US has ‘pre-eminent global research universities, for now,’ professor says as data shows Chinese still want American degrees but are pickier
Jason Lin of Xiamen surprised his mother this year by applying to 10 undergraduate schools in the United States and receiving a US$15,000 annual scholarship from Brandeis University near Boston. There, he intends to earn a master’s degree in economics over the next five years.
But to his mother, it’s like he’s venturing into the wild, compounding the anxiety parents often feel when their adult children leave the nest.
She’s afraid of “instability” in the US. And Lin, 19, has concerns that even a traffic ticket could get him deported. But he weighed the pros and cons, laid it all on the table for his mother, and decided on Brandeis in time for the coming fall semester.
Despite a sharp increase in US-China tensions this year, Chinese students such as Lin are still pursuing American higher education much as they have in the past, but they are being more selective than before, according to applicants and university officials.
