I was asked to answer the following questions on the website Zhihu.com. While both questions address a specific group of student I hope the answers will apply to a broader range of students both domestic and international.
As a new admitted student, how to adapt to American education system and improve myself?
Some students from China to do not participate in discussions because they have not done enough of this in school back home. In some classes in the US your grade may depend on your participation so it is important to learn to overcome your shyness. One thing I advise all students is to find mentors. A mentor might be a student who has been at your school for a year or two and can help you learn about your particular school and how to get the most out of it. Peer mentors can also be friends. There are some student groups at some schools that have established mentor programs. If the school you attend does not it is still not hard to find a student who will be able to give you some helpful pointers. The other mentors you should seek out are faculty. You should make it a point to go to office hours and introduce yourself. After that you should go to office hours if you have questions or if you have a passion for the subject. Studies show that students who find good mentors do well academically and socially while at university.
As for improving yourself, you may want to sit down at some point and decide in what way would you like to improve. For instance, you may wish to improve your leadership skills. You can usually do this by getting involved with several student groups when you are first there and after sticking with them and being an active participant you will likely end up in a leadership role. Or it may be that you want to become more outward looking. You could find many ways to do service that will permit you to meet and help people you normally would not encounter. You might also explore many of the large number of other groups (sports, student council, investment clubs, science research etc. etc.) that will add to what you are learning in class. You will learn “soft skills” by participating in activities and these soft skills are important to your future success.
Best of luck.
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Q: Do Chinese students who attend college in the U.S. have advantages when they apply for grad school comparing to students attending colleges in China?
Thank you for asking this great question. As is so often the case, however, there is not a single or even simple answer. Let me try to explain what I mean by using a few examples.
A student from China who comes to the US as an undergraduate and enrolls at a highly selective college or university and who does quite well academically has, in most cases, a better chance at being offered admission to graduate school than most students who have stayed in China. The reason for this has to with familiarity—graduate schools generally know the preparation students get at a highly selective school better than they do many of the universities in China.
But there are exceptions to this too. A student who goes to Beida or Tsinghua( the Harvard and MIT of China) stands out because it is far harder to gain admission there than it is to get accepted to the Ivies or MIT. If, however, a student from China attends a Chinese university that is not well known in the US, then even if they do well, then they will not stand out compared to a student who has done very well at university that may not be that high in the rankings in the US.
What also affects whether a student gets in to many graduate program is the recommendations they get. Students applying for PhD program, especially, will need strong support form faculty. For students in US universities, having a faculty mentor who can write a supportive recommendation can help students get into top programs. Often, faculty at many universities have degrees from strong programs in the US and so their words carry a lot of weight in the admission process. If student in China do not have a faculty member who has served as a mentor and cannot submit a strong recommendation, then this will hurt the student’s chances of being accepted. In addition, there is some suspicion on the part of admission officers and faculty that recommendations from China are not reliable. Agents in China are known to create packages for students that include fake recommendations, altered transcripts, and exaggerated resumes. Students from China who are in the US for their undergraduate education are not looked at in the same negative light with regard to their admission materials.
Another reason that students from China who enroll in US undergrad schools may stand out is because they have been immersed in an English speaking environment and often have better English skills than student who have stayed in China. Being able to converse fluently in English would be particularly important in certain academic areas such has the humanities, or social sciences or business. It is somewhat less important in STEM fields, but all programs require the ability to think and write well in English.
In addition, Chinese student who have ben in the US also tend to more culturally fluent than those who have stayed in China. Living among student from the US for years gives student a chance to adapt to the many differences between learning styles, social interactions, and networking opportunities. All of these “soft skills” will help a student stand out in the interview that some schools require when applying to graduate programs.
Nevertheless, a student who has done quite well in a program in China will have the opportunity to attend many strong programs in the US too. One other factor to keep in mind is cost. It is a lot less expensive to stay in China and for some students saving money for graduate school may be the best option.
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