Dr. Xiaofeng Wan

Founder & CEO

Dr. Xiaofeng Wan is a renowned leader in international college admissions in the United States, with more than 11 years of experience in highly selective college admissions.

From 2015-2024, he served as an Associate Dean of Admission and the Coordinator of International Recruitment at Amherst College, a prestigious, highly selective, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was the first Chinese national to be hired for this position in Amherst's history and one of a rare few foreign nationals in highly selective college admissions in the United States.

Under his leadership, the international application pool at Amherst nearly tripled during his tenure to an unprecedented record of 6,000, representing 40% of the entire application pool. The admission rate for international students also dropped to a historic low of 2%.

He is one of the most visible and outspoken speakers at industry conferences. He has published extensively on international student mobility issues on mainstream industry platforms, including Inside Higher Ed and University World News. He has been interviewed by many mainstream media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Nature, CGTN America, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Straits Times, Inside Higher Ed, etc.

His Mandarin translation of Admission Matters, 《升学之道：美国大学申请全解析》, a comprehensive college admission guidebook in the United States, has been the #1 bestseller among study abroad books in China since its publication in 2020.

In December 2024, his new book,（title to be disclosed later）, will be published by World Books Publishing Beijing, one of the oldest publishing houses in China. The book is written in Mandarin and unveils never-seen-before perspectives about college admissions at highly selective colleges in the United States and his own unique journey of working as an admission dean at one of the most renowned colleges in America.

He received his bachelor’s in English from China Foreign Affairs University. His master’s and doctoral degrees were completed at Boston College, where his research focused on international student mobility to the United States. 

Coronavirus Creates College Uncertainty, Admissions Gets Easier

Chinese families are wary of xenophobic rhetoric associated with the coronavirus in the U.S., said Xiaofeng Wan, who recruits students in China for Amherst College.

China’s globetrotting students are getting back on the road

Xiaofeng Wan, who manages international admissions at Amherst College in America, notes that last year more Chinese children than usual elected to sit the entrance exam for senior secondary schools. Pupils aiming to study abroad sometimes skip this.

Chinese students stay local as favour falls with study abroad

Worsening relations with the United States are a major factor in pushing Chinese students to consider other options for their education, says Xiaofeng Wan, associate dean of admission and coordinator of international recruitment at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Chinese students to reconsider their plans to study in the U.S.

The U.S. has for many years been the top destination for Chinese students seeking advanced degrees but there's trouble on the horizon. Heightened political tensions prompted U.S. President Trump to bar some Chinese graduate students from obtaining visas effective this month.

China Was Long the Top Source of Foreign Students in the U.S. Now India Has Overtaken It.

The uptick in new visas isn’t the only positive sign, said Xiaofeng Wan, an associate dean of admission and coordinator of international recruitment at Amherst College...at more than 80 Chinese high schools and found that enrollment in international tracks that prepare students to go overseas is 25 percent higher among 10th-grade students than among those in their final year of high school.

Is Gun Violence Scaring Off International Students?

Those concerns have become more pronounced since, Wan said. He often combs Chinese social media sites and newspapers, and he said that headlines about U.S. gun violence—especially incidents on college campuses or in which Asian people are victims—inspire a frenzy of public concern, particularly among parents who are at least considering sending their children to the U.S. for college.

Finding Firmer Ground: The Role of Higher Education in U.S.-China Relations

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially reduced the enrollment of Chinese students and reversed the pre-pandemic trend of skyrocketing growth. From 2021–2022, international applications surged, bouncing back from the downturn in the previous year, but China stood out as an exception, with Chinese applicants decreasing by a whopping 18% in the Common Application system, which is used by over 900 colleges and universities in the U.S.

Trump shooting forces gun concerns back into spotlight for int’ls

“In my recent doctoral research… among the 136 Chinese school-based college counsellors surveyed, all but one said that safety was the number one concern among their students when they consider the US,” commented Xiaofeng Wan, a doctoral researcher at Boston College and coordinator of international recruitment at Amherst College, speaking with The PIE News.

Recruiting International Students from Africa Is a Worthwhile Challenge

A major barrier for institutions that want to grow African enrollment is cost. Wan says it can be difficult for many African students to come up with what might seem in the U.S. like relatively small amounts of money. He encourages any institution considering recruitment in Africa to have enough funding “to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need for these students before doing anything within the continent.”

Safety concerns could thwart Chinese students’ return to US

For the first time in 15 years, China is no longer the number one international student-sending country to the United States. It has been surpassed by India, ending one of the most remarkable and unprecedented international student mobility trends the world has seen.

China’s Reopening Brings New Recruiting Challenges

Returning to China after three years without recruitment travel, admissions officers will face changed expectations from Chinese families, Xiaofeng Wan writes.

A New Mind-Set for Recruiting Chinese Students

With pandemic lockdowns straining family budgets, it’s time for colleges to adopt a more inclusive strategy for recruiting and admitting Chinese students, Xiaofeng Wan writes.

US institutions could do more to calm the admissions frenzy

The idea of trying to move heaven and earth to enable one’s son or daughter to get an education at one of the best institutions in the world may be a noble pursuit, but it can have significant, negative consequences for naive parents and children. 

Will Chinese international student numbers rebound in the US?

The rising number of Chinese universities ranked highly in major global rankings and the shrinking size of their American counterparts feed into a ranking craze among Chinese families, especially when the rank of the institution is tied with their children’s future employment opportunities and residency qualifications, as witnessed by Shanghai as it looks to stem a brain drain.

Recruiting in Africa: US faces a stiff competitor in China

Amherst and the many US colleges and universities eager to recruit African students as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic will likely find themselves competing with an unusual but omnipresent player on the continent: China.

Recruiting Chinese Students: A Review of the Problems

One thing is for sure: Chinese families still see value in sending their children to study in the United States for the many beacon-like ideals and opportunities that U.S. higher education embodies and provides. Although the impacts of current political and health crises seem dire, and will undoubtedly have long-lasting impacts, the desire of Chinese families to provide their children with the best education out there is not going to change.

How can universities in the US tackle anti-Asian racism?

It is a crushing realisation for many Asian international students – who comprise 70% of all international students in the United States (China alone accounts for 35% of that total) – that, despite their foreign upbringing, they are instantly racialised once they set foot in the United States.

Chinese Students Cautious About U.S. Study

Recently, 87 percent of high school college counselors in China said that their students and parents are now reconsidering plans for study in the U.S.

Selected Conference Presentations

• EducationUSA Forum. Panelist. The Africa Case at Your Institution: Community Colleges to Post-Graduate. Washington D.C.. August 2024.

• InternationalACAC. Organizer and panelist. Key Factors Influencing Chinese Students’ Decisions to Study in the United States. London, Ontario, Canada. July 2024.

• Council of International Schools Global Forum. Panelist. Admission Essays in the Age of AI. Dublin, Ireland. November 2023.

• Council of International Schools Global Forum. Panelist. China, India, and Elsewhere: Anticipating How International Student Mobility Will Evolve. Dublin, Ireland. November 2023.

• The Chronicle of Higher Education. Panelist. International Student Recruitment Trends. Virtual. November 2023. 

• AIEA-Association of International Education Administrators. Panelist. Town Hall on China. Virtual. November 2023. 

• Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). Panelist. International Higher Education and Geopolitical Tensions: Academic Engagement in a More Divided World. Washington D.C.. February 2023.

• International Envoys. Speaker. Chinese Student Mobility Trend to the United States. January, 2023. Amherst, MA, USA. January 2023.

• EducationUSA. Moderator and panelist. EducationUSA Dialogues: Recruiting in China – Practical Advice. Virtual. April 2023. 

• EducationUSA Forum. Panelist. HEI Tips: Recruiting in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington D.C. August 2022. 

• InternationalACAC. Panelist. China, India, and Elsewhere: Projecting How International Student Mobility Will Evolve. Virtual. July 2022. 

• Council of International Schools Global Forum. Panelist. Towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Global Education. Virtual. November 2020. 

• American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai Education Forum. Panelist. New Trend for US College Admissions: Face to Face with University Officers. Virtual. October 2020. 

• Washington University in St. Louis China Forum. Panelist. Chinese International Students in the US Post-COVID 19. Virtual. October 2020. 

• MGH Institute of Health Professions. Panelist. Webinar Series. Predictable Parenting for Unpredictable Times: Promoting the Success and Well-being of Asian and Asian American Students through COVID-19. Virtual. May 2020. 

• China Institute of College Admissions Counseling Webinar Series. Co-Presenter. Test-Optional, Uncertainty, and What Else? Virtual. September 2020. 

• Amherst, Williams and Yale. Organizer/Co-Presenter. China High School Principals’ Seminar. August 2020 (virtual) and September 2019 (Shanghai, China). 

• China Institute of College Admissions Counseling. Organizer/Moderator. Collaboration in a Time of Turbulence. Virtual. July 2020. 

• World Leading Schools Association (WLSA) Global Forum. Panelist. The Ethics of Counseling and Admissions: Case Studies. Prague, Czech Republic. July 2020.

• International ACAC Annual Conference. Organizer/Co-Presenter. How do Highly Selective Colleges in the United States Recruit Internationally, Select and Enroll Their International Classes? Cleveland, Ohio, July 2017.

• International ACAC Annual Conference. Organizer/Co-Presenter. Bridging Understanding: Hear What Chinese Counselors Say about US College Admission and the China Market and Successful Practices on the Admission Side. Cleveland, Ohio. July 2017.

• New England Association for College Admission Counseling Annual Conference. Presenter. Bridging Understanding: What Chinese Counselors Have to Say about US College Admission and the China Market. Keene, NH, 2017 and International Expendables Conference. Worcester, MA. January 2017.

• Harvard China Education Symposium. Panelist. International Education Roundtable. Cambridge, MA. April 2017.