CSC Scholarship - Archives

[dru86]

Hey everyone, haven't posted in a long time.

Has anyone from Canada found out?

I applied on March 1 through the BC Ministry of Education and was told at the end of May that I received it and that more info would follow. I've been following up every few weeks since then and was told they would be getting everything in their office last week (I contacted them last Tuesday) and that they would contact me as soon as they received more information. By Friday, I still hadn't heard and it's a long weekend here so I'm hoping to find out tomorrow.

I was only given a partial scholarship so I'll have to worry about accommodations once I find out and book a flight too. This is getting really stressful haha.

[bigtops]

Interesting... Finally saw my paperwork and I've been given a one year General Advanced Scholar scholarship. I applied for the language scholarship, so anybody know, will I have trouble if all I want to do is just take Mandarin classes?

[marco-polo]

I don't know, but the description of your scholarship is close enough to mine, and I'm definitely going for the language program (as an absolute beginner). My Admissions Notice says that I will be enrolled as a 'General Scholar in the programme of Modern Chinese Language taught in Chinese'. I think you should be ok.

[bigtops]

Hmm, read it over, looks like you're right, thanks.

[Ariane]

Dru, I got my admission stuff I think last wednesday from them. I also have a partial scholarship-- though according to the documents, the latest you should get your info is July 31st, however in practice... it's the Chinese government. However, unlike you I was originally told that I didn't recieve a scholarship, and then apparently they change their minds...

[Rubjar]

1. When did you apply: March 10

2. What consulate: MEXICO - Trough SRE (departamento de becas)

3. What schools: Tsinhua University, Harbin University, Dalian University

4. What they chose for you: Harbin University (For my bachelors degree) and Tianjin University for one year of language study)

5. When you found out: July 22 (Email from SRE stating that I was awarded with the scholarship), Augost 4 (we where invited to the embassy to have a reunion in witch they gave us the letter of acceptance and other stuff, and happily for all of us (25 where awarded with the scholarship) a full session of questions and answers.

6. How you were notified: Mass email, then the meeting we where invited to.

By the way, some one asked if after getting the language scholarship you where able to ask for an extencion or to study a degree, sadly you are not able to do such a change, that was told in person by the one who is in charge of this stuff in the chinese embasy from mexico.

Congrats to everyone who got the scholarship!

[fsutalltree]

1. When did you apply: April 15th

2. What consulate: Houston, Texas USA

3. What schools: Nankai, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Jilin

4. What they chose for you: Tianjin Foreign Studies University 2 years language study full scholarship

5. When you found out: May 4th received an email saying my materials were sent. July 14th I got an email with the student list and my University assignment

I am so happy, I used Visaexpress.com to file my visa which was totally painless. Under "duration of each stay" it just says 000 so I assume that this means as long as I get into the country by the date it says I can apply for my resident permit within 30 days?

Visa express was 50 dollars and really simple to use since its local in Houston

[dru86]

1. When did you apply: March 1st

2. What consulate: Vancouver, BC, Canada / BC Ministry of Advanced Education

3. What schools: BLCU, Peking, Fudan

4. What they chose for you: BLCU 1 year scholarship at first partial but UPGRADED to FULL!

5. When you found out: mid-May saying my application was sent to CSC

Long story:

-Did not find out last week by July 31 as expected...person from BC Ministry (local government) said she would contact me as soon as everything arrived in her office that week - she does not.

-Email early this week, no response.

-Call her office find out she's on vacation until AUG 17 (WTH???) - unexpected b/c she's been on top of things and emailing me back regularly all these months.

-Talk to someone else at her office - no idea what I'm talking about, will find out and get back to me by Tuesday.

-Decide to call Chinese Consulate of Vancouver (shoulda called earlier): find out the details from them

-STRESSED, because they already sent everything over to the BC Ministry who apparently has no idea what to do cuz of that lady on vacation...so I cannot get my visa until I have those papers.

-So had I not called...who knows when I would've found out!

I wish the direct contact was just the consulate...not sure why I had to go through our local ministry of education - to promote Canada/China relations I guess?

So I'm REALLY happy (especially about the upgrade) and REALLY annoyed/stressed all at the same time!

Thanks everyone for all the support and advice and help! Shoutout to extrapages and ariane!

Let's hope I get my visa in time. What a crazy/vague/stressful/long process...worth the wait I guess!

[ABQgirl]

So one (possibly last) update, and a question. Of course, I guess I'll be back from time to time to help with next year's applications' questions.

So, I am going to take the scholarship for this year in Nanjing. (anyone headed to Nanjing should PM me) but I don't know yet if it will be possible to change my degree program next year to a Master's program and I don't see any reason to get another BA, so I might just take this first year though.

Last question though: I have had no contact at all with Nanjing Normal University. I got an acceptance letter from them with the package from DC, but that's all. You are all in the same boat right? Is it OK for the whole plan to be getting to the city, walking into the front office of the university and announcing "hello, here is the acceptance letter you sent, I'm ready for my dorm room now". Am I missing anything? Am I crazy to think this is a little sketchy? A little wisdom from last years' folks would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much to all of you! (Especially our gracious Mama, Extrapages!)

[extrapages]

congratulations, everyone! im so happy i was able to help in furthering your studies and china adventures...!

how should i clean up this thread for the next wave of applicants next year?

what needs to be changed?

what could have helped you more if it was different?

any suggestions?

roddy thought maybe i should start a new thread for a clean slate - and keep this one so people and sift through it at their leisure. what do you guys think?

[imron]

Perhaps there could be a main thread with general information, and then separate threads for each year?

[roddy]

Basically I'll defer to extrapages, as she is the CSC Goddess. What I think would be best is

a) closure of this topic at some point in the nearish future

B) an updating of the first post with all the extra info available in new posts, which would become the first post in . . .

c) a new CSC 2009/2010 topic, linked to prominently from the old one.

d) repeat annually.

Other options would be to just keep going as we are - also fine with me - or to keep this topic but have a clear out of information that isn't going to be relevant to future applicants, or that has already been absorbed into the first post. If Extrapages wants she can have mod powers to remove / edit posts.

[Ariane]

Can anyone with a partial scholarship who went to BLCU confirm/deny that we're also automatically assigned to dorm 9 like full scholarship students? It has the same "turn up at housing office" note, but I'm not sure if that means we're put in to dorm 9 or if they try to put us in the more expensive ones.

[crisgee]

Hi everyone!

I've been following this thread since last month and it has been one of my primary sources of updates about this very mysterious and stress-inducing scholarship. I wish i had discovered this back in March so that i could have shared the journey with all you diligent people.

Anyway, I FINALLY got my Admission Notice and JW201 today. This may be a thread record. I may be the very last person who got his stuff.

I am from the Philippines. Future Filipino applicants, you may want to read my story as a sort of cautionary tale about what you will experience next year.

1. When did you apply: April 29 (deadline was April 30)

2. What consulate: At first, i thought all applications were to be sent to the Chinese Embassy. But a certain Ms. Zhang of the Cultural Section said that I should submit it to CHED, who were responsible for selecting the applicants. In truth, CHED submits everyone who applies, provided their materials are complete. And so, i headed off to the CHED office in C.P. Garcia Ave in UP Diliman and submitted it to the International Affairs Service. The person in charge of the scholarships is Ms. Cora.

Remember these two people, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Cora. They are your life lines, and the very people who will receive the brunt of your pestering.

3. What schools: BLCU, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China Normal University

4. What those chose for you: BLCU

5. When you found out: July 9. Actually, i applied for two scholarships: The Confucius Institute Scholarship and the Chinese Government Scholarship. The results of the Confucius Scholarships were to be released on June 30. I didn't receive any notification so i asked BLCU through email if i received the CI scholarship. The person from BLCU said no, but instead i was awarded the Chinese Government Scholarship. So i inadvertently found out that i got in!

6. How you were notified: here's the funny part. After that casual answer to my query, i was not contacted again for the next four weeks. I started to panic and believe that it was a just a joke. So for the entire month of July, while all the other people are getting their documents, i had no assurance that mine was going to arrive. I never received any official congratulatory email like most of you guys got.

After July 31, i started emailing and calling BLCU, CSC, the Chinese Embassy and CHED abot the status of my documents. BLCU insisted that i pester the CSC because they've already sent the docs to them. The CSC said the Chinese Embassy had to clear up certain addresses. Both the Chinese Embassy and CHED said they have not received any word yet from the CSC. Both Ms. Zhang and Ms. Cora just told me to wait. In short, the CSC was just taking it's sweet time. And this is already around Aug 5, i think.

So anyway, after weeks of excitement then anxiety then depression, now is the time for jubilation! I came from CHED today and claimed these precious docs. It has been there since Friday, but they only released it today. Why it took them that long is an annoying mystery.

The best part was when i looked at my Admission Notice, it was signed and approved JUNE 13, 2009. Now THAT is an epic product of bureaucracy.

[crisgee]

From what i've learned, it is surely more convenient to apply directly to the school. I have a friend, who applied for an MA in International Relation directly to Xiamen University. She got her notification on the third week of July and received her docs the following week. She didn't need to go through CHED or the Embassy. She just sent her stuff via Fedex.

So fellow Filipinos, if you want to avoid the hassle, that may be the wiser thing to do. Xiamen even published their accepted applicants on their website. How i wished BLCU did the same too.

[sarapao_na_ka]

I am from Thailand. Now I still don't receive any document.I asked CSC but they told that I must ask embassy.I asked Embassy but they told me that I should waiting for it but sometime I think it's a joke.I don't know what should I do. ^ ^

[marco-polo]

Hi sarapao_na_ka - I was finally able to get news of my scholarship application by phoning the Embassy that dealt with my application (EU Mission) and asking for the Education Department. Hopefully there is someone in the Embassy in Thailand who can let you know the outcome. Good luck!

[linguaphile]

Sorry, I've had minimal internet access the past few weeks so I didn't get a chance to post my information, but I know my friend was keeping folks updated.

1. When did you apply: around beginning of April. The San Francisco Chinese consulate had a deadline of April 15 in order to get all the materials together to send over before the April 30 deadline.

2. What consulate: San Francisco consulate. Yanli (spelling may be wrong) is the contact person.

3. What schools: Beijing Normal University, Central Academy of Fine Art, Renmin University - all in Beijing

4. What they chose for you: China Academy of Art in Hangzhou

5. When you found out: I first got an email from the San Francisco consulate, around July 20, saying that I had received the scholarship. But, there was absolutely no information on which school, and I, of course, assumed that I got the scholarship to attend one of the schools that I had listed. I tried calling/emailing the San Francisco consulate but I got no response. I called CSC and they refused to give me any information, directing me to the San Francisco office and suggesting I could also call the 3 universities I applied to. I was already in Beijing and had to figure out my visa situation so I called all 3 universities. Renmin said that I was on their list, but when I went in person to their office, they told me I wasn't on their list. My mom was finally able to get through to the San Francisco folks who were able to tell her that I had gotten the scholarship for a school in a different city that I had never applied to. This whole process took a little over a week and because of my visa situation, I had to make a pretty quick decision about whether I wanted to move.

Luckily, it all worked out because I really like Hangzhou and am interested in art, so I'll be taking the scholarship to attend (if anyone else is going there, please contact me).

[Bedan Adjuster]

Congratulations Crisgee!

As you might already know, I'm an applicant from the Philippines as well. I applied directly to the school of my choice. Sadly, I wasn't selected. The school did also publish the scholarship winners on its website like Xiamen Uni did.

Before that, I also tried calling the Chinese embassy and was told that I had to submit my documents to CHED but when I called CHED, no one knows about the scholarship.

I wish you have known this forum before the deadline so we could exchange info. Next year's applicants will now have a better chance in getting the scholarship with the information you have shared. Thanks a lot.

[Yaoshuya]

ABQ Girl,

I did not receive any extra information from my university either (SCNU), so I guess that is "normal." I've emailed the university and asked them to send me the general information for their school and they replied that they would, but I have yet to receive it. Anyway, I would suggest emailing the foreign students office at your university with your questions. I know that SCNU offers airport pickup, which is very helpful if you are unsure of what to do when you arrive.