Keeping it personal

Students should apply to US schools personally instead of depending on recruitment agencies for their admission applications, the US consulate general in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, suggested.

"Instead of helping, some poor recruiting agencies may bring disastrous consequences to your future application or even visit to the US, " Seth Bailey, US cultural consul of the consulate, said in an interview with China Daily.

In 2013, the success rate of Chinese students applying for US visas soared to 90 percent nationwide on average. But the rate was much lower in the northeastern region. The consulate carried out investigations and found that the problem appeared to be the recruitment agencies.