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According to a survey by Beijing New Oriental, one of China's biggest private education service providers, 55 percent of those looking to study overseas are undergraduate course applicants; and 22 percent are planning to register for senior high schools. Lu Wei, a consultant with Beijing New Oriental, says some junior high schools from the U.S. have aimed at the Chinese market.

"Some of the U.S.'s junior high schools are coming to China to recruit students. And there are more of my Chinese clients asking me how to apply for senior high schools and junior high schools overseas."

Lu says there are more than 5,000 senior high graduates this summer taking New Oriental's training course for the U.S.'s Scholastic Assessment Test, or SAT, and giving up the national entrance exam for Chinese colleges. Yu Haoyang is a senior trainer with New Oriental.

"The SAT has become increasingly popular among Chinese students. The training course offered by New Oriental on the SAT has attracted nearly 20,000 senior-high students. The number enrolled in the course this year has grown by 20 percent compared to last year."

Yu says those interested in the SAT are not only senior high graduates but also freshmen and sophomores. Since students are allowed to take the SAT more than once a year, those planning for higher education would rather take the SAT several times than take the once-a-year national entrance exam.

Meanwhile, the fierce competition in applying for undergraduate courses abroad has forced some Chinese students to change their overseas education plan. Here is Lu Wei again.

"The opportunities for undergraduate applicants are getting fewer. That's why more and more Chinese students have to change their plan for higher education overseas at the stage of senior-high and even junior-high."

Lu says that the sagging economy worldwide has also pushed many private schools to look for students overseas and offer better deals on tuition.