Chinese students miss out on early places at MIT but what’s to blame for the change in fortune?
- The prestigious university offered early admission to more than 700 students from around the world, but none came from Chinese schools
- Some analysts say Washington’s fears about espionage are to blame, while others put it down to China’s failure to prepare fully rounded youngsters
No students from mainland Chinese schools have been admitted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through its early admission programme this year, intensifying concerns that candidates are facing growing difficulty in entering the United States’ best universities.
Unlike in the past, when at least a handful of students from Chinese schools made it through the early admission system, this year there were none, according to results released by the university.
The news epitomised the falling success rate of mainland Chinese students seeking places at top US colleges in recent years amid growing uncertainty about immigration and visa policies, and the increased importance placed on applicants’ soft skills, some industry insiders have said.
MIT offered early admission to more than 700 students chosen from 9,600 applicants from around the world. While five of them were Chinese nationals, they all graduated from US high schools.
“This is in line with the overall trend,” said Sun Rui, founder of Insight Education, a company based in the south China city of Shenzhen that helps Chinese students apply for undergraduate programmes in the United States.
“We feel that it’s harder each year to apply for top universities,” she said.
The number of students from Shenzhen who secured a place at one of the top four colleges in the US had been falling year by year, she said.
“Last year, a couple of students from Shenzhen made it to Stanford. This year it was none.”