There are some interesting differences between American students and Chinese students in applying for colleges.
Mainly in two areas:
Parent involvement – in U.S, some parents do get involved in student’s college planning to provide support but leave all the important decisions to students. While in China, the parent involvement is much more significant. Not all but a lot of parents will get fully involved. Some moms will spend a lot of time trying to learn everything about colleges and college applications and significantly involve in every decision making along the way. Sometime they will even plan out everything and hope or ask kids to follow.
Major, major, major – The starting point from many Chinese students’ college research start with selection of 1 single major. The key consideration of major selection is future career implication – how easy to find a job and how much pay they will receive. A lot of influence relates to first point above – parent try to plan out the best path they believe for their kids and pace the way. It usually takes a lot of efforts to educate them that major is one but not necessarily the most important consideration in college admission. A lot of colleges in U.S. provide students opportunity to learn different potential paths and only claim major at end of first year or even 2nd year. On top of that, many students will switch their major once or more than once during 4 year college. Even from my own personal experience, what I am working on today has nothing to do with what I studied in my own college.
As admission counselor, we do need to educate these parents to leave decision to students. Students need their support and discussion but they need to make decision for their own future. And besides major, there are many other critical considerations to factor in in selecting the college or colleges that best fit such as location, school style, environment, etc.
Mainly in two areas:
Parent involvement – in U.S, some parents do get involved in student’s college planning to provide support but leave all the important decisions to students. While in China, the parent involvement is much more significant. Not all but a lot of parents will get fully involved. Some moms will spend a lot of time trying to learn everything about colleges and college applications and significantly involve in every decision making along the way. Sometime they will even plan out everything and hope or ask kids to follow.
Major, major, major – The starting point from many Chinese students’ college research start with selection of 1 single major. The key consideration of major selection is future career implication – how easy to find a job and how much pay they will receive. A lot of influence relates to first point above – parent try to plan out the best path they believe for their kids and pace the way. It usually takes a lot of efforts to educate them that major is one but not necessarily the most important consideration in college admission. A lot of colleges in U.S. provide students opportunity to learn different potential paths and only claim major at end of first year or even 2nd year. On top of that, many students will switch their major once or more than once during 4 year college. Even from my own personal experience, what I am working on today has nothing to do with what I studied in my own college.
As admission counselor, we do need to educate these parents to leave decision to students. Students need their support and discussion but they need to make decision for their own future. And besides major, there are many other critical considerations to factor in in selecting the college or colleges that best fit such as location, school style, environment, etc.