The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television organized their first Los Angeles College Fair on Sept. 12. More than 50 educational institutions participated; including Harvard, Yale, the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania, Caltech, USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.
The event attracted more than 1,500 mainly ethnic Chinese students and parents.
Educational consulting companies also attended including Princeton Review, The Ivy Review, SAT Professionals, Chyten Educational Services, and others.
Owing to school performance and family income, among other factors, for the second consecutive year Business Week has picked the city of Arcadia as the "Best City to Raise Kids” in California.
Experts Shared Their Knowledge to Benefit Both Students and Parents
Tina (who preferred not to give her surname), a parent who attended the fair, said, “In this educational fair, I saw more children than parents. It is not easy to take a child to come here. But the children can give parents strength. For those parents who have poor English skills, they should come often to these kinds of activities, which will help them to absorb and learn more.”
Although the educational consultants spoke to the attendees in English, a simultaneous translation was provided for parents who only speak Chinese.
Tina, who has been living in the United States more than 20 years, found the simultaneous translation quite valuable.
“Some people describe Chinese immigrants in the United States as people who have just moved from Mainland China to a smaller version of China (Chinese communities). They need to be properly guided out of their own circle and into the mainstream society. Only having knowledge and general information is not enough; they must have knowledgeable experience. Today, the [educational] experts talked about a lot of knowledgeable experience, which amounted to constructive social education.”
He said, “In Harvard’s classrooms, 15 percent of the students wear glasses and are like Albert Einstein – the genius type. Another 15 percent are students such as the Olympic athletes or those with special talents who open a company and make a lot of money even before graduating from high school. The remaining 70 percent are in general, excellent, outstanding students. These students must demonstrate enthusiasm for learning on both their personal statement and interview. When we interview a student, I imagine how he or she would interact with other students in the Harvard cafeteria because the exchange between students is a time for inspiration.”
The University of Chicago was another top-ranking school at the college fair, and Alumni Association member Michael Mahern manned its booth.
Mahern feels that, although society has changed dramatically in recent decades, the University of Chicago still maintains a traditional style.
“This is not a place to train athletes. In this university, we learn critical thinking skills and the desire to explore concepts. Regardless of your major, simultaneously, students are required to take other elective courses to learn and understand other fields, and to learn how to think critically, so that after graduation one can engage in any occupation.”
Mahern is a good example of this approach. He decided to pursue an MBA after graduating in 1972, and he is now a playwright.
His interest in theater and writing spawned from participating in a film group while at the University of Chicago.
Finally, Mahern said, “Although the University of Chicago is not as famous as Harvard, we attract the serious student.”
John Wu, who worked as a student recruiter for China Institute of Science and Technology before coming to the United States, is still passionate about university education, and in his spare time he volunteers as a middle school counselor.
After hearing about the college fair, he and five other parents traveled over 50 miles from Westlake Village to attend.
He said, “The competition to attend the best universities in the United States and China is equally intense; however, in China, college acceptance is solely based on scores on the college entrance exam. For American colleges, only 60 percent of the decision is based on academics, while other considerations are based on your leadership, sports and arts skills, and other areas of development. These are soft standards and are very subjective.”
