Shanghai is the commercial showplace of modern mainland China, a gleaming capital of the global economy with 23 million souls—relatively few of whom can play “Scotland the Brave” on the Highland pipes.
“I don’t know if I’m the only one,” says Chen Gu, class of ‘11. “But I never knew such things existed before I came to Macalester.”
A Shanghai native from a “family of big science nerds,” Gu was in high school when he decided that attending college in America was critical to his career plans, particularly after seeing family friends make their fortunes as investment bankers and high tech entrepreneurs in the States. “I also liked the idea of being able to talk to faculty members, and learn other things while focusing on science,” he says.
Since the traditional college driving tour was out of the question from 13 times zones away, Gu arrived at Macalester for the first time in the fall of 2007 knowing little more about the campus and its character than what he’d read in the ranking books of U.S. colleges. With a late grandfather who had taught at the University of Minnesota during the 1970s, Gu says Minnesota wasn’t “a completely foreign concept,” but nearly everything else turned out to be.
Attending the orientation session Mac offers for international students, Gu noticed he had “little common ground” with students from other countries, many of them seasoned globe-trotters from the United World College system, “who seemed even more American than the Americans I was meeting.” Good scores on the SAT and TOEFL didn’t do much for his pop culture currency, or make it possible to keep pace with conversation in classroom discussions. Boarding school in Shanghai had also left him unprepared him for American dorm life, where the drinking, access to drugs and decidedly un-studious behavior he saw came as an initial shock. “That whole first semester was pretty miserable,” Gu recalls.
Four years later, Gu is wrapping up his last summer in St. Paul, leaving campus with a degree in chemistry and a series of department awards, a girlfriend from Texas, a resume with prestigious research experience at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, and a reputation as a bagpiper to watch as he begins his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“He’s been one of our great success stories,” says Steve Colee, director of international admissions, who has followed Gu’s journey closely to see if it offers any clues about how colleges like Macalester can serve the fastest-growing demographic on college campuses—students from China.
Read the rest here: Shanghai is the commercial showplace of modern mainland China, a gleaming capital of the global economy with 23 million souls—relatively few of whom can play “Scotland the Brave” on the Highland pipes.
“I don’t know if I’m the only one,” says Chen Gu, class of ‘11. “But I never knew such things existed before I came to Macalester.”
A Shanghai native from a “family of big science nerds,” Gu was in high school when he decided that attending college in America was critical to his career plans, particularly after seeing family friends make their fortunes as investment bankers and high tech entrepreneurs in the States. “I also liked the idea of being able to talk to faculty members, and learn other things while focusing on science,” he says.
Since the traditional college driving tour was out of the question from 13 times zones away, Gu arrived at Macalester for the first time in the fall of 2007 knowing little more about the campus and its character than what he’d read in the ranking books of U.S. colleges. With a late grandfather who had taught at the University of Minnesota during the 1970s, Gu says Minnesota wasn’t “a completely foreign concept,” but nearly everything else turned out to be.
Attending the orientation session Mac offers for international students, Gu noticed he had “little common ground” with students from other countries, many of them seasoned globe-trotters from the United World College system, “who seemed even more American than the Americans I was meeting.” Good scores on the SAT and TOEFL didn’t do much for his pop culture currency, or make it possible to keep pace with conversation in classroom discussions. Boarding school in Shanghai had also left him unprepared him for American dorm life, where the drinking, access to drugs and decidedly un-studious behavior he saw came as an initial shock. “That whole first semester was pretty miserable,” Gu recalls.
Four years later, Gu is wrapping up his last summer in St. Paul, leaving campus with a degree in chemistry and a series of department awards, a girlfriend from Texas, a resume with prestigious research experience at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, and a reputation as a bagpiper to watch as he begins his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“He’s been one of our great success stories,” says Steve Colee, director of international admissions, who has followed Gu’s journey closely to see if it offers any clues about how colleges like Macalester can serve the fastest-growing demographic on college campuses—students from China.
Shanghai is the commercial showplace of modern mainland China, a gleaming capital of the global economy with 23 million souls—relatively few of whom can play “Scotland the Brave” on the Highland pipes.
“I don’t know if I’m the only one,” says Chen Gu, class of ‘11. “But I never knew such things existed before I came to Macalester.”
A Shanghai native from a “family of big science nerds,” Gu was in high school when he decided that attending college in America was critical to his career plans, particularly after seeing family friends make their fortunes as investment bankers and high tech entrepreneurs in the States. “I also liked the idea of being able to talk to faculty members, and learn other things while focusing on science,” he says.
Since the traditional college driving tour was out of the question from 13 times zones away, Gu arrived at Macalester for the first time in the fall of 2007 knowing little more about the campus and its character than what he’d read in the ranking books of U.S. colleges. With a late grandfather who had taught at the University of Minnesota during the 1970s, Gu says Minnesota wasn’t “a completely foreign concept,” but nearly everything else turned out to be.
Attending the orientation session Mac offers for international students, Gu noticed he had “little common ground” with students from other countries, many of them seasoned globe-trotters from the United World College system, “who seemed even more American than the Americans I was meeting.” Good scores on the SAT and TOEFL didn’t do much for his pop culture currency, or make it possible to keep pace with conversation in classroom discussions. Boarding school in Shanghai had also left him unprepared him for American dorm life, where the drinking, access to drugs and decidedly un-studious behavior he saw came as an initial shock. “That whole first semester was pretty miserable,” Gu recalls.
Four years later, Gu is wrapping up his last summer in St. Paul, leaving campus with a degree in chemistry and a series of department awards, a girlfriend from Texas, a resume with prestigious research experience at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, and a reputation as a bagpiper to watch as he begins his graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“He’s been one of our great success stories,” says Steve Colee, director of international admissions, who has followed Gu’s journey closely to see if it offers any clues about how colleges like Macalester can serve the fastest-growing demographic on college campuses—students from China.