Let me share with you the inquiry by a rich Chinese friend considering to send her daughter to attend Stanford University or UC Berkeley and the suggestions I have just provided to him.

Let me share with you the inquiry by a rich Chinese friend considering to send her daughter to attend Stanford University or UC Berkeley and the suggestions I have just provided to him.

我和你分享我剛剛回答一位中國有錢朋友的女兒想來美國讀書的問題.

Stanford 大學用關係入校機會極微, 要靠實力. 已經有人要用關係給錢被判刑. 另一可能是捐款, 但Stanford 錢太多, 除非是捐千萬美元否則也不用想. 我有不小中國朋友孩子進入名校但讀一些沒用的本科. 當然如果是富二代, 那個學位祇是用來出出風頭, 這些人多的是來到美國天天吸毒, 交交男女朋友, party 等等, 十年也不畢業, 也不回國的職業學生.

UC Berkeley 是州立大學, 走後門的機會不大.

今天美國那麼仇中, 來美國風險高. 那天時運不濟, 分分鐘沒命.

美國現在快速走下坡, 萬一你女兒定居美國, 你不擔心你的女兒也要擔心你的孫子的將來, 沒有將來!

今天美國已經不是二十年前的美國, 外強中乾. 當美元不再是世界貨幣是, 就是美國走向死亡像羅馬帝國的開始. 最快15年, 最慢30年內發生. 到時你女兒是48歲吧. 到時她回國也無門.

你要三思，再三思.

Stanford University has very little chance of entering the school by relationship, and it depends on student academic standing and other non-academic requirements. Some people have already been sentenced to jail for using illegal relationship and bribery. Another possibility is donation, but Stanford has too much money, unless it is a donation of ten millions or more, otherwise you don’t have to think about it. I have a lot of China Friends’ children enter prestigious schools but do some useless undergraduate studies. Of course, if they are a rich second-generation, that degree is just for showing off. Many of these people come to the United States to take illegal drugs every day, make boyfriend and girlfriend and parties, etc. They don’t even graduate for ten years. These professional students never graduate and don’t want to return to China.

UC Berkeley is a state university, so there is little chance of going through the back door.

Today the United States is so anti-Asians especially Chinese, the risk of living dangerously in the United States is high.

U.S. is rapidly going downhill. In case your daughter settles in the U.S., if you don’t worry about your daughter, but you need to worry about the future of your grandkids, there is little future for them!

Today the United States has not been the United States twenty years ago. It only looks strong from the outside. When the US dollar is no longer the world currency, it is the beginning of the steep decline of the United States like the Roman Empire. It will happen in 15 years at the earliest and 30 years at the latest. By then, your daughter will be 48 years old. She will be stuck. There will be no way for her to return to China.

You have to think twice, think twice.

Professor Ling-chi Wang of UC Berkeley: Hi, Johnson: Since some of the newly rich and inexperienced celebrities got caught trying to buy or game their ways into the better universities and colleges a few years ago, universities, both private and public, are more cautious and discreet in the ways they admit students from the rich, famous, and powerful families. Since Harvard, the very first college in North America, was founded in 1636. the game has always been and will continue to be in favor of the rich, famous, and powerful because that was how the system was built: to clone and reproduce themselves. To be sure, they will continue to admit outstanding students who will make important scientific discoveries and outstanding intellectual breakthroughs and help gain reputation for these institutions. But, these will be exceptions. The vast majority of students will continue to be the privileged ones from the rich, famous, and the powerful.

Aboishing the SAT tests will neither help achieve greater equality nor select “better qualified” students. For more than one hundred years, contrary to popular beliefs SAT tests were not used to help select better qualified applicants. Instead, they were used to turn away students from the poor and the working class and students deemed incapable of making contributions to the institutions. Universities know SAT tests are race and class bias and above all, they don’t help pick the best students. But, they are the most expedient and efficient schemes to justify rejection of thousands of students each year.

The admission scandals in the last few years exposed the corruption and unfairness in the meritocracy used by universities and colleges. It was embarrassing, but they did nothing to move the universities away from the use of biased criteria and procedures of admission to reproduce themselves. For example, legacy and athletic, the two larges cohorts admitted in the freshman class each year, remain unchanged and may even be expanding because both are important for generating revenues for the universities.

In short, don’t expect Stanford and Berkeley to rollback their commitment to these two revenue-generating schemes and the class and race bias built into these two programs.

Frank Mah in San Francisco: Hi, Johnson, Ling-chi, If the child of your friend has an interest to attend Stanford or Cal Berkeley, he or she should apply. Both universities are outstanding and can offer a quality education that few other universities can match. I had the opportunity to work for both universities and learned to compare the educational philosophy of both schools. Stanford is a top-down university with a strong administration. UC Berkeley is a relatively flat university with strong academic departments; their students are ultra competitive and keen to compete with their peers. Stanford views that getting a top quality education is only half of its objective. The other half is its residential education program, Stanford students tend to be more collegial, seeking to form friendships globally for life. Important to note that these are generalizations, as there are exceptions.

Currently AAPI students make up 34% of Berkeley’s student body. Around 27% for Stanford. The former is a more hostile campus due to the competitiveness of its students. Both universities seek to diversity its student body. Both seek to integrate its campuses, matching students base on what they can contribute to campus life. Less then 15% of Stanford’s student body can be deemed geniuses, but over 95% must meet high standards for admission. Donors and legacies, i.e., children of alumni, staff employees, and billionaires can make up 15-20% of its student body. Other factors include geographic location, i.e., urban vs rural; domestic vs foreign. These factors offers to make a rich environment for its students. More significantly, it’s the students aptitude to complete four years of high quality study in their respective field, which is what academics is all about. If a student wants to party, they should consider another school. It is a factor for Stanford to seek students from potential donors and rich families abroad. It’s also is a factor for them to consider legacies of important leaders, personalities, etc. to enrich the student campus experience. Imagine a poor farm boy/girl from Iowa hobnobbing with Madonna’s child, or a billionaires child from Burma. Of course, most people, for one reason or another, will consider this unfair. In the past, test scores and GPA were found to be reliable due to race, family income, and education; this has now been eliminated or reduced in weighing a student’s application compared to other significant factors, such as skills, accomplishments, leadership, diversity etc.

Chances are that your friend’s child will not make it into either school due to the vast number off applications it receives. I often will counsel family and friends on the admissions process and also help steer them to also seek alternatives that may better fit the academic objectives/aspirations of the student. Sometimes a local community college is a better fit for a student with low grades or lacking vision of his or her aspirations. Sometimes a school like Cal Tech or may offer a better choice for those who are research oriented in a particular field. It’s a little known fact that only half of college students complete their course of study w/o graduating. When I was matriculating at San Jose State University, I also had the opportunity to be an EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) Recruiter seeking educationally & economically disadvantaged students for college study.