A 20-minute documentary Why Do We Go Abroad? has recently become a surprise hit on the Internet, gleaning more than 130,000 hits on the video website Youku. It was especially surprising for its creator, 18-year-old He Jiaying, who has just graduated from Shanghai Luwan Middle School. This was her first ever film.

He Jiaying and her friends took three months to make the documentary using a rented camera. The film is a series of interviews with more than 30 Chinese teenagers who are going to study in the US or who have already been studying there. The young people talk about their choices, their feelings about living in a different environment and life after graduating.

The documentary has undeniably hit a nerve. With the continuing waves of Chinese going to the US and other developed countries for further education, the average age of these students is growing younger and younger.

The Institute of International Education reported this year that the number of Chinese students arriving in the US to study totaled 157,558 between 2010 and 2011 (48.8 percent were postgraduates and 36.5 percent were there as undergraduates). Compared to the previous semester, the number of undergraduate students had increased by 42.7 percent, much more than the growth rate of 15.6 percent for postgraduate students. It's expected that the number of Chinese undergraduates in the US will soon surpass the number of Chinese postgraduates in the country.

Given that the basic cost for four years of education and living in the US is about 1.5 million yuan ($236,488), almost all of the young undergraduates studying in the US have been nicknamed the "Rich Second Generation." Trying to give a clear picture of who they really are and the kind of lives they lead abroad, He Jiaying and her friends, who have just started their studies in the US, decided to shoot a series of documentaries to record their experiences.

The first documentary of the series, Why Do We Go Abroad? (completed before these young people set out for the US), has created some debate with many critics suggesting the students are just showing off their opulent lifestyles although others have applauded their ingenuity. Behind the arguments, however, there is another debate about the very different education modes in China and abroad, and the choices students and parents these days make.

A late decision

The filmmaker He Jiaying has dreamt of becoming an air hostess or an artist. She moved to Shanghai with her family from Xinjiang when she was a fourth grader. It was not until the second semester in grade 11 that she decided to try to study at a US college.

Apparently this was leaving it very late to decide to study abroad because of the complexities involved in finding a college, sitting the exams and tests, presenting a thesis and completing the difficult application procedure. The deadline for applying for a place in an American college beginning its semester in fall is usually by the end of December a year before, half a year before China's gaokao (college entrance exams) in June.

Unlike many others, He Jiaying had an advantage: she had won a prize in a city biology competition. This meant she could be enrolled at a college in China without having to sit the gaokao. Most other applicants don't have a backup Chinese college to attend if their application to study in the US fails. But they have to make a crucial decision about their future study during the second semester in grade 11 at the latest. The worst outcome could leave them without an academic future at least for a year after they leave senior high school.

Di Wei, a Hubei girl, is a case in point. She missed out on a position in a suitable university in the US and did not sit the gaokao. But she hasn't given up and in the past year after leaving high school she has been considering her options. She has worked as an intern at the Shanghai Chamber of International Commerce and traveled throughout China. Her experiences have made her even more determined to go and study in the US.

Complicated to complete

It's hard to sit the gaokao even with experienced teachers offering advice and plenty of support from family and friends. But neither is it easy for applicants wanting to go and study in the US since they have to consider the huge variety of institutions, the tests required and the application strategies needed.

The exams that applicants face include TOEFL (the Test of English as a Foreign Language), an internationally-recognized exam, SAT, the standard US college admission test and the AP, Advanced Placement. Although AP is not a must, many applicants take AP subjects to demonstrate their all-round abilities. Di Wei took seven AP exams including physics, statistics, European history, macro- and micro-economics.

Chinese students are famous for achieving high scores in these tests. Now some US colleges are raising the minimum levels for Chinese applicants in these tests and this has led to new forms of competition. Some students are now sitting the same exam several times to improve their scores - when they actually apply they only include their highest score. This has made TOEFL particularly popular on the mainland. Di Wei has sat TOEFL four times. Reportedly most Chinese applicants try for scores above 100 points (the maximum possible mark is 120 points), which is much higher than most American schools require.

The SATs, which are compulsory for admission to American colleges, are more of a challenge for mainland applicants who can only take the test in Hong Kong, Macao or other overseas venues - it's not available on the mainland. There are six exams offered every year. Mainland students go by themselves or with friends to sit the tests in Hong Kong or Macao or join organized "SAT trips." The maximum score possible is 2,400 points and Chinese students now regard 2,000 points as the baseline with many trying to secure around 2,200 points.

Presenting personalities

For many Chinese students it's a new experience in not only having to express themselves in writing but having to do so in interviews with college admission officers. Many discover then that American college admission panelists highly value a candidate's personality.

The admission agencies can provide some guidelines for applicants in this regard but it's easy for experienced admission officers to tell if someone has been coached.

Luo Wenrui, a graduate from the No.1 High School Affiliated to East China Normal University, is a shy girl. But she got through the admission procedures because she had tried something out of the ordinary. She has been successfully enrolled at Wellesley College, the alma mater of Hilary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Soong Ching-ling.

Luo worked hard on her application. In her personal statement she talked about a sailing race she took part in when she was a ninth grader. She was not doing so well with her studies back then and had failed her zhongkao (senior high school enrollment exams). In her application she described taking part in the race as a new start for her. Her self-motivating experience and the fact that she talked positively about sailing, a popular sport in the West, she believed played an important role in her being admitted.

Another student, Luo Ruiqi, who graduated from Shenzhen Middle School in 2010, had a surprising boost for his college application. He had scored comparatively low marks in the TOEFL and SAT tests and, after being rejected by almost all the colleges he applied for, he adjusted his strategy.

In his personal statement, he emphasized how he had worked on a school magazine, which had been the subject of a story in the China News Weekly. In November that year, Luo Ruiqi met Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former writer for the Wall Street Journal. Johnson was enthusiastic about Luo's efforts in running the school magazine and wrote a personal reference for him. This led eventually to Luo being enrolled at Hampshire College with most of his tuition fees being subsidized.

After assembling all the documents needed for their applications, students send these to the colleges and universities they are interested in attending. On average, a student applies to at least 10 schools.

Overseas study agencies give guidance throughout the procedure but charge between 30,000 and 50,000 yuan - the rates charged by consultants vary a lot. If a student does win a place at one of the major universities, the agency involved often charges an extra fee. Taking into account the tests, travel, application and agency costs, the entire procedure does require a fortune.

During the lengthy process, however, many of these young people just aged 17 or 18, discover their strengths and weaknesses and often, during this period, they begin to consider their possible career paths. "When I saw the barriers outside the schools where I took the tests to apply for an American college, I know that they were marking different paths for me and my classmates. They'll fight to get into a good Chinese college and then for a decent job. I'm much luckier as I'll have the chance to enjoy many different experiences," Di Wei said.

He Jiaying said that the application procedure enabled her to meet many interesting people. "I felt different after this. I have a new understanding of myself and the world. I have more time and energy to explore what I really need."

Both He Jiaying and Di Wei have been admitted to the University of California, San Diego and have started their new lives there.

Online inspiration

Although the successful applicants from China are scattered across cities and states throughout the US, there is an online connection for them all. The CUUS (Chinese Undergraduates in the US) website was created 10 years ago by Chinese college students in the US. Here people can access application strategies and experiences shared by others, learn how to prepare applications and get tips for the tests or read inspiring personal stories.

On the website these young students encourage each other, provide information and revise each other's personal statements. Importantly it reassures them that they are not on their own.

In March every year the colleges and universities in the US send out their acceptance letters and successful students can begin to relax for a while. This March He Jiaying had the idea about filming a documentary about students like herself. She announced her plan on CUUS, Weibo and Renren, a social networking website, seeking volunteers and participants.

This led to He Jiaying meeting Di Wei, who became her partner in the documentary project. The scheme cost He more than 3,000 yuan personally. She had tried to get sponsors but only one educational organization offered a small sum of money. Her crew interviewed more than 30 students - some about to set out for colleges in the US, some who have already been there for one or two years, some who have finished their studies, and some parents.

In the film it is these young vibrant people who are explaining why they have given up a Chinese tradition, why they deserted the gaokao, and how they fought through many difficulties to study in the US. Gu Zi, who is enrolled at New York University, said: "The point is really about me experiencing other cultures and expanding my vision."

Some in China, however, criticize these students describing them as soldiers fleeing from the gaokao battlefield. But they don't agree. "Gaokao is too painful. I don't want to go through learning the same stuff over and over again for a year and then totally forget about all of it two years later. It's simply a personal choice not to take gaokao," said Lu Zhekai, who is now attending the University of Southern California.

Xing Hao, a student at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is even more outspoken. He said four years at university in China could be a waste of time and he couldn't afford to waste this golden period of his youth. Usually in American colleges over the first two years students receive a broad-based education covering many different fields and they choose their majors after this. It's comparatively easy for them to change a major.

Modern society is giving the younger generations more choices and some of them now believe that the old adage "Gaokao decides one's fate" no longer applies. He Jiaying and Di Wei have begun life on campus in the US. They said that they will certainly be looking for part-time jobs to help pay for their living expenses and they also want to buy a car - He Jiaying already has a driver's license. They know well that the money their parents have was not easily earned and they don't want to be known as members of the "Rich Second Generation."

Di Wei has dreamed of becoming an architect. But she has chosen to major in psychology. Luo Wenrui hasn't decided a major yet. She once considered teaching foreigners Chinese. Perhaps, she thinks, she will major in international relations and one day in the future could be speaking from a podium at the UN just like Hilary Clinton who once attended her current school.

Unlike many Chinese students, these young people abroad have to take responsibility for themselves and draft their futures at an earlier age. Although the documentary Why Do We Go Abroad? doesn't answer the question exactly, He Jiaying said that it offers insights into the thinking and the confidence of these students studying in the US. She will follow five of them through their college years to produce a series of documentaries. It helps that He Jiaying's father has offered to provide a camera.

"I think that when I graduate I will return to my home country. I'll bring back new concepts and thoughts, which I believe will be helpful for society," she said.

Compiled from the Bund Pictorial