-time enrollment by Chinese students in graduate programs at American universities actually dropped this year.The writing has been on the wall for more than a year. In April 2013, the council reported that Chinese applications to American graduate schools fell 5 percent after seven consecutive years of double-digit growth. The drop was so unexpected that the council’s president at the time, Debra W. Stewart, didn’t believe it at first. The possibility that the dip was an aberration was proved unlikely this year, when the council reported that applications from China fell again.Enrollment followed suit, declining by 1 percent, according to the latest report. So what’s behind the multiyear trend? “China has been spending big to improve its own research universities, a move that could persuade promising doctoral students to stay at home,” wrote The Chronicle’s Karin Fischer in April, citing one possible factor. ”American universities, meanwhile, have had to absorb cuts in research funding.”Overall international enrollment increased 8 percent this year, according to the new report. That’s largely because of Indian students, whose enrollment has boomed over the past two years. It was up 40 percent last year, and grew by 27 percent this year. But concluding that India has replaced China as the new driver of international enrollment might be premature. Indian growth has been much more erratic and unpredictable, and it’s unclear whether the double-digit spikes will persist in coming years.While the shifts mean a lot to graduate schools, which count on surging international enrollment, they haven’t yet been observed at the undergraduate level. If undergraduate enrollment from China begins to mimic what graduate schools are seeing, that could spell much larger trouble.For those of us who have been closely following education in China, the drop in graduate applications that started a few ago and therefore the drop in enrollment this year did not come as a surprise. The Chinese government has pledged a trillion dollars toward education. Universities are opening up state of the art labs, getting research funding and hiring top PhDs to teach who have received their degrees from top universities in the West. Rather than send students abroad, they are now trying to keep them at home. The government is also making it more difficult for students to prepare for studying in the West by clamping down on certain programs in national secondary schools that offer Western style classes. The move toward greater nationalism also applies to the most important test in the country, the Gaokao. There will be less emphasis on English and this will make the students less likely to be fully fluent should they apply to English speaking countries. Finally, the inability of the US government to increase the number of work visas for international students has led to many families deciding it is not worth the money or the risk to spend years getting an education if no jobs or work experience /internships are open to them.As a result, colleges and universities have wisely decided to diversify their market and India is and should be the place to go. The 67% application growth rate of students over the last two years demonstrates that India may serve to help fill in for China should the numbers there continue to drop. India now makes up 12% of the total international student cohort studying in the US, still far behind China at 32%, but ahead of all other countries (Korea is next at 8% and that percentage is dropping too.) To put this in concrete terms in the 2014/15 academic year, 132,888 students from India were studying in the United States, a 12% increase from the previous year.There are several reasons for this growth which, I believe, predict that the upward trend will continue, at least in the short term. In the last decade, millions in India have moved up into the middle class and above. Families are in a position to send their children to good primary and secondary schools to prepare them for higher education both at home and abroad. The future dreams those families have for their children often center on getting the best education. As with most places around the world, the way “the best education” is defined often comes in the form of rankings. While the US News rankings dominate what people look at for schools in the US, the rankings that generate interest in India are those compiled by Phil Baty who oversees the Times Higher Education rankings. What is of particular note is that India has yet to crack the top 100 of world universities:None of the Indian universities could make it to the list of top 100 most prestigious global universities in the latest 'world reputation ranking' by Times Higher Education.The rankings for 2015 based on invitation-only survey of senior academic opinion, placed Harvard at the top, followed by University of Cambridge and University of Oxford in the second and third place respectively.The latest results come even as the government has initiated a series of measures to place its institutes among the top globally.For those in India looking for top universities these rankings will encourage them to look abroad. Rankings, as has been the case for many years in the US and other places around the globe, drive applications and serve as a kind of feedback loop. The universities near the top will see increasing interest from around the world and in this case, especially from India. I would predict, therefore, that applications from students from India to schools in mostly English speaking countries will continue to go up. I would say this is particularly true of graduate students. With the recent Brexit vote it may be that more students will look to the US.The reason for the higher interest from graduate students is that The Times rankings uses rubrics to measure schools that reward factors like faculty publications and high level research --things which affect graduate students more than undergraduates. In addition, there are universities in India that are held in high esteem not just there but anywhere. These, of course, are the IITs. Getting in to one of these universities is among the toughest educational challenges in the world. The joke that circulates among some students in India is that MIT is a back for an IIT. But this joke applies to those looking for an undergraduate education. Nevertheless, India is a bit like China, only it is following their lead from a generation ago. Graduate students were the first to go outside China for their education and only after a period of time, when the economy improved, and families could pay the fees, did the boom in undergraduate education begin. Whether there will be a huge boom in students in India going abroad for undergraduate education is difficult to gage but there will be at least some increase given the perception of how good the schools outside India are and how tough the competition is to get into top schools in India. This growth will also depend on how quickly the Indian Government can revamp education throughout the country. Recently plans were announced to examine how to do this:For the first time in more than two decades, the government of India is drafting a new education policy which will include reforms on the internationalisation in higher education, digitisation of education and skills development.The government has released 33 discussion themes– 13 for secondary, 20 for post-secondary– to the public for consultation, a process which the government expects could take up to a year.If these changes are substantive, then the boom of students going abroad may change, but given that it will take one year just to begin to focus on how to do this the changes will not happen in the short term.Up to this point, I hope I have provided enough information to convince educators that they need to either improve or begin their efforts to recruit more students from India. There are thousands of wonderful students who are hoping to study at universities around the world. What I hope to do now is to give some data on who these students are and what they are looking for.The data I am going to cite comes from a survey conducted by Chegg last year.Almost all who filled out the survey are looking to study abroad. The information contained in the whole survey will be valuable for those looking to learn what are the most important facets these students look for in terms of major, location, funding etc. In this white paper I wish to focus on just a small part of the research, since discussing this will help colleges and universities prepare to recruit students, but also to learn about issues that they need to approach with an ethical and informed background.Of the students who completed the survey, 23% said they used the help of an agent. While this figure may not seem high (A person I trust to know the facts in China says about 90% use agents), the raw number of students using agents will still be in the tens of thousands. As more students look abroad, more students will use agents, and if the agents are perceived by others in the coming yeas to help student gain admission to top schools, this percentage will increase quickly. No matter what, however, agents play a significant role now and what they do for students and how they do it will be my focus.Even if the percentage of students using agents may not be high, the overall number of students leaving India for study in other countries still means that the actual aggregate number is large. It might be useful, however, to define what an agent is as the term has several meanings.On the one hand, there are agents that have been contracted by colleges and universities to recruit students. These agents work in country and their job is to provide information about schools. In some cases, these agents receive a per student fee for each one who enrolls at a contracted school. Over the last several years there has been a great deal of debate about whether NACAC should permit schools to use agents like this. After much controversy, however, NACAC, while not endorsing their use, has said they will not take action against schools that use them. While these agents are essential to some universities and colleges, especially those who need students to fill their enrollment goals, they are not typically what the students and families refer to as agents.The agents that students themselves use are ones that are not (or at least not in the majority) contracted by individual schools. Instead, these agents are what some in other parts of the world call independent counselors. They provide services to help students get admitted to schools. Depending on the agent, these services can cost a huge amount of money. What the students get from them varies, but most help develop a list of possible schools to apply to, provide help in making sure all forms and information are submitted in a timely fashion, and in some cases, provide things like test prep, essay editing, and resume and interview help. Some also strategize on the best ways to get financial aid, be it need-based or merit based.What I have just described summarizes what ethical agents do to help students. There are thousands of people like this who work tirelessly to help students and families through the process. I am lucky to know a large number who fit in this category and I know how invaluable they have been to changing lives and providing opportunities. I know of some like this who work in India.Just how important are these kinds of agents? This is a question that is difficult to answer. I say this based on the responses I received from a question I asked a while ago on Quora.com,The question I asked focused on the number of students who use agents and whether they are necessary. Here are a few of the responses.*****************************************************************This is a tough question to answer. Especially because I'm not one of the person who went to an agent to study outside India. It's really tough to say even the approximate percentage. Same goes for other countries.****************************************************************Although agents can be of great help in the tedious process, very few students have agents helping them. The major reasons for this are:1) Lack of awareness- A large number of applicants don't even know thatagents exist.2) Financial in-capabilities- Many students can't afford an agent.3) Exceptionally talented students/ Achievers- Students from India who get admitted into top schools abroad are mostly Olympiad medalists or they have been in prestigious competitions, most of these students have enough achievements to get in with all the flaws.*****************************************************************For Masters & Phd, I haven't come across anyone using the agent. As long as your undergrad background is good with decent score in GRE & Gmat, you should be fine without an agentI can't put an exact number but with so many online forums, I don't think agents would do any better.****************************************************************Well in the case of Undergrad, you will surely need one.It may depend on you in case of PG, if you have already decided which college to go and can write a decent SoP and arrange with all the financial requirements. You may not need an agent.However getting an agent is recommended because you may encounter several challenges in the process, and an experienced agent may help you. If you know someone who has already gone through the process, he will be a great help. And moreover agencies have tie ups with various colleges so they are helpful there. Yes, they will be a great help if you need financial assistance.I will recommend you to get an agent, they usually charge nearly ₹20K. I think you can manage with that too, if you are ready to pay heavy amounts abroad.*****************************************************************What is the significance of these answers? For me, the range of responses tells me that there is no simple way of determining how important agents are to individuals. For some, agents provide necessary services and for others they are not useful at all. And that is about how it is in all parts of the world. Most students, except for China, do not use agents. But depending on the ability of the student and the expertise of the agent the usefulness will vary.The Chegg survey demonstrates this in a somewhat different way. Of the approximately 23% of the students who said they used agents about 75% rated the services received as good. In other words, within this percentage there are students who feel they received valuable help getting information about schools, about the admission process, about funding and testing; on the other hand, there are some who feel they were not helped much at all. Agents, then, vary greatly and my advice for families and students who wish to use them is to do a lot of research first.It is true that very few students volunteer to peers that they are using an agent. And reputable agents should never ever reveal the identities of clients to others. Nevertheless, there is still word of mouth that gets around about some agents who have been exceptionally helpful. In addition to this, I would advise any families or students to investigate the agent. One way of doing this is through LinkedIn. Students should learn to set up a profile anyway, as this site is useful for outreach to professionals in all fields. I have quite a few contacts on my account and I have many from India who are agents. In reading over their profiles I can learn a great deal. Their educational backgrounds, training in the field, the services they cover are often highlighted. If there are errors in the profile, if there are de facto promises about placement or if there are other things that raise questions then I would advise families and students to look somewhere else. Students may also use social media to find out more about a particular agent. There are many people who will respond to questions on various forms (such as Quora). Whether each respondent can be trusted is another issue. Free advice from strangers is not always a great resource to trust. Perhaps the bet thing a student can do is to meet with the agent before signing a contract. Many agents do not charge for the first meeting; finding out if there is good chemistry between the student and the agent can make the subsequent experience useful and enjoyable.To sum up, for schools, families and students finding an ethical agent who is professionally trained can be a useful way of not only finding out about different schools and the ways to fill out an application, but also a way of finding the best sources for funding. The number of agents in India is hard to gage but I would say there are thousands and the number is growing by the day. The range of services and the expertise these agents offer varies widely. Some of them work with hundreds of students and others with just a few. Some have a track record of success and others do not. Some keep a low profile because they know that the reputation of agents around the world is, problematic. Some in admission do like the fact that people with economic means get extra help when applying to university. It increases the gap between the have and have-nots in terms of getting into highly selective colleges and universitiesIf anyone wishes to get a sense of how agents are often perceived in the media simply Google "agents and China." Over the past several years, virtually every media outlet has written a story about how agents in China help students cheat their way into schools. I authored an article on this topic for NACAC’s Journal of Admission last year, but let me simply say here that the default mode among educators is that many agents are not ethical. And in China this may well be true. The question is whether this is also true in India. My answer is that India is, like the rest of the world, in that there are ranges of agents. I cannot begin to speculate on the percentage of them who do things the right way, but there are certainly some who do things to that are against the standards of NACAC and other professional organizations.What sort of things do they do? In some cases they will provide forged documents—transcripts, letters of recommendation being the top two. In some cases they write the essays for the students and create a resume of activities and experiences that is largely fictional. These unscrupulous agents have hurt the reputation of all agents and that is unfortunate. Many school officials think that virtually all agents are not to be trusted.Because of the fraud and cheating issues that have received so much press, colleges and universities, or at least many of them, especially the selective schools, are doing a great deal of work to verify documents and other submissions. There are many workshops that provide training to people to detect forged documents. In addition, some schools outsource the verification to organizations like the World Education Services. Schools do need, however, to devote more resources to make sure fraud is not rewarded with offers of admission. If the word is out that cheating works, then this will only increase the problem and hurt the schools and students in the long run.In addition, I encourage schools to spend far more time on the ground in India. They need to visit schools find out more about them but also they need to begin to talk to some of the agents who do the right things. By forging trust among all the stakeholders—families, students, schools and agents the amount of fraud will decrease. While it may be true that this will cost money at the front end, having students who were admitted with fraudulent documents may cost more. If these students cannot do the work they will drop out and this will hurt the reputation of the school as graduation rates and placement are now at the forefront of evaluating schools.It is important to note that students who are enrolled in universities in the US who are subsequently found to have submitted false documents are suspended and their transcripts are frozen. In other words, a student may have completed 3 years of work but if fraud is detected in the admission application, all the work and all the money have been wasted. More schools need to underscore the penalties for cheating to students.I would also advise schools to do more training of staff to learn about the range and scope of credentials in India. The way grades are reported, the exams that are given, and even the tests students take range from region to region and sometimes from school to school. For example a significant change in testing options was announced last year:“For the first time in its history, the Graduate Management Admission Council has acquired a rival entrance exam used in India for an undisclosed sum. The exam, taken by roughly 45,000 test takers annually, was purchased outright from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).At about $35 a test, the NMAT exam costs just a fraction of the $250 GMAC charges test takers to sit for the GMAT. But the deal, announced today (March 11), gives GMAC greater market share in one of the fastest growing markets for management education in the world. The acquisition nearly triples the number of test takers in India for GMAC since only 25,268 GMAT tests were taken in India last year.Both students and the schools themselves need to keep up with the many changes ahead.As India becomes a more important country for schools to recruit from there will no doubt be more pressure for students to do whatever it takes to get into schools. Those in education can be proactive to make sure that their active presence in country making trusted connections is needed. Admission in some ways drives the behavior of those trying to get in and having a strong stance against fraud and having the resources to detect it will make sure that everyone who is ethical benefits. India will be, no matter what, a great resource for schools looking to recruit students; whether some of the problems that are going on in China now will follow is largely up to the schools and educational professionals. The schools can help with education reform and with making sure students feel compelled to submit accurate documents that will be scrutinized. Schools should also reach out to those agents they are sure will help students in ethical ways.