Firsthand experience

Liu Yingjie, founder of Shanghai Gowell Education, has worked as a US college admissions counselor for over a decade and has watched demand for different kinds of short-term programs surge.

"Campus visit tours allow students to experience the learning environment firsthand — from the dining halls and dormitories to the campus culture — helping them set realistic university goals," she explained.

Exploration programs, meanwhile, allow younger students to test or rule out academic interests. Pre-college programs immerse high schoolers in actual university courses. "Professors won't chase after you like high school teachers — you have to learn to be independent and self-driven," she said.

Liu said at the highest level, research programs allow students to work in labs alongside professors and graduate students, giving them early exposure to cutting-edge science.

One student, for example, who attended a short-term program at a biomedical research institute in California, and then a four-week research project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, successfully applied for New York University's highly competitive GSTEM program.

"Through these three summer programs, the student gradually deepened her knowledge in biology, gained lab and academic writing skills, and built the confidence to pursue DNA nanotechnology under one of the field's founding figures," Liu said.

Families need the budget — programs typically cost about $2,000 a week — and children need adequate English and self-management skills, she said.

The 2025 China Overseas Study Development Report showed that nearly 60 percent of students start preparing for overseas study one to two years ahead. For these families, the application procedure involves much preparation.