90% of Chinese Recommendation Letters Are Fake: Considerations for Recruitment in China
by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association
Over the last three years the growth in the number of Chinese students seeking admission to undergraduate programs, boarding schools, and now junior boarding schools, in the United States has been staggering. Coming at a time when domestic growth has stagnated, especially among full-paying families, there is little wonder that educational institutions at all levels are pursuing students in China.
At IECA we have kept our eye on the growth of international agents—those holding contracts to recruit students to particular institutions and paid on a per-head basis. We also must begin to look at ways to help member independent educational consultants (IECs), and the thousands of schools, colleges, and programs with whom our members work, to operate ethically (no per capita payments) and ensure the accuracy of the candidate’s application.
The problems of working in China have become legendary: In-country partners that exist only in deal-making but not in reality and students who arrive with greatly inflated claims of language proficiency…the list goes on. Zinch China, one of the largest and most respected U.S. firms working in China, recently quantified some of the problems during a webinar. Among their reporting:
• 90% of recommendation letters are fake
• 70% of essays are not written by the student
• 50% of transcripts are fake or altered
• Schools want recommendation letters in English from Chinese teachers who have no English abilities, and from counselors who don’t exist in Chinese schools. This leads to the fraudulent issues above.
Most experts I speak to have concluded that this widespread fraud results from (1) Parents who are willing to say and do anything to get their child into an elite U.S. school; (2) Agents who are willing to either participate in or ignore the fraud; (3) Colleges and schools, but especially boarding schools, willing to fill beds with Chinese students without requiring accurate testing, grades, etc.; and (4) No apparent consequences for committing such fraud.
Of course scores of other issues abound, most importantly are schools able to deal with the cultural impact of so many students from one country? For colleges, the question relates to allowing an international population to dominate from a single country, and whether orientation and socialization programs are in place. For boarding schools the question is broader: can schools continue to claim a U.S. boarding experience when 30% of the students come from another country?
The challenge ahead is how to ensure the application and information received is authentic. New services are emerging that verify transcripts. Others, like Vericant, videotape interviews in Beijing so schools and IECs can better assess English skills. Increasingly the admission community seems to be aware of the inherent problems of paying per-head fees, which appear to encourage deception since only through acceptance at chosen schools can the agent get paid.
The real pressure for growth today is on summer programs, which may help in the long run by ensuring students are acculturated and providing a good assessment of English skills prior to enrollment in a long-term academic environment.
Action is needed to ensure fairness and integrity in the admission process. We look forward to seeing new services emerge to better serve independent educational consultants and the admission offices at schools and universities. Only through such improvements can we serve the best interest of students traveling far from home with big dreams.
Related posts:
- IECA Supports NACAC’s Proposal on International Recruitment
- International Student Recruitment
- The Changing Nature of International Students Coming to the U.S. and What it All Means for IECs
- The State of Boarding Schools 2012
- As We Conference Next Week, the World Looks a Little Different
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Tagged: admissions representatives, agents, boarding schools, China, Chinese students, economy, ethics, fraudulent applications, international agents, international consulting, international growth, international students, recruiters, school consulting
This is a serious issue for all of us involved in school and college advising and as usual, Mark has put his finger on the pulse of the issue and drawn a very clear ethical line in the sand. Thank you, Mark, for continuing to air this very important stance regarding boarding school admission issues. Your seat on the NACAC commission exploring the same issue at the college level will, I hope, lead to significant change in recruitment policies for foreign nationals. Diverse student populations are important on so many levels as, to paraphrase Tom Friedman, our world today is flat. Yet we must insure that students who arrive on U.S. campuses are truly able to do the work and truly ready to contribute to campus life. Per capita payments to placement agents compromise the honesty of the school or college match, and schools and colleges willing to overlook falsified application credentials do a disservice to all of their constituents. As we look ahead to 2012, hopefully schools and colleges acting responsibly in this realm (and there are many!) will step forward publicly as leaders and role models, encouraging others to follow suit.
Very interesting blog – thank you! Our company has seen a sharp increase in Chinese students seeking admission to U.S. Colleges and we help them navigate the admissions process. Because of your eye-opening statistics, we will continue to monitor documents and do our best to help Chinese students really find the U.S. University that is the right fit for them.