Best Students in the World

ETS released a snapshot on GRE testing scores by country. The GRE test is required by US universities for application to doctoral programs in science and engineering, or roughly the STEM.

GRE Mean by Country 2011-2012

Country	Test-Takers	Populatiry	Verbal	Quantitative	Writing
US	318,240	100	152.9	149.5	3.9
India	33,504	3	144.7	154.1	3.1
China	29,255	2	145.9	162.9	3.1
Iran	6,843	9	141.3	157.5	2.9
Canada	4,924	14	156.0	153.6	4.3
Saudi Arabia	2,972	10	137.4	142.8	2.2
South Korea	2,933	6	147.5	158.2	3.2
Nigeria	2,855	2	146.4	147.4	3.2
Turkey	2,764	4	144.1	158.7	3.0
Mexico	2,325	2	148.2	149.3	3.2
Pakistan	2,212	1	147.0	153.1	3.4
Taiwan	2,057	9	144.2	159.2	2.9

More Chinese Students Came to the US Last Year

113.8 thousands F-1 visas were issued to (mainland) Chinese students in FY2010, a significant growth from 81.8 thousands of FY2009 and 56.3 thousands of FY2008. In addition, 27.7 thousands J-1 visas and 1.4 thousands M-1 visas were issued. F-1 visa is issued to full-time students; J-1 is issued to exchange students and scholars; M-1 is for short term visiting students.

Among Chinese students in the US, about 31% are undergraduate students and about 52% are graduate students. Chinese students is the largest group among foreign students in the US.

19 million students were enrolled in colleges in the US at the time, including part time students. Booming Chinese economy, housing price in particular, has made US education very affordable for many Chinese families. For example, a typical apartment in Beijing worth about $1 million, and most city residents had acquired their resident 10 years ago while they were dirty cheap. Many had multiple houses as investment. It is expected that 300 million more farmers will rush to cities in next few years, thus continuously pushing the housing market to new high.

Chinese Doctoral Students in Science and Engineering Overwhelmingly Stay After Graduated from US Colleges

2139 Chinese Science or Engineering PhDs graduated from US universities in 2002, among whom 92% were found staying in the US five years later in 2007.

The world average is 62%. Corresponding numbers for Korea, Taiwan and Japan are 41%, 43% and 33%.

Source: Michael G. Finn, Stay Rates of Foreign Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities, 2007, Jan 2010