The number of applications to US graduate schools from students in China fell this year for the first time since 2006, when the US Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington DC first had sufficient sample sizes to keep track. An 8 April CGS report finds that total international applications to the United States grew by 1%, the smallest rise in 8 years. Chinese applications fell by 5%, after growth of 19% in 2012 and 21% in 2011. Services that help students to narrow down their choices may be a factor, says Rajika Bhandari, deputy vice-president for research and evaluation at the Institute of International Education in New York, as may the cost of US applications.