Bridging Cultural Differences in College Selection and Application: Incorporating College Selection into a Language Curriculum for Chinese Students

In the last 20 years, more and more Chinese high school graduates have applied to American colleges. They want to study in this country because the Chinese higher education system cannot meet the needs of China's huge population. This article talks about a seven-month, pre-college program hosted by the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania between 2001-2002. The purpose of the program was to train a group of Chinese high school graduates, who were seeking opportunities in higher education in the United States. The framework of the curriculum was built around comprehensive language training, especially in preparation for the TOEFL and SAT tests, college academic life and American culture in general. At the beginning of the program, a project was designed to teach students to select and apply to an American college. The project combined acquiring cultural knowledge with learning a language. The main component of this 10-hour project was a series of Chinese student interviews with a group of American college students, who had been through the process of college selection, application and admission. The students learned to critique their existing knowledge of American college culture and to make decisions based on the critical analyses of factors involved in college selection and application. Students also had an opportunity to experience authentic, spontaneous and conversational English. At the end of the project, all students began the college selection and application processes. By the end of the pre-college program, all respective universities where students applied accepted them.