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A teacher at a special-purpose high school operating an international program for students who want to study overseas sighed heavily when he saw the score sheet of his students¡¯ admissions tests at American universities this year. It showed that the number of his students who were admitted to Ivy League schools including Harvard University dwindled sharply compared with last year. Yet this year's graduates ¡°performed better than last year's,¡± he says. ¡°More students sent applications to prestigious U.S. universities than last year. That's why I was so disappointed."
The Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. a leading high school, was the first in the country to start an international program in 1998. But no students graduating from the school were admitted to Harvard or Yale this year. In 2007, two were admitted to Harvard and Yale respectively, and four to Princeton. But this year, only two were admitted to Princeton. Overall, only 22 of Minjok Leadership Academy graduating students were accepted to Ivy League schools this year, down from 24 in 2007.
According to a Wall Street Journal report in late 2007, Daewon Foreign Language High School ranked 13th among high schools that sent the most students to prestigious American universities. But this year, no Daewon graduates were accepted at Harvard. A total of 131 graduating students applied for admission to American universities, a sharp increase from 78 in 2007, but the number accepted to Ivy League schools fell to 27, down from 36 in 2007.
Teachers at schools and private tutoring institutes say the number of Korean students at prestigious American universities has already reached saturation point. An official with Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies said, "Many prestigious American universities have set quotas for foreign students. Too many Korean students had been accepted there until recently, so they may have felt the need to adjust the quotas."
As of late 2005, the number of Korean students at Harvard University was 29, followed by Chinese (25) and Indians (18), according to a report released by the Office of International Programs at Harvard University. According to a similar report on the number of foreign undergraduates at Yale the same year, Korean students topped the list with 29, also followed by Chinese (27) and Indians (21). Stanford University accepted 35 Korean students last year, the largest group of foreign students at the university.
Some pundits say too many students are preparing to study overseas, in the U.S. in particular. A teacher in charge of an international program at a foreign language high school said, "The newest foreign language high schools have introduced international programs for students who want to study overseas. Feeling challenged, other special-purpose high schools have also increased student quotas for international programs. As a result, about 15 percent more students than last year are currently studying under such programs."
At the moment, most of the 15 foreign language high schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province are operating Study-in-the U.S. programs. The newest have now produced their first graduates -- Myongji Foreign Language High School in 2007 and Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies in 2008. All of the 94 graduating students of the international program at Hankuk were accepted at American universities this year.
A teacher at a foreign language high school in Gyeonggi Province said, "The leading special-purpose high schools, such as the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy and Daewon Foreign Language High School will now have much less of an advantage although they started international programs ahead of others."
Teachers at some private institutes say some Korean foreign language high schools sometimes speak ill of their rival Korean schools behind their back amid fierce competition in the U.S., and that may have lowered the regard in which Korean schools in general are held by American universities.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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