NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Each year, China gathers more than 300 of its smartest high school seniors in Hangzhou, and Douglas Christiansen is there to tell them why they should consider attending Vanderbilt University.
Last week, 100 of them chose to hear a pitch from Christiansen, Vanderbilt’s dean of admissions, over recruiters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In flawless, formal English, the students peppered Christiansen with questions for more than an hour.
“Will you take into account that we do not choose our own curriculum?”
“How do we promote ourselves in essays?”
“What should our letters of recommendation say?”
Any one of them could become part of Vanderbilt’s 2011 freshman class, moving the school toward Christiansen’s goal of 7 percent international undergraduate enrollment by 2014.
Universities in Middle Tennessee are working harder to attract first-year students from overseas setting enrollment goals, adding positions and hiring recruiting companies. All cite the same reason: In a global economy, it makes sense to form early relationships with future decision-makers. Public universities have an added financial incentive: International students’ tuition and fees can be three times as much as in-state.
