Immigrate to the United States focuses on U.S. immigration strategies: According to a report by the Boston Globe cited by the Chinese website in the U.S., two experts who specialize in guiding Asian students in applying to top universities were interviewed. As complaints about the unfair treatment of Asian students in applications to elite schools like Harvard are on the rise, their advice to Asian applicants is: do not appear too Asian.
James Chen, who has been providing guidance for Asian students applying to top universities for 20 years and resides in California, serves clients not only from California but also from the East Coast. He founded his own application coaching company because he noticed that Asian students were treated unfairly when applying to elite schools.
"The applicants that the admissions offices see are very similar: good test scores, high grades in all subjects, many play musical instruments, and generally do not participate in intense sports like football," Mr. Chen said.
If students start receiving his application coaching from high school, he makes significant adjustments to help them not appear like the stereotypical Asian in American society. This includes having students learn a different musical instrument or engage in more American-style sports.
According to the report, a second-generation Chinese immigrant girl from New York, who was guided by Mr. Chen, applied for a major in social sciences and was admitted early to Harvard University.
Brian Taylor, an expert from another college application coaching company in Manhattan, New York, also offered similar advice, including not appearing as if the student only cares about high scores, but rather genuinely loves learning.
According to Taylor, due to the intense competition today, very few Asian students' parents refer his services to other friends' children, but they do refer their relatives' children.
Data shows that although Asian Americans make up only about 5% of the total U.S. population, 21% of last year's incoming freshmen at Princeton University were Asian, and 20% at Harvard. Nevertheless, the Asian community points out that the overall excellence of Asian students actually leads to discrimination in their applications to these top universities, as they must achieve an exceptionally high standard to be admitted.
Recently, several Asian American organizations filed administrative complaints with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, accusing Harvard University of discriminatory practices in the admission of Asian applicants and requesting federal intervention in the investigation.