Tuesday 11 November 2008
U.S. colleges scour China for top students
Last month, Tiger and dozens of China’s brightest students gathered in a five-star hotel blocks from Tiananmen Square for the final round of a math contest. They competed under the watchful gaze of William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s admissions dean, who has handpicked undergraduates for three decades.
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U.S. colleges scour China for top students
By Tracy Jan, The Boston Globe
11 November 2008
BEIJING: Do not be fooled by the teenager’s slender frame and wire-rimmed glasses. His name is Tiger - and he is an American high school student’s worst nightmare.
The 16-year-old junior, as adept at proving geometry theorems as he is at defending a soccer shot, has set his sights on Harvard University. And Harvard, on him.
Last month, Tiger and dozens of China’s brightest students gathered in a five-star hotel blocks from Tiananmen Square for the final round of a math contest. They competed under the watchful gaze of William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s admissions dean, who has handpicked undergraduates for three decades.
Students like Tiger, or Li Taibo in Chinese, represent the future face of elite U.S. colleges, their greatest hope as they vie to maintain international dominance. It is especially true for Harvard, which is trying to elevate the profile of its math and sciences to be on par with its legendary humanities program.
Eager to cultivate generations of students in this new frontier, admissions officers from premier U.S. universities are scouring China to recruit top high school students who may dismiss such colleges as out of reach and unaffordable. In the campaign during the contest last month, representatives of Harvard, Brown and Stanford touted liberal arts education, research opportunities and dorm life to students and their parents - even promising full scholarships.
“There are no quotas, no limits on the number of Chinese students we might take,” Fitzsimmons told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 students during a visit to Beijing No. 4 High School. “We know there are very good students from China not applying now. I hope to get them into the pool to compete.”
That message is disconcerting for U.S. students toiling to land a coveted spot in Harvard’s freshman class of 1,660 students - and controversial among some educators. But Fitzsimmons and others say they had better get used to the idea. Applications from China have exploded in recent years as the country opens up to the world, and they are only going to increase.
Fifth-graders in the United States, who as adults will face international competition for jobs, should begin beefing up their academic credentials if they want a shot at an Ivy League education, Fitzsimmons said.
“We’re trying to send a message to young people, as young as primary school, to make the most of their studies,” he said, “because they’ll be competing with students around the world later on.”
The first Shing-Tung Yau High School Mathematics Awards, named for the Harvard math professor who organized it, drew more than 900 students from all corners of the country. The 40 finalists who assembled for three days in Beijing had spent the past six months preparing to shine in front of both the judges, who included three Harvard professors, and the admissions deans they would meet.
“This is a historic event,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’re trying to get out the word that Harvard is world class in math, science and engineering - not just in the humanities.”
The stakes were clear for the Chinese students and their families at the contest. Nervous parents and teachers, barred from the hotel conference room where each team presented their projects, knelt outside, snapping photos of contestants and judges through the glass doors.
Down the hallway, students in school uniforms adjusted their ties and huddled among teammates, practicing their presentations in hushed murmurs.
“It might change my life, my whole life, I think,” said Tiger, ranked among the top 10 students in his class of 750.
Raised on an army base on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, Tiger lives at school in a spartan, third-floor dorm room with five other boys. He has never set foot in the United States. But he visits Harvard often on the Internet, imagining himself crossing the historic campus on his way to class or, perhaps, to a party.
“Harvard is so beautiful compared to the campuses of Chinese universities,” said Tiger, who crams for the verbal portion of the SAT from his lower bunk bed. “I want to go because it is said that schools in the United States inspire you to think, instead of just teaching you what to do.”
The competition served as a vivid reminder of how the global economy is hitting college admissions, much like it is hitting U.S. corporations.
Many U.S. universities have begun recruiting in China in recent years, but those efforts have tended to focus on high school visits or university fairs, and none have generated the slew of attention from the Chinese news media that Harvard garnered last month.
And while universities are seeking applicants throughout the world, the rising influence of China and the academic devotion of its students make it especially appealing.
Ushered around Beijing during his five days here, Fitzsimmons played the role of a diplomat.
In speeches to students and dignitaries, he predicted that Harvard’s outreach to Chinese students would foster improved U.S.-China relations that would ultimately benefit the world. Harvard-educated Chinese, he reasoned, would probably return to the country to help shape its development.
The number of Chinese students applying to Harvard has swelled from only 10 two decades ago to nearly 500 last school year. Fewer than 8 percent of all applicants are admitted. Thirty-five Chinese undergraduates are currently enrolled.
Applicants from China would increase even more if the Chinese government allows students on the mainland to take the SAT without having to go to Hong Kong or Taiwan - a mission Fitzsimmons pursued during private talks with high-ranking officials.
Yau, the chairman of Harvard’s math department who conceived of last month’s competition, has returned to his homeland not only to spur the improvement of math education in China through the contest, which rewards students for creativity and collaboration, but also to help funnel a generation of Chinese high school students into premier U.S. colleges. He even vowed to pay personally for the travels of needy students to conquer the SAT.
“I want to help the very poorest students in China make their dreams come true,” said Yau, who won the prestigious Fields Medal and is considered one of the greatest mathematicians in the world.
But that is a difficult prospect for some of his colleagues in Cambridge to swallow. Harry Lewis, a computer science professor, supports international admissions but worries that Harvard is making it harder for American students to get in.
“There’s a real tension here,” said Lewis, a former dean of Harvard College who sits on the admissions committee. “We get tax exemptions not so we can help build the economy of China, but so we can help contribute to the economy of the United States.”
That being said, Lewis acknowledged that “we’re not alarmed enough in this country about the lack of interest and motivation we’re giving to math education here.”
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