Chinese interest in entering US high schools has grown so much in recent years that schools have had to raise their thresholds for candidates.

The number of Chinese students at private US high schools rose more than 100 times, from 65 in 2005 to 6,725 in 2010, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

The Association of Boarding Schools, a nonprofit association in the US, estimates that its 257 member schools have places for nearly 14,500 international students, 27 percent of which are currently occupied by Chinese students.

Steve Banks, director of operations for the association, said: "We have a few schools whose total boarding population is predominately Chinese, exceeding 60 percent."

He estimates that international boarders, on average, make up 30 percent of the entire boarding school population. Approximately 8 percent of all boarding students, international and domestic, are Chinese.

"In the year 2005, when I began to place my main emphasis on high school applicants, my friends in other agencies thought it was a stupid idea because the market was really small then," said Shi Yiru, general manager of the Shanghai office of Haiyi Immigration and Education Group, a Canadian immigration company.

"As Chinese families become rich, more and more parents send their children abroad as early as possible, to have a better chance of enrolling in top US universities," Shi said.

Shi has organized meetings for US high schools and Chinese students and parents every year since 2005. At first, only five US schools sent representatives to the meetings. Seventy came in 2006.

"The year 2009 and 2010 saw the most schools attending the fair. But in the last two years, the schools' interest waned because most of them already had too many Chinese students," Shi said.

"Most boarding schools want diversity among their international students. They do not want students from any country to dominate the population.

"There are only around 200 boarding schools opening their doors to Chinese students, with 300 to 400 students each. There are more day schools, though, but parents always worry about children's safety if they live off-campus."

F. Shawn Thielker, director of admissions and marketing at Coyle and Cassidy School in Taunton, Massachusetts, told China Daily about the competition between Chinese applicants.

"Between this year and last year, we have had more than 55 Chinese students apply for 15 spots, and I continue to receive phone calls on a weekly basis," Thielker said.

Thielker was invited by placement agencies to attend high school fairs throughout China - five different fairs in five different cities in 2011.

"On three different occasions this year, parents from China have flown to our country to personally visit our school. That alone speaks volumes of the success we are experiencing - along with the students' success - and is a perfect example of the word of mouth that is taking place," Thielker said.

The school has a "rigorous" screening process and tries to accept students with strong English, academic and social skills.

"Every student must go through one, two or maybe three different Skype interviews addressing questions that I prepare after reviewing their application. I also look for students who participate in extracurricular activities. This is very important to me because we want our international students to become involved with our school. American students are very involved."

Gan Xiaoying, who has a 15-year-old son in Chongqing, traveled throughout the US and Europe looking for a perfect high school for her son.

"My goal is to send my son to a top university, so I want him to integrate into Western culture as early as possible," Gan said.

Now her son, Yang Dongdong, is studying temporarily at a local high school while his mother packs to go off and look for high schools in Australia.

Luo Wangshu contributed to this story.

Please contact the writer at chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn