How Brian Ong Is Helping Chinese Kids Get Into U.S. Colleges

Brian Ong is helping to change how Chinese kids get into U.S. colleges—and what they study once they get there.

- Rebecca Feng

Ten years ago, Brian Ong sold all his furniture and boarded a flight to Shanghai. He hadn’t majored in technology or engineering, so he didn’t have many obvious job prospects. But he knew he wanted to start a business and knew that Shanghai was brimming with opportunities. He researched ideas from finance to real estate, then settled on advising Chinese high school students on getting into top U.S. colleges.

The industry seemed chaotic, rife with charges of plagiarized essays, cookie-cutter advice and unkept promises. He was sure he could offer a high-quality and more honest service. Besides, the grinding, spirit-sapping and often irrational process of college admissions was something he was very familiar with: He had earned his undergraduate degree at Yale and had just finished graduate school at Stanford. He had also helped two Chinese friends get into Harvard and Columbia in his free time.

Today Ong, 33, owns and runs Bangdai, which boasts 48 employees in three offices—in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. He’s earned a reputation—and more than 15,000 Weibo followers—as the go-to counselor for superrich Chinese families sending their kids to the U.S. to study at the best schools. That allows him to charge fees ranging from $12,000 to $60,000 a student, or up to as much as the annual tuition at a typical private American college. The company consults with 160 students a year. It’s no secret who’s paying those fees: “Some 25% of the people on your rich list are sending their kids to America to study,” he says, referring to the list of the 400 wealthiest people in China that appears on Forbes.com.