Admissions Agents in China

Avoid admissions agents in China at all costs. Their incentives often don’t match their students’.

Many admissions agents in China are unscrupulous. This isn’t news. We’ve written about college admissions agents in China before. They hand students completed essays that they’ve given to hundreds of other students. They have a vested financial interest in sending students to certain universities in the United States because those universities pay them commissions. They aren’t bound by any code of ethics. A few months ago, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (to which the Founder of Ivy Coach is a member in good standing) proposed banning such financial incentives for international recruiters. We at Ivy Coach applauded this stance.

But during the summer, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) shied away from this stance on admissions agents in countries like China and India. According to a “FOX News” article on international admissions agents, “The group had backed away from the ban, acknowledging a ‘lack of alternatives’ for dispensing information about American higher education in many parts of the world. It plans to study the issue for up to two years.” Two years? That’s two years worth of students applying to American universities who are getting scammed because the people advising them have ulterior motives. Their motive isn’t to get students into the best college(s) possible for them. Their motive is to make the best financial incentive possible.

If you’re a student in China or India, avoid admissions agents at all costs. If they give you an essay, throw it in the garbage. Burn it. Turn it into Origami. But whatever you do, don’t submit it to colleges…because a few hundred other Chinese students may have well submitted the same one. Not to mention it’s entirely unethical to submit an essay to a college that you yourself did not write!

Check out this post on US college admissions in China and let us know what you think about admissions agents in China by posting below!