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Buying ‘guaranteed acceptance’ to elite US universities: the risks and rewards for Chinese students
- Chinese students are paying education ‘consultants’ to get them into top US universities by falsifying grades, academic transcripts and personal statements
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It was a chilly April night in 2020 in Orange County, California. The clock read 3.20am and Zang couldn’t sleep, plagued by insomnia since the state issued a stay-at-home order on March 19 amid a coronavirus outbreak.
The then-22-year-old had come to the United States from China in 2016 to pursue a bachelor’s degree, and was a month away from graduation. Now, another big decision loomed: return home or, as his parents preferred, stay and earn a graduate degree.
In the depths of Covid-19, the prospect of going back to China – with its limited flights, overpriced tickets and strict quarantine policies – was depressing. But with his not-amazing 2.5 grade point average (GPA), getting into an American graduate school did not seem likely.
Still wide-awake, scrolling through WeChat, Zang was struck by an otherwise unassuming post between an advertisement for contact lenses and a photo of a dog swimming: “Fall enrolment. No GRE is required. TOEFL 95 or IELTS 6.5. GPA 3.0 is preferred but not required. The last two spots.”
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