Opinion | Asia's 'coached students' should be denied coveted college admission
Kelly Yang says the practice in Asia of hiring professional help to get a student into college is defeating the purpose of the exercise
It has been a while since I've been excited about college admissions. In the past five years, I've watched it change from being a step of self-discovery to a billion-dollar industry complete with ghostwriters, agents and other hand-holders.
The forces driving this industry are insecurity, obsession and perfectionism. These are the fears admissions companies here in Asia play to. In the process, they are ruining admissions.
Admissions used to be a great equaliser, the one, true opportunity to catapult a bright kid out of poverty and into the halls of higher education and a better life. At my graduation from law school, I remember looking around at my classmates and thinking, it didn't matter where we came from - from this point forward, we were equal.
But now, with reports of 90 per cent of Chinese applicants submitting false recommendations, 70 per cent of them having someone else write their college admissions essay for them, and half forging their transcripts and grades, it's becoming harder for admissions officers to find the students from Asia who are likely to succeed.
To be fair, it's not just Chinese applicants who are lying to try to get into US colleges. However, the burgeoning Chinese middle class has pushed demand for US school and college places through the roof. Last year, China sent a staggering 235,000 students to study in the US.
Yet, thanks to all the coaches and agents, most of these applicants look virtually the same on paper. They all have high TOEFL scores. Their test scores are near the top. Their personal statements are now useless, thanks to the ample supply of ghostwriters. And forget about the recommendation letters; every one of them is glowing to the point of blinding.