American pair put Chinese students on the right track with US education

China Daily

Take a typical high school student in Beijing who grew up in the Chinese test-focused system. He played the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument commonly studied among his peers, planned to major in math in college, a subject in which Chinese students are known to excel, and anticipated a career in finance.

He also regarded his passion for folk rock as just an unorthodox outlet to his otherwise standard student career.

But as he began planning his college applications to study in the United States, the college consulting business that helped him apply encouraged him to weave his passion for music into his personal essay. They encouraged him to make his after-school rock club official, as a stronger point on his resume. Their efforts helped him stand out among the increasing number of Chinese students like him trying to study in the US and landed him a spot at New York University.

Following the vein of his application process during his freshman year, this student ventured into a couple of music classes and eventually declared himself a music major. This summer, he will intern at a music company in New York - and his parents are opening to the idea that you do not have to get into Julliard to make a career out of music. This story was one of the most fulfilling success stories for Andrew Sohn and Michael Novielli, who co-founded their own college consulting business in Beijing two years ago.