I don't like the title of the article, but there is a lot of good content about college admittance for Asians.

Key Points:

• The area of education, that paramount priority of both communities. The story of parents toiling to create academic opportunity for their offspring (and using guilt, bribery and punishment to ensure that those kids take advantage of it) is the same whether its narrator is named Josh Li or Joshua Leibowitz.
• Asian Americans are disproportionately harmed by current admissions standards, to the point where an effective quota system exists, capping the number of Asians admitted at a virtually fixed level Ð for private colleges, generally well south of 20 percent of the student body
• "Asian applicants have to overcome a particular stereotypical profile that amounts to overt discrimination," says Jennifer Rubin, contributing editor for the conservative Jewish journal Commentary.

The Asian-Jewish connection: Is it really kosher to call Asians the "new Jews"? - SF Chronicle.

Labels: college, college admissions

My family went on a tour of UCLA yesterday. Nice tour, but what was most impressive was the tour guide and what she did in high school. Lots of AP classes, involvement in sports and student government, taking college classes, and even starting a business in high school. Wow!

Labels: college admissions

The Daily Breeze has a column written by a Freshman about his first year at UC Berkeley, call The Freshman. My daughter is very interested in attending Berkeley, but the competition for admittance to a great college to get in is very intense. Some tips for college admission (hidden in my site).

Labels: college admissions

With the decline in education funding, and the continued increase in college costs I can understand Universities Turn to Consultants to Trim Budgets - NY Times. My undergraduate college is a very good school for Engineering (Cal Poly, Pomona). But, due to budget cuts they are asking questions such as do they need a department of philosophy and graduate history. The school due to budget reasons canceled summer school.

The good of hiring a consultant is it gives an outside, supposedly unbiased, expert person, who can lay out hard decisions. And good consulting companies build their knowledge base, so they are constantly improving what they do. And with the current crises in funding, there is definitely a perceived need that is shared by all involved that something needs to change. Having this agreement is key for effectively making changes. After Graduate School was very interested in going into Consulting. A good book is 'The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus and Dangerous Company: The Consulting Powerhouses and the Businesses They Save and Ruin

Labels: college, college admissions

I agree with this article and as my daughter is looking at colleges - I worry about the cost. There is a lot more that could have been written on the issue. Cal Poly, Pomona actually canceled Summer School due to funding (my undergraduate is from there).

California's higher-education debacle - LA Times.

Labels: college admissions

Asian-American Applicants and Competing Rationales for Affirmative Action in Higher Education - I find the entire subject of high interest, of course my daughter is going to be going to college in a few years and my family is so focused on helping her to do the best.

SAT Prep, tutoring, cello, piano, AP Classes, IB, Voice, etc.

Typical Asian type student looking at top schools.

And with the possibility since she's Asian, she may need to have even higher scores than others to get into the same college. Or since she's mixed will she not be affected?

Labels: college admissions

Interesting article from the NY Times: Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In

Or you can buy these instead:

				A Is For Admission by Michele A. Hernandez
				Our Price: $14.99
				A Is For Admission updated and revised by Michele A. Hernandez. The insider's guide to getting into the Ivy League and other top colleges. A former admissions officer at an Ivy League university reveals the secrets of being admitted to the nation's best schools, covering such topics as the importance of SAT scores and how applications are reviewed and interpreted. English. Paperback. 266 Pages.
				Acing The College Application by Michele A. Hernandez
				Our Price: $14.95
				Acing The College Application by Michele A. Hernandez. Offers a step-by-step guide to the college application process with an analysis of the common application, a detailed study of application essays, and a look at common myths and misconceptions about the on-campus interview. English. Paperback. 262 Pages.

Labels: college admissions

Chinese Parents's Influence on Academic Performance - From a Journal on Bilingual Education. Summary - Chinese Parents have a great influence on their kids Academic Performance.

From personal experience, Chinese parents in the Rowland Height area here is a list of what I have seen.

Please add to it as needed.

1. Huge expectations for the kids academically.
2. Massive guilt trips if their kids don't do well. Do you know how much I sacrificed, or when I was your age I was #1 in my class, or ...
   
3. They have a pass/fail expectation. A is pass, everything else is Fail.
4. Will have their kids go to after school tutoring for Math and English.
5. Will have their kids attend SAT prep. schools that are not cheap.
6. Usually less emphasis on sports, cheer, and sports related areas. Tennis and Badminton are exceptions.
7. Will move to a better school district for their kids.
8. Will go into debt so their kids can go to a great school.
9. Will pay advisors to help their kid get into a great school.
10. Will go on trips to visit top schools on the East Coast.
11. Target is often Ivy League.
12. Will push their kids with a specific career goal. Hmm, your sister will be a Dr., you will be an Engineer.
13. Will often go out to Starbucks if their child is studying late.
14. Will always go to back to school and such.
15. Will push their kids to join Orchestra and will then get top talent to tutor them with after school lessons (as long as the main grades don't go down).
16. Will have their kids Learn Piano. In the local Piano Association, 90% of the students are either Chinese or Korean.
17. Will tutor their kids in Math through Geometry, often higher.
18. Give gifts to teachers at Christmas (even if their child dislikes the Teacher).
    

Labels: college admissions, parenting

The Next Bailout: Your Family from the Wall Street Journal. As my daughter is getting closer to colleges this article was timely. An example is the average college graduate has 22,000 in student loans and many also have credit card debts. An extreme example was a person with $160,000 cost for college and now has $20,000 in student loans, and the best job they could get was making $40,000 a year. So now they plan to go to law school. Hopefully they read this blog post before applying. http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_studi/2008/07/how-the-cravath.html

Disclaimer - my wife's cousin, the family star worked at Cravath before he started his own firm.

Labels: college admissions

Our local High School had college night last night, so the wife, me, and our wonderful daughter (sophomore) went.

UCLA, UCI, Pomona College, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College were all there. After doing a tour of Cal Tech, she decided Math was not her love so we did not talk to Mudd.

After my wife and me were talking about colleges, and she mentioned how our daughter's piano teacher's niece had a degree from UCLA in Economics and was an office manager. I mentioned how a co-worker had a degree in Economics from UCI and ended up as an assistant. ($15 an hour or so at a Chinese run company we used to work at). I then mentioned another friend who graduated with a Master's from Harvard in Japanese and is looking for a job. And then there was my wife's cousin who got a degree from UCLA in Social Science with a minor in accounting, and could not get a good job so he became a lawyer (and doing very well). And my wife went to a CPA extended education class on paying for college and private schools cost $35K to $50K a year. It's not unusual for students to be graduating with $100K in debt in student loans! Average student debt is $19237 for a graduating senior.

Please don't take this as anti the major of Economics. A good friend of mine has a degree in Economics and did forcasting in the semiconductor industry. I always enjoyed talking with him about the direction the economy and industry was taking. A great Engineering Prof. of mine has a Masters in Economics and enjoyed it because half of it was right, and half was wrong. The problem was nobody was sure which was which. Me, I took two tests to get out of taking Micro and Macro Economics as pre-requisities for my MBA. And somehow I passed the section on that in the Social Studies test more recently.

We compared the people we know who went to a UC, to my wife who went to Cal State Fullerton and got a degree in accounting, and she has never had a problem getting a job. And I got an Engineering degree from Cal Poly that was very hands on. Looking at the majors at UCLA, and many of them don't seem to be very practical for finding a job. I have heard that Cal State's do a better job at the under-graduate level, and UC's do a better job at the Master's level. Both my parents went to private schools and ended up with degrees in Political Science (one specialized in European History and the other South East Asian Politics). And what did they end up doing? One was an accountant and the other a credit manager. Of course their son (that's me) did sit down with basically no studying take and pass the teaching exam for Social Studies - not good to mention in interviews with people who went back to school to get a degree in it to get their license ;-)
Something else to consider is what type of job will your little prince or princess get after graduating. What is the average pay of that major? How much in student loans does it require?

So much to figure out, and so little time it seems for the college admissions process! We plan on going on more college tours.

References:

• That Student Loan, So Hard to Shake - NYTimes.com
• College cost finder - CNNMoney.com
• Job Salaries

Labels: college admissions

US Widens Princeton Bias Probe - Article in Today's Wall Street Journal.

I had mentioned the case in my time line of Racism Against Chinese in the US. It shows the Chinese have finally arrived when they are filing noteworthy lawsuits. The suit alleges a white class mate of Mr. Li was admitted with a poorer academic record.

Mr. Li's qualifications are amazing:

• Scored the maximum 2,400 on the SAT college admissions test
• Registered a combined 2,390 -- 10 points below the maximum -- on three SAT2 subject tests, in physics, chemistry and calculus.
  
• Admitted to Yale, and now attending Harvard.
  

And he was spurned by three Ivy League universities, as well as Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The quote from the original 2006 article I still agree with - Chinese are being treated as the Jews were in the 20's.

Other related blogs posts:

• Chinese American Education Expectations
• Chinese Asian Representation in College

Labels: college admissions, Racism

Two reviews from the Wall Street Journal. Eye opening...

• 'Fat Envelope Frenzy One Year, Five Promising Students and The Pursuit of the Ivy League Prize'
• For a Lucky Few, Room at the Top

Wow! Great read which I am now carrying.

Fat Envelope Frenzy by Joie Jager-Hyman
Our Price: $14.95
Fat Envelope Frenzy by Joie Jager-Hyman. A former Ivy League admissions officer follows five bright and eager high schoolers--students from diverse ethnic, social, and financial backgrounds--as they each put their best foot forward on the road they hope will lead them to the hallowed halls of Harvard University. Jager-Hayman also offers a startling frank appraisal of the college admission process and the important roles race and class continue to play in a student's efforts to attend the best school possible.. English. Paperback. 231 Pages.

Labels: college admissions

LA Times Article - Degree no Job Guarantee in China.

The complaint is many colleges in China do not do a great job of educating. Same issue in India. So of the mass of Engineers that are graduated from a Chinese univeristy, per a McKinsey report, only 10% would be suitable to work in a multi-national.

Education is extremely important in the Chinese culture, including going to the right university. In the US, that has built a booming industry for study aids, academic advice, and college admissions.
A huge interest in China is getting into Harvard. A book about how one parents got their Child into Harvard became a best seller. I don't carry that book, but one I do in English is 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays that is a a great read. So is How They Got Into Harvard by The Staff Of The Harvard Crimson. Softcover. My daughter dreams of going to Harvard , and if she gets in her Grandmother has promised to pay the tuition. She has been on the Harvard campus tour twice.

				50 Successful Harvard Application Essays
				Our Price: $12.95
				50 Successful Harvard Application Essays. What worked for them can help you get into the college of your choice. A compilation of fifty effective and diverse college application essays that offer students insights into what makes an essay compelling. English. Paperback. 180 Pages.

				How They Got Into Harvard by The Staff Of The Harvard Crimson. Softcover
				Our Price: $12.95
				How They Got Into Harvard by The Staff Of The Harvard Crimson. 50 successful applicants share 8 key strategies for getting into the college of your choice. Softcover

Labels: china's future, college admissions, Education

The challenge is Asian's, as a percentage are over represented at the best colleges in the United States. 10-30%, even if they are only 4% of the population. So in order to keep the right racial mix, Asian students at many colleges need to have higher test scores than any other ethnic group, including white, to attend. In state colleges, many states have banned the use of racial quotas for college admissions including California and Michigan. The result at UC Berkeley has been an increase in Asian students attending. An article about Asians at Berkeley called Little Asia on the Hill that I just found from the NY Times! Last time I found the article my blog died, with a post I had been working on for over an hour. Which resulted in a much shorter post :-) My daughter's school sent 30 students to UC Berkeley last year, and her choir graduates seem to go to UCLA or UC Berkeley.

One Chinese student even filed a lawsuit against Princeton for discrimination in admissions. Good quote "are the Chinese being treated as Jews were in the 1920-1940 for College Admissions?"

Another related post:
Chinese American Education Expectations

My opinion. The historical definition of race is getting all messed up and institutions have not caught up with how fast society is changing in an extremely positive way. Examples include mixed races, adoptions, etc. The competition for getting into colleges is getting more and more. Grades, Study Skills, and College Admission Books is a new section I just added.

Labels: college admissions, Education

Interesting article by Thomas Sowell on College Admissions. The two major points from the article are:

1. If a student does well on the SAT's, they will get lots of big name colleges asking them to apply. The reason being that big name college rankings/prestige are based on the percentage who apply and are rejected (being selective is to be strived for - we must be good, because we only admitted 15% of those who applied - being the logic).

2. Larger Universities often for undergraduates do not do as good a teaching job as smaller colleges. Since at the larger universities, undergraduate, especially beginning classes, are often taught by teaching assistants or in huge auditoriums. The focus of the world class professors is research, since they are measured on that (publish or perish).

In California I have often said for undergraduate the Cal State do a great job, but for Master's UC's are much better. The example the author had was Harvey Mudd more students go on to get PhD's as a percentage, than at Cal Tech or MIT. Harvey Mudd is a part of the Claremont consortium that includes CMC and Pomona that are in most lists in the top ten. It also includes Claremont Graduate University (formerly known as Claremont Graduate College, but University sounds better) that includes a small MBA school that I went to with a long name - The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management At Cal Poly, I only had one class, Biology, that was in a huge lecture hall for my undergraduate degree.

If you get a chance, take a college tour. Cal Tech has one my daughter went on where you got to see an actual class room and the dorms. There is a walking tour of the Claremont Colleges that shows you all the beautiful architecture (tour is be a local heritage association). It's important to choose a college that has the right culture. On the East Coast my daughter also went on tours of Harvard and MIT. The choir she belongs to went on a trip up to the Bay area and visited Stanford and Berkeley.

Labels: college admissions

Wow - what a title of a recent article in Business Week. Basically a consultant who can cost up to $40K helps your kid get into an Ivy League School. Advises them what extra curriculars to do that are meaningful and will impress the college admissions. It's becoming more and more competitive with after school tutoring, SAT sessions, community work so the student appears to be super outgoing - all with the purpose of getting into a great school.

My opinion, also a great piece of PR to get into business week by somebody - hire that publicist!

Labels: college admissions