From Overseas Press

For Chinese, getting into Harvard a class act

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-07 15:40

More and more Chinese students want to go to top American universities, and being accepted by Harvard is becoming a class act, said an article in the Los Angeles Times on June 4.

According to the article, for many Chinese students, Harvard, or Hafo, which the Chinese pronounce with reverence, is at the very top of their wish list. More and more rich Chinese families want to send their children to the United States to be educated at the best universities, Zhou Jun, founder and head of the Leadership Academy, said in the article. "People will pay up to $300,000 for up to five years of supplemental classes aimed at getting their child into an Ivy League school," he said.

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There are currently 36 Chinese undergraduates at Harvard (the number of graduate students is much larger), and of 2,110 students accepted for the incoming freshman class, at least nine are from China, said the article.

The article emphasized that the desire to go to top American universities is not just about the prestige conveyed by the name. There are many aspects of U.S. higher education that Chinese students envy, such as the chance to explore different pursuits before choosing a major, interactions with professors and the more open intellectual debates.

But the article suggested that for Chinese students, the obstacles to entering an Ivy League school are still daunting. "Although many top universities, including Harvard, select applicants regardless of their ability to pay, successful matriculants need to speak perfect English, which they cannot generally do unless they spend a high school year abroad. And that requires a good deal of money," concluded the article.