We have all heard how competitive it is for Chinese high-school graduates to get a spot at a good university, but it seems that it’s also hard for them to stand out from the leagues of students that are applying for US universities.
Have you ever heard of a ‘brag-sheet’? Pretty self-explanatory, it’s a pamphlet that outlines a person’s achievements in a colorful way. Think of it as a personal brochure: a baby photo right beside some nostalgic musings, a graduation shot along with a personal statement. Apparently admissions offices are being buried with them and the sad truth is that most won’t even get looked at.
Why must students resort to these acts of self-promotion? Well one reason might be pulled from Grinnell College’s stack of applications, where about half of Chinese applicants scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT. At this Iowa college, one in ten applications is from China, and about seven per cent of them will be accepted.
You can read the full story, as reported in the New York Times here.
Another thing that helps get you in: if you are able to pay full tuition. American Universities are hurting for money, and they can’t screen domestic applicants on their ability to pay full tuition, but they can for international applicants.
