A Beijing educational event held by US boarding schools draws a crowd of teenagers and parents. Zhou Min / For China Daily

More and more Chinese students are getting a head start on study abroad by enrolling in private US high schools, Yu Wei reports in New York.

Dozens of teenage boys and girls wearing the business-casual uniform of an elite Manhattan prep school rush into the cafeteria on a recent afternoon, boisterously chatting. It's an unremarkable scene that could play out at any private institution charged with educating the children of well-to-do Americans.

But these students are Chinese, which becomes evident even from a distance since their conversation is exclusively in Mandarin.

They're enrolled at Leman Manhattan Preparatory School, in New York's financial district.

Among the group is Sun Yihao, a 17-year-old from Shanghai who is a junior in Leman's high school (there also are primary- and middle-school programs).

Leman is good preparation for studying at a US university, says Sun, who dreams of being admitted to Princeton.

"I don't like China's grueling education system, which involves tons of homework and exams. I like the US style of education," he says.

Sun and his classmates are part of a rapidly growing trend. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, only 65 Chinese students were enrolled in private US high schools during the 2005-2006 academic year. By 2010-2011, the number reached 6,725.

"The location is great; I think it will be good for my future," Sun says in a classroom just blocks from Wall Street itself and landmarks such as the New York Stock Exchange and the bronze Charging Bull sculpture.

He hopes to major in finance at Princeton.

Most of the other Chinese at Leman also plan to go to US colleges and universities, Sun says.

Those institutions have seen enrollment from China rise 23 percent this year, to 190,000, or a quarter of all of their international students, according to Open Doors, published annually by the Institute of International Education and the US State Department.

Leman's 40 international boarders live in a school-run dormitory at 37 Wall St, a luxury building anchored by jeweler Tiffany & Co on the ground floor.

Their education experience isn't cheap. The cost for an international student who boards at Leman is $68,000 a year including tuition.

Sun Yihao, a junior at Leman's high school in downtown Manhattan, is confident his US academic experience will prepare him for admission to Princeton University. Yu Wei / China Daily

"Compared to my high school in China, the cost is high. But my parents are 100 percent supportive," says Sun, who previously attended a Shanghai private school where the annual tuition of 110,000 yuan ($17,500) was far more expensive than a Chinese public high school.

On average, the total cost (tuition plus room and board) of attending a private boarding school in the New York metropolitan area is $46,875 for the 2011-2012 academic year, according to the National Association of Independent Schools. That's about $2,000 above the median cost per year for all US private boarding schools.

"It's expensive, but when you live on Wall Street, the cost of apartments and the cost of living are huge," says Drew Alexander, head of school at Leman, which opened its doors in 2005.

With teenagers, many of them from other countries, in the school's charge amid the concrete canyons of lower Manhattan, there are a number of safety measures in place.

For one, students must have their school-assigned mobile phone with them when they sign out, and they are allowed to leave their dorm only in groups of three or more.

To earn the freedom to explore their immediate environs, Leman students must pass a series of tests - take a walking tour of the neighborhood, demonstrate a working knowledge of the New York City transit system and attend a safety presentation by the police department.

This year, 30 of Leman's international boarding students are Chinese; the other 10 are from Italy, Russia, Germany, South Korea and Turkey.

For Sun, the prevalence of so many compatriots can be frustrating.

"I can't practice my English well enough when there are so many Chinese classmates around," he complains.

To address this, the school has established an English-as-a-second-language, or ESL, program that extends beyond regular classroom hours.

"In reality, students spend most of their day in an English context - taking classes in English, socializing with American students, doing homework in English," says Brylee Maxfield, communications manager at Leman.

She points out that New York's diversity provides students many opportunities to step outside their comfort zones and experience many other languages and cultures.

Besides its extended ESL services, the school also provides at least one Mandarin-speaking instructor to translate for Chinese students when they're struggling to understand something in class.

According to the Association of Boarding Schools, about 5,600 students from China enrolled in its 285 member schools in the US this academic year. Each school has an average of about 20 Chinese students, a number that has increased steadily for nearly a decade.

"Having many students from a single country or language group can be challenging," says Pete Upham, executive director of the North Carolina-based association, which also represents schools in Canada and other countries.

"Families from China or any country are sending their kids to US boarding schools in part to have a Western experience," he says.

"If there are a large number of students from their home country, it begins to take the shine off the appeal of these places."

The Chinese student body at US boarding schools appears to be nearing a plateau, Upham says.

"I do expect that next year there still will be more Chinese students, but I think the rate of growth is slowing considerably."

The reason isn't demand, which remains high. Instead, schools are nearly at capacity for absorbing all the Chinese students they can, given their desire to have a diverse student population.

Many US boarding schools are nonetheless putting more resources into recruiting from China.

Administrators at Squaw Valley Academy, on the California (western) side of Lake Tahoe, recently visited Chinese high schools to promote their institution, which caters to foreign as well as American students.

According to Squaw Valley admissions director Adrienne Forbes, the school has received many applications from China since it began enrolling Chinese students in 2006.

To better serve this growing population, the California school now offers meals each week that are Chinese-inspired and organizes Chinese cultural activities every Friday.

"The students enjoy a Chinese dinner, play games of mahjong and watch Chinese videos," Forbes says.

"We offer many opportunities for our Chinese students to have a shared cultural experience with their Chinese friends and with students from all nations on campus."

Contact the writer at yuwei12@chinadailyusa.com.

(China Daily 12/24/2012 page20)