他們的美國夢:中國學生蜂擁美國名校

Jay Lin is the embodiment of the American dream -- and what is increasingly a Chinese dream.
林傑代表的不僅僅是美國夢，更是一個不斷壯大的中國夢。

Originally from Wenzhou in eastern China, he moved to New York City as a teenager. After earning degrees from Ivy League universities -- Cornell and Columbia -- he secured a comfortable job in a bucolic town in Connecticut.
林傑來自中國東部的溫州市，少年時期移居紐約。從常春藤名校康奈爾大學和哥倫比亞大學畢業後，在康乃迪克州一個鄉村小鎮找了份工作，過上了舒服的日子。

Now he is helping others in China follow his path, where the desire for elite U.S. education is alive and well.
現在他致力於幫助懷揣着同樣夢想，渴望美國精英教育的其他中國人。

In the last decade, mainland Chinese have reshaped the international Student body at U.S. colleges and universities, notably at Ivy League institutions. In the 2009-2010 academic year, China surpassed traditional "study abroad" heavyweights like Canada, India and South Korea, to lead international enrollment across U.S. higher education, according to the Institute of International Education. The U.S.-based institute's most recent figures reveal that mainland Chinese students increased 23% to more than 723,000 in the 2010-11 academic year.
過去的十年，大陸學生重塑了美國大學機構的學生比例，尤其是常青藤名校聯盟。美國國際教育研究所指出，2009-2010學年，中國留學生數量超過了傳統的對美學生輸出大國，如加拿大、印度和韓國，在全美高等教育國際學生中遙遙領先。該研究所最新數據顯示，大陸學生在2010-2011學年數量已漲至723,000人，增幅高達23%。

A rising generation of affluent students
崛起的新一代富學生

While Chinese students traditionally went abroad when they failed to secure a place at a top-tier local university, the best students are now forgoing elite Chinese universities to study in the United States, according to Lin, now academic director of Ivy Labs Education, an admissions consultancy in Beijing.
林說，曾經中國學生出國是因爲沒能夠考上清華北大，現在最好的學生也不留戀北大清華了，他們更想去美國讀書。林現在是北京一家出國諮詢公司常青藤實驗教育的學術總監。

Many Chinese are seeking a higher quality of education that will train them to become independent and creative, he said, and they see the world's top-ranked universities are in the United States.
他說，很多的中國人希望能夠接受到幫助他們變得更獨立、更有創造力的、高品質的教育。在他們眼中，世界頂尖的大學都在美國。

China's economic reforms and "opening-up" that began in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping gave rise to the first major generation of students, who were generally reliant on scholarships to study in the United States, according to Chen Shuangye, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Department of Educational Administration and Policy.
香港中文大學教育行政與政策學系助理教授陳霜葉老師指出，1978年的改革開放政策締造了新一代的學生，那一代的赴美留學生主要依靠的是獎學金。

Coinciding with China's rapid economic growth, a distinctive second generation emerged in the mid-1990s comprising much more affluent students, Chen said. "There is a great increase in the phenomenon because (mainland Chinese) don't rely on scholarships anymore."
隨着中國經濟的快速發展，90年代中葉出現了第二代學生，他們要比前一代富有得多。陳說：“中國赴美留學生的增多主要是因爲（大陸的）學生不再需要依靠獎學金出國了。”

Starting early at boarding schools
寄宿學校早起的鳥

The factors driving mainland Chinese to study in the United States come into play much earlier, Lin said, noting an influx of foreign Chinese students into private U.S. secondary schools, starting around 2005.
“影響中國學生赴美的因素在大學之前就起作用了，”林說，“從2005年起，中國赴美國私立高中留學的學生出現大幅增加。”

Chinese parents send their children to private U.S. high schools as a "strategic decision" to strengthen their candidacy for elite U.S. universities, Lin said. A growing number also want their children to lead happier lives rather than have them consumed by preparing for the "gaokao" in China -- the one-time, high-stakes national university entrance examination that is the sole determinant of admission.
“中國家長將就讀美國私立高中當做是敲開美國頂尖大學的叩門磚。“他說，”同時越來越多的人希望自己的孩子能夠過上更快樂的生活，而不是被那一次性高風險的高考蹉跎時光，是否通過高考是決定中國學生是否能進入大學的唯一因素。”

"The goal of education in mainland China is to prepare you to take the gaokao. Everything else is secondary. In China, you would put the gaokao in the American education, you put the student in the center, and everything else serves the best interests of the student. It's not exclusively about (getting into) college."
“大陸教育的目標就是應試。其他都是次要的。在中國高考就是一切的中心。但是美國的教育是以學生爲中心的，一切都是以學生的利益爲重的，而不僅僅只是爲了考上大學。”

While U.S. boarding schools desire Chinese students both for their dollars and diversity, they walk a "very fine it comes to recruiting Chinese students," said Lin, who assisted with admissions during his tenure teaching at Connecticut's Cheshire Academy.
林表示：“美國寄宿學校因利潤和多樣性的需要，很歡迎中國學生，但是於此同時在錄取的時候，分寸還是相當難以把握。 ”林在康乃迪克的柴郡學院教書的時候，曾做過招生助手。

Boarding schools typically admit four to five students of any foreign nationality per grade level, with international students comprising up to 20% of the overall student body, Lin said. With about 100 students for each of the four grade levels, this means admitting a maximum of 20 mainland Chinese, or five percent of the student body.
“一般來說，寄宿學校每個年級會錄取4-5名任何外國國籍的學生，國際學生佔學生總數的最多達20%。” 林說：“ 4個年級每個年級學生100人，也就是說，其中最多可錄取20個大陸學生，等於學生總數的5%。”

China similarly dominates international enrollment at other Ivy League schools, including Yale and Princeton.
同樣的，中國學生在其他常春藤學校國際學生中也佔據了主要地位，包括耶魯和普林斯頓。

"International students are seen very favorably as whole, as a way to diversify and really become a global institution," said Rachel Rubin, a lecturer at Boston's Emmanuel College and a specialist in higher education admissions policy.
波斯頓伊曼紐爾學院講師、高等教育招生政策專家瑞秋-魯賓表示：“國際學生被看做是個整體，他們讓學校更加的多元，學校因而真正地成爲一個國際學府。”

"Also economically -- it's very advantageous for elite schools to admit international students because the bulk of them can pay full tuition," she added. As such, there is "a lot of favoritism" toward such students, as financial aid budgets have been cut over the last decade, she said.
“此外經濟上來講，錄取國際學生對頂尖高校很有利，因爲他們大多數可以全額支付學費。”她補充道。“因此，隨着過去十年財政資助不斷的削減，這樣的學生也越來越得到偏愛。”Limits to international enrollment at U.S. universities
對美國大學錄取國際學生的限制

But while mainland Chinese students dominate international enrollment, they comprise a small fraction of the overall student body. This is even more the case at the undergraduate level, as most international students are graduates.
儘管大陸學生佔據了國際學生的大多數，但是就總體學生比例而言還是小部分，在本科階段更是如此，大部分的國際學生是研究生。

Harvard has "no quotas or limits for international students," according to Harvard spokesperson Kevin Galvin. "All students are considered in the same pool for all places in the incoming class, regardless of citizenship or the school they attend."
據哈佛大學發言人凱文-蓋爾文說，哈佛並不限制國際學生或對其有任何特殊照顧。所有的學生，不管國籍如何，上的是什麼樣的學校，一概平等考慮。

Rubin said she has not come across evidence of undergraduate quotas for international students but found it was standard practice for top-ranked schools to assess them as a separate pool rather than with the entire pool of applicants.
魯賓說她並有發現本科階段有什麼明顯的國際學生配額，但是將他們與其他的申請人分開來評估是很普遍的做法。

Some U.S. colleges and universities aim to recruit an undergraduate cohort with around 10% international students, according to Susan Joan Mauriello, founder of the Hong-Kong-based ApplyIvy consultancy, adding that the percentage depends on the strength of the applicant pool.
據香港Appylvy留學諮詢公司創始人蘇珊-瓊-馬里奧表示，有些美國大學的目標是錄取接近10%的國際學生，“這個比例取決於具體申請的情況，” 她還補充道。

Bringing U.S. education to China
把美國教育帶到中國

As U.S. campuses cannot fully support the demand from China, Lin sees an opportunity in bringing international education to China, beginning at the secondary level.
既然美國的校園並不能完全的滿足中國學生的需要，林覺得從高中開始，將美國教育待到中國是個很好的機會。

The trend can already be seen in U.S. universities establishing local degree-granting branches. Next September, New York University will welcome its first undergraduate cohort at its new Shanghai campus.
這個趨勢已初見端倪，一些美國大學已開始設立可以授予學位的外國分支。明年九月，紐約大學將在其上海校區迎來第一批的本科生。

"Instead of sending Chinese students to secondary schools in America or other foreign countries, we want to bring international curriculum into China so they don't need to travel outside the country," Lin said. He helps local high schools incorporate international systems, such as the International Baccalaureate and A-Levels, alongside Chinese curriculum.
“相較於把中國的學生送到美國或者其他國家去讀高中，我們希望能夠把國際化的課程引入中國，這樣他們就不用千里迢迢跑到美國去了。”林說。他還致力於幫助當地高中引入國際體系，除了傳統的中文課程之外，還包括國際文憑課程和英國高中課程。

Students at these "Chinese versions of international schools" are typically Chinese nationals, who are restricted by government policy from attending full-fledged international schools, which cater to expatriates.
這些“中國版國際學校” 中的學生一般是本地中國人，受政府政策限制他們無法就讀完全意義上的國際學校，這些學校一般是爲外籍人員服務。

"My dream is to see international schools in China accessible to Chinese citizens and other nationalities together in the same school," Lin said. "That's the future."
“我的夢想是看到中國的學生有機會和其他國籍的學生在同一所國際學校裏上學，” 林說，“那纔是未來。”