55 students offered 108 overseas college slots

A high school class of 55 students in Chongqing received a total 108 college admissions offers in the US, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong.

Some 25.3 percent of the students in the class successfully applied for scholarships, ranging from $8,000 to $64,000, the Chongqing Evening News reported Tuesday.

The Advanced Placement-tracked students are expected to receive more offers in March and April, according to a statement from the school.

In addition to exams and coursework, students enroll in internships at companies and institutes, as well as volunteering at orphanages or as teachers in low-income areas.

Though all students performed well on the US-based Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which often serves a measuring stick for college hopefuls, students with the highest scores did not necessarily receive offers from the highest-ranked colleges.

"Overseas universities and colleges look at a student's experience and grades starting from when they are very young," said Kong Jing, the deputy principal of the school.

Kong explained that colleges in the US, Canada and Australia often have different criteria on which they evaluate students, and often look to recruit talent that would benefit the student body as a whole.