International Student Admissions

There seems to be intense debate in the UCs (University of California) system as to the exact number of international students they should be allowing to enter their institutions. We have already touched on the debate a bit here. For a more detailed discussion on the issue, I recommend reading this link -

Fix #1 was bringing in lots and lots of foreign students, who would presumably come with fists full of cash.  But also, with problems.

I yield to no one in my appreciation of UC Berkeley’s traditional international flavor. I vividly remember the first time I approached Sather Gate. A woman wearing a sari was coming out as I went in, and I thought to myself that I was—finally—a true citizen of the world, privy to all its delights and entertainment. Among the international friends I made as an undergraduate were a Kurd, (from an ethnic group I’d only encountered in books) a Chilean Socialist (two firsts there), an Israeli woman who thought I was an Indian because of the sound of my name, and my whole rooming-house full of women physics students from Taiwan, who taught me how to cut up a chicken with a few swift strokes of a cleaver without removing any fingers by mistake. And they were all amazing people, brilliant high-achievers, admitted because of their outstanding abilities—not, however, including their ability to pay big bucks for tuition.

There’s a real danger that today’s international students will become nothing more than cash cows. There’s the possibility that the student body will be overloaded with the privileged offspring of the ruling classes who couldn’t cut the mustard back home, and that merit will go out the window.

It doesn’t have to happen that way, but the risk is there. The same caveat applies to out-of-state American students, who will also be paying those lucrative higher tuition fees.

Overall, the percentage of these special categories is jumping from 6% to 8% of the student body in the whole UC system, with UC Berkeley getting the biggest increase. Berkeley continues to be a very saleable brand in brand-conscious Asia, with much more cachet than Los Angeles or Riverside.

A major difficulty with embarking on the mission of educating the world, even if we get nothing but the cream of the crop, is that these students are not nearly as likely as they used to be to stick around after they graduate. India and China in particular are developing their own industries which will employ their own top graduates. This might leave California, high-tech California in particular, short of top talent, having educated too few Californians and too many people who just go home after they graduate.

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article regarding the burgeoning number of international students at California universities -

When Rebeca Ponce signed up for summer classes at UC Berkeley through her university in Mexico, she knew she was in for an experience that would broaden her view of the world.

She had no idea.

The 20-year-old business administration student from the Tecnológico de Monterrey soon found herself sitting in a classroom where she and students from India, Germany, China, South Korea, Australia, her own country and countless others are the overwhelming demographic.

“Studying at UC Berkeley has been a really rewarding experience. I have made many friends from different countries,” she said. “I wish there would have been more U.S. students to get to know more about Berkeley’s lifestyle, but I loved interacting with people from all over the world, learn from their cultures … and see life from other perspectives.”

The result of a concerted outreach effort, the number of foreign students attending classes in UC Berkeley’s summer program this year has climbed 50 percent over last year. The 2,356 international students make up 16 percent of the 15,000 total students enrolled, said UC Berkeley summer sessions director Rick Russo.

The infusion of international students is evident in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution course Ponce is taking. About 98 percent of students in the class are from abroad, said Haas School of Business Professor Eli Kass, adding that such diversity cultivates a classroom dynamic distinct from what students would find during the regular school year… Read more here

An incredibly rich resource for relevent information regarding the PSAT, SAT and SAT Subject Tests is the FAQs maintained by Compass Education Group. I highly recommend taking a look even though the questions are not specifically aimed at international students -

PSAT FAQ

SAT FAQ

SAT Subject Test FAQ

I strongly recommend reading this post to understand the challenges school admissions counselors face in dealing with the highly selective college admissions game. A taste -

What is driving the application frenzy?

One college counselor colorfully exclaimed, “We know the devil and it’s 3 faces: Moody’s, US News and World Report, and the Common Application.”

Moody’s

Moody’s, the first branch of the demonic trifecta, penalizes colleges and universities by degrading their bond ratings if their SATs, selectivity or yield drop. And bond ratings are nothing to sneeze at. When a university needs to borrow money for capital improvements or renovations, its bond rating determines the interest rate at which it can borrow funds. The Board of Trustees will put heavy pressure on an admissions office to maintain the institution’s AAA bond rating.

Private High Schools are locked into a similar set of rules determined by Moody’s. Their bond ratings are tied to their matriculation lists, SAT scores, National Merit and AP scores. To keep their boards happy, college counselors must attend to the selectivity of the colleges on their “matric” lists.

US News and World Report

By now, most of you are aware of Mephistopheles’ favorite publication, the US News and World Report. The US News annual rankings are responsible for narrowing the collective gaze of millions of high school students onto a handful of schools and rewarding these schools for rejecting as many students and being as “selective” as possible… continue reading.

The Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) is an English language test designed to assess the readiness of non-native English speakers to participate in a university-level English language instruction program (the test is meant to be a substitute for TOEFL). PTE Academic is endorsed by the Graduate Management Admission Council, who are owners of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The test is computer-based exam and focuses on real-life English used in academic surroundings.

Harvard, Yale and Stanford Business Schools all accept the PTE.

Format
Computer-based test measures all four language areas: Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing,

Content
Authentic academic test content from a variety of international contexts and scenarios

Duration
Approximately three hours

Availability
During the launch period PTE Academic will be available in 37 territories including China, India, the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Canada.

Registration
Register online and schedule a test using a flexible ‘choose and book’ system

Scores
Available online within five business days of taking the test Secure online results service

Being an international student often means it is difficult for you to visit and learn about a campus firsthand. Many universities have excellent admissions videos that can give you a taste of what life is like on campus. First up is Harvard -

The enrollment of international students in undergraduate and graduate programs in the U.S. has somewhat suffered as a result of the worldwide economic crisis — but not as much as many have feared, a report from the National Science Foundation (NSF) declares.

The total number of international students in the United States rose by 3 percent from fall 2008 to fall 2009.The only fields of study that suffered declines were psychology, education and the humanities (the NSF report is based on federal data on visas).

There is reason for a bit of concern for colleges however - there appears to be a declining rate of annual growth: Total foreign enrollment rose by 4.3 percent from 2006 to 2007, by 3.7 percent from 2007 to 2008, and by 3 percent from 2008 to 2009…

Read the rest of the report here.

Businessweek has an interesting article on the rising cost of MBA education and the implications of this upward trend in costs on international students –   

[...] Yet the outlook isn’t as optimistic for everyone. International students who are more likely to return home to jobs and be paid in local currency will carry MBA debt in U.S. dollars, making it riskier to loan foreign students the money to attend B-school. “Even if they get a huge job [in their home countries] at $35,000 per year, you can’t service that debt, ” says Rosemaria Martinelli, head of MBA admissions and financial aid at Wharton.

Among international students, default rates are now around 10% to 15%, says Sue Roberts, president of Student Loan Corp., a subsidiary of Citibank. “Our experience is that if they go to their home countries, the default rates are higher.”

This story reinforces the importance of students being mindful of the true costs of attendance compared to future predicted earnings. If these calculations are not done correctly, students can be left with a heavy financial burden after graduation.

This video is an opportunity to hear directly from admissions directors on the process of reviewing college applications. Deans of admission from eight colleges discuss the admissions process -

There are two forums that cater to international students looking to come and study in the U.S. The first is a part of College Confidential and has a lot of admissions related advice (usually students that are looking to be admitted to more selective colleges post in CC). The forum can be found here. The second forum is a more generic and contains information on things like immigration, financial aid, insurance, employment etc. The forum can be found here.