In 2005, only 641 Chinese students were enrolled in American high schools. By 2014, that student population approached 40,000 — a 60-fold increase in a single decade — and it now accounts for nearly half of all international high-school students in the United States. “Parents realize that they have to start earlier if they want their children to get into a top U.S. university,” says Nini Suet, founder of Shang Learning, a boutique consultancy with headquarters in Beijing that charges $25,000 to $40,000 to help Chinese kids prepare for and apply to American boarding schools.