CSC Scholarship - Archives

[evasiege]

So if I were planning on attending a school in the Fall of 09' I wouldn't know whether or not I got the scholarship until July? Whether or not I can get the scholarship would determine if I even attend any of the schools at all and I don't think I could wait around for the last second to make plans...

[JELLOS83]

Hi all

I skimmed over all 35 pages of this tread but I found very little info on scholarships for European students. I learned that the EU gives away 100 full scholarships every year.

Does a full scholarship include ALL costs : flight, tuition, accommodation, insurance, etc.

I also read that there is financial support of 1400 yuan per month. Is this support available for every student or is it a part of the full scholarship.

I am just a bit confused about the financial support because I think scholarships for only one hundred European students is not much at all.

Can anyone clarify this matter?

Thank you in advance?

[JELLOS83]

Hi all

My question in my previous reply needn't be answered any more. I already found it on http://en.csc.edu.cn/Lianhua/c1e7463d02704511940e91faa7ba7942.shtml

But every answer provokes a new question ... so now I am wondering if it is possible to apply for one of the 100 full European scholarships and receive only a partial scholarship because you weren't selected with first 100?

Thnak you in advance

[JELLOS83]

Hi all

I come from Belgium and I am interested in a scholarship. I know the EU hands out 100 full scholarships each year.

- Does anyone know how many partial scholarships they hand out?

- Is it possible for Europeans to receive scholarships from their own country (so not from the EU), in my case from the Belgian authorities?

- How many applications are there? 100 seems not much but if there are only 500 applications the chances are not too bad.

Thank you in advance

[cliveloughlin]

hi guys

sorry to be a pain but i have a question on how to apply for the csc masters scholarship. i am currently studying in bejing normal uni for a bachelors in chinese (second year, so i still have time). you would think that being in the uni that i want to apply for would make things easier - NOT AT ALL. everytime i go the international students office to ask for help they see check the csc website....which i have done. i meet all the criteria (age etc) so i just need to apply...

the problem is that the website says i must apply through the chinese embassy in the UK (im british)...however, they don't reply to my emails/answer the phone. how can i find out the deadlines for applications etc.

does anyone have a contact who understands csc in the chinese embassy in london?

any help would be appreciated!!!

thanks:)

cj

[extrapages]

Sorry for being MIA.

yueni,

Just a quick question. I know you've renewed your CSC scholarship for the year, and you got your teachers to write you a recommendation letter, but is there a fixed procedure? Do I need to fill in the application for next year? I'm hoping to get my scholarship renewed, and I've started to look into it, but most of the info I see has largely to do with getting it the first time, not the second time.

I didnt "renew" my scholarship. I actually got a two year scholarship and had to go through the annual review after the first. How I got the second year, I will never know - because I didn't take two of my three finals in the second semester. But this I found on the site:

CHANGE OF academic program OR INSTITUTION AND EXTENSION OF STUDY

Students are not permitted, in principle, to change their specialties, institutions or the duration of study specified in the Admission Notice and the Visa Application for Study in China (JW201) once after registration.

So if you're here on a single year scholarship, it looks like you're out of luck. =[

--

menyawga,

How did you go about getting the physical examination form in Korea, and are there any special boxes that must be "checked off" in a certain way?

I don't really know about special boxes. But from what I remember, the Chinese government has certain relationships with clinics that do the physical examination. I don't remember how I found out or who they were, but I just went and they knew what they were doing, and it was a quick process.

---

evasiege,

So if I were planning on attending a school in the Fall of 09' I wouldn't know whether or not I got the scholarship until July? Whether or not I can get the scholarship would determine if I even attend any of the schools at all and I don't think I could wait around for the last second to make plans...

Yes. That's just how it is. But most applicants plan to come to China regardless of whether or not they get the scholarship.

---

JELLOS83,

Does a full scholarship include ALL costs : flight, tuition, accommodation, insurance, etc.

I also read that there is financial support of 1400 yuan per month. Is this support available for every student or is it a part of the full scholarship.

But every answer provokes a new question ... so now I am wondering if it is possible to apply for one of the 100 full European scholarships and receive only a partial scholarship because you weren't selected with first 100?

- Does anyone know how many partial scholarships they hand out?

- Is it possible for Europeans to receive scholarships from their own country (so not from the EU), in my case from the Belgian authorities?

- How many applications are there? 100 seems not much but if there are only 500 applications the chances are not too bad.

A full scholarship for people from the EU does NOT include flight, but does include the rest. And the stipend has been increased to 1700 yuan per month. This is for every full scholarship student. We don't know anything about partial scholarships or how many are given out, and from my understanding, everyone in this forum is a full scholarship awardee. And although we're not sure, you can only apply for the full or partial scholarship. So if you don't get the full one, you cannot automatically be considered for a partial one. And people from the EU can only get CSC scholarships from the EU agreement. I don't understand what you mean by how many applications there are? There is only one application form for the Chinese language scholarship, and it is available online... and we have no idea how many people apply or what the chances of getting it are. None of that information is made public. =[

---

cliveloughlin,

The problem is that the website says i must apply through the chinese embassy in the UK (im british)...however, they don't reply to my emails/answer the phone. how can i find out the deadlines for applications etc.

I wish I could help you with this, but I don't know. I'm thinking that the UK agreement would be under the EU scheme? You might have to just reapply through the same channels you initially applied through. Keep us posted with how that goes.

[extrapages]

ATTN: CSC PEOPLE IN BEIJING!!!

Roddy wants us to get together sometime soon! We're going to shoot for a Sunday. When are you guys free? Please respond in the CSC Scholarshipees Social Group.

[Ariane]

Does anyone know if it's possible to get the scholarship more than once? If we can't extend it, maybe we can reapply for it?

I can't find anything that says that they'll only give the scholarship to any given person once, but I'm not sure how likely that would be.

[extrapages]

Ariane,

It seems like reapplying is the only way. But no one knows the chances of getting the scholarship again.

[yueni]

Thanks for the reply, extrapages. One of the guys in my class apparently renewed his scholarship because he's on his second year here this year. I think I will have to double check with him to see if he really did renew it or if he was awarded a two year scholarship, just like you. I'll keep you posted if I get any new info!

cliveloughlin,

You're going through almost the exact same rigamarole I had to go through when I tried to apply through the Chinese embassy in Singapore. =/ I wish I could help you more, but I would mail in the scholarship application in time to meet the EU deadline to the embassy and then just pray that it gets through. That's what I did with my scholarship application, and thankfully it got through. I had tried calling (over 20 numbers!) and emailing, but got zero useful replies. It seems like this is pretty much par for the course when dealing with Chinese embassies all over the world. Good luck!

[extrapages]

yueni,

I am 99.99999999% sure that your classmate is on a two year scholarship. We've had a fellow CSC thread buddy try to extend his one year scholarship to two, and he was told that it wasn't possible. The only option he was given was to reapply and go through the entire process again.

And honestly, if it's not explicitly stated on the website, I'd say we got some wiggle room to try to slip through the cracks... but I posted up a little while ago a section from the CSC site that said people awarded scholarships cannot change their institution, their major (if applicable), and their duration of study.

[bigtops]

Question for those who applied from the US in previous years... When might we expect the application for Fall 2009 to open up? I have to leave the US in late January/early February and would love to get this knocked out before I hit the road.

Many thanks.

[Meshaq7]

Hello everyone,

I am planning to study in China next year, and hoping to get a scholarship through the CSC. My situation is a little unusual, however, and I am hoping someone can give me some advice.

First of all, I am 25 years old, and have already completed bachelors degrees in French and Spanish. I really would like to tackle Chinese, and have been working through some study-on-your-own materials, but have not taken any official classes in Chinese. From this forum, I understand that having taken Chinese is not a must for the scholarship, but is it still ok for someone my age?

Also, I have another slightly odd position. I am a dual citizen (Norway and USA) and I have to decide which country to apply for the scholarship through. Norway is not officially a part of the EU, but it might be bunched together with it in the eyes of the CSC. What is my best bet for application? I read that the EU is given 100 scholarships a year, but I couldn't find a number for the USA... and of course, without knowing the number of students applying and NOT getting scholarships, it doesn't tell a whole lot. If any of your have insight on which would be wiser, please give me some feedback!

To reply to the other questions listed in the main post:

Where are you applying from?

Norway/USA still undecided

Are you currently in China?

No

What did your local state embassy say?

Where and how did you get your papers notarized?

Did you apply for your school of choice beforehand?

Where did you get your physical exam done?

Anything about the process you thought might be good for others to know about?

Any hiccups you had to work through?

I can report the answers to these questions later on! I still haven't gotten to this point.

Thanks again for any feedback you can give. I am so happy to have found this forum.

[extrapages]

bigtops,

I don't understand your question. The application has always been available on the site...

--

Meshaq7

Please go through the CSC site, too. There is a lot of information there that I don't bother to bring onto the forum because I assume people who want the scholarship will, without a doubt, peruse the site. The age limit for studying Chinese (not a degree) is 35. If I were you, I'd apply through BOTH countries just because I can and because no one knows the chances of getting one.

[Meshaq7]

Thanks for the advice Extrapages and for such a quick response! It is great that you are willing to help people out with this rather confusing process! I will try to do applications through both countries as you suggest. The paperwork will be the same in any case, so that should save time, and it is better with two chances than one.

Regarding the age question, I had browsed through the CSC site, and had seen that I was in theory elegible, but I was afraid that there might be a trend for older students (ie. not high-school-aged or early undergrad) to be expected to have a higher level of knowledge than younger students in order to receive the scholarship. I could have worded the question better however.

One more question: are the letters of recommendation really necessary for language students? I read on this forum that they are, but I have read elsewhere that they aren't. The CSC website makes it seem like they aren't required at times (stating explicitly that you need them for the Masters, Doctoral and Senior programs, but saying nothing about language students needing them) and at other times makes it seem like they are required ("Two Letters of Recommendation" is on the checklist of included paperwork). I suppose I could answer my own question by saying "it is better safe than sorry" but since I am only in the USA for Christmas holiday, I really would like to speed up my application anyway possible, so I can be done before I leave. If I could skip that step, it would help a lot. Any info on this?

Thanks again!

[extrapages]

Meshaq7,

Don't worry about the age thing. I'm 25, and there are other CSC awardees that are even older.

One more question: are the letters of recommendation really necessary for language students? I read on this forum that they are, but I have read elsewhere that they aren't. The CSC website makes it seem like they aren't required at times (stating explicitly that you need them for the Masters, Doctoral and Senior programs, but saying nothing about language students needing them) and at other times makes it seem like they are required ("Two Letters of Recommendation" is on the checklist of included paperwork). I suppose I could answer my own question by saying "it is better safe than sorry" but since I am only in the USA for Christmas holiday, I really would like to speed up my application anyway possible, so I can be done before I leave. If I could skip that step, it would help a lot. Any info on this?

I have no idea, and I doubt anyone else does. I've always advocated following the rules and sticking to the safe side only because we don't know what's ACTUALLY required or not and because we know what we've done has worked. If you are willing to be our guinea pig, feel free to send in one of the applications without letters of recommendation. But I personally would rather do everything possible to be safe. If you don't have time but really want to have two recommendations, just write them yourself and make up the rest. I don't think these guys even read the recommendations, let alone do a background check to verify credibility - but it's better to have them than not, especially when everyone else is probably going to have them.

[jacki]

First of all, thank you so much to everyone in this thread. I just spent the last couple of hours reading all the posts and all your information has been absolutely invaluable.

I spent one semester last year at Nankai University in Tianjin, and I'm planning to go back to China next year, and it seems like everyone I knew at Nankai had the CSC scholarship. I promise I read every post, but I have a few questions:

There was a link at some point in this thread to a page on the CSC website that lists the schools that accept the CSC scholarship; a list that was different than the full list of Chinese schools accepting international students. That link doesn't work anymore, and I am having trouble finding that page now on the CSC website. I would hate to put down my top three schools and having some not be eligible. My top choice is definitely Nankai again (I had a fantastic time) and I know that school is on the list, but I have no idea about any others, as I don't really want to go to Beijing.

For those who applied through Chinese consulates/embassies in the US, is it necessary to apply to the location closest to you? The closest consulate to me is Chicago, and even that is a 10+ hour drive. Is it really beneficial to show up in person to hand in your application? Because I can probably truck it to Chicago if I really have to. If it doesn't matter though, would it be better to just mail it directly to the Embassy?

Finally (and this isn't really exactly CSC-related) I've been looking at some school websites, and I don't find many with conclusive information on application deadlines for international students. In the chance that I don't get this scholarship for Fall 09, and obviously don't find out until late July, is there still time to apply for regular admission as an international language student? I feel like it would be really difficult to get the acceptance letter and visa all taken care of within a month.

This thread is fantastic, thank you all for your help!

[extrapages]

this is the link for the list of the schools that work with the CSC program:

http://en.csc.edu.cn/Lianhua/a0cb61a83c1e4530aa7c5034afb9f342.shtml

it doesnt really matter where you apply through, but id like to think that you have a better chance of getting more attention by whoever is handling the applications when you are living under their assigned region and a part of their "constituency". but who knows. it's really up to you. nobody knows anything for sure...!

in about 99.999% of the time, as long as its just a language program (not a degree program), they will let you register for classes as long as you do it before classes start and you have the money to pay for it. you dont really get "accepted", you just get registered and they send over the paperwork relatively quickly. but if you're going to go to nankai for sure, why wait? just register and get the paperwork early - and get the visa while you wait for the csc scholarship results. you can send the acceptance letter with the application, or if you choose not to (and you get the scholarship), you can go to the school and cancel the registration you personally made and tell them you are the same person the CSC registered for.

[Meshaq7]

Merry Christmas everone!

Well, I just got off the phone with my local (Chicago) consulate. I called to ask who to address my application to, and what the deadline is for applications.The receptionist was nice, but her English wasn't particularly good (though so much better than my Chinese), and she just kept telling to check the consulate's web page to find out more about visas. It didn't sound like she knew what the scholarship was. I haven't found anything on the web page, aside from a link to the CSC web page, which I already had, and which doesn't answer my questions.

I also tried calling the consulates in New York, Houston, and Los Angeles, and the Embassy in Washington, D. C., but with no luck. I am a little disconcerted.

Should I just send in the application as soon as possible, and hope it gets into the right hands, and doesn't end up in the trash can? Should I try to call back tomorrow and hope for another receptionist that has heard about it? This is all the more difficult, since I leave the country on the 3rd of January, and won't be back until June, so I really would like to send this out before I leave. Anyone else apply through the Chicago consulate? Any tips on who to address the application to?

Thanks again Extrapages for all your great tips and advice!

[Meshaq7]

I just found the answer to my own questions by searching this thread again. Must have missed the post while browsing before. For anyone that is interested, I have learned the following:

• For graduated students with no university affiliation, you can list the Chinese Embassy as your sponsoring organization
  
• You DO need letters of recommendation (preferably from your past or current professors) even when applying for the language scholarship
  
• All applications for American citizens can be sent to the Education Office of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D. C., even if there is a closer consulate.
  
• The deadline for application through the Education Office is April 30, 2009.
  

The address for this office is as follows:

Education Office of Chinese Embassy

2300 Connecticut Ave. NW

Washington DC, 20008

and their web page is: http://www.sino-education.org/english/brief.htm

Hope this is of use to someone.

Extrapages, would you be willing to be my guarantor? I would be happy to do so for someone else when I am in China. I believe my PM is activated.

Edited December 30, 2008 at 05:08 AM by Meshaq7