Tianjin U. of Tech. / Visa Extension ???

[Street Fighter]

Hi. First of all on my X-visa it has an "Enter Before..." date, that I'm afraid I can't make due to illness. Is there a way I can get an extension before I've even entered, and will that date be enforced strictly?

Also, I was wondering if anyone has been to or knows of Tianjin Uni of technology... how does it compare to TU and Nankai? Does anyone know if there is a sanshou program or weightlifting facilities, or a gym on campus?

thanks alot

[adrianlondon]

From my understanding of visas (which does appear to be a bit behind the times) you can't extend that date. If you don't enter by the date on the visa, it's void. You'll need to get another visa.

[roddy]

I'd say that's right. Never heard of that type of extension, and I suspect the embassy will just cancel your current visa and give you a new one - which happily will give you a chance to pay some more fees.

[liuzhou]

I've had this happen to friends. They had to get new visas. Sorry.

[Asix00]

Tianjin Uni of technology... how does it compare to TU and Nankai?

Nankai Uni is supposed to be somewhat more famous and better than Tjanjin Uni. My cousin went to Nankai, and she had to be one of the top students graduated in her class in order to get in there.

Nankai is more famous might also be because "Zhou En Lai" graduated from Nankai. You can look him up if you don't know who he is. He's an important leader in Chinese history.

[NateM]

I studied at TUT for a few months during the summer of 2006, and I would say that TU and NU are heads and shoulders above TUT in terms of the quality of the teaching environment. Perhaps that was because I was there in the summer, but in general, I would pony up the extra money for another school. For places to study Chinese in Tianjin there are quite a few options that I would choose instead of TUT. There is a very good gym on campus, though, actually probably the best campus gym in Tianjin, so if that's important to you, it might be worth the decrease in educational quality.

Public Schools

Nankai: Already mentioned. Don't really like dealing with their school administration, though.

Tianjin University: Their administration seemed a lot more friendly to me, but I've heard their classes are easier, so if you're looking to be challenged, you might not get that as much here.

Tianjin Foreign Studies University: Gorgeous campus in one of the nicest areas in the city, this also is supposed to have a pretty decent program, but I don't really have any first-hand info on them, though.

Tianjin Normal University: Pretty decent foreign student population, here, but in general people seem to have more positive things to say about the private school inside of TNU, as classes are smaller and the tuition is cheaper.

Tianjin Li Gong Daxue: Also has several students studying there. Don't know too much about how it compares though.

Private Schools:

Taibei Language Institute: Considered to be a very good school. Unfortunately for me, it's kind of pricey and is located way over on the other side of the city.

New Century: Generally a good reputation, but they are expensive and seem to focus mostly on spoken Chinese, with little attention to written.

Hantang: Have a few friends there who generally say positive things about them, but their location also could be a bit better.

Care Language Institute: Good location, a little cheaper than some of these other options, but perhaps a bit more limited class size.

There are a few others that occasionally post on my website or in Jin magazine, but those are the big ones.

Currently, I'm studying at a private college located in the main hotel of Tianjin Normal University. The students are mostly Korean, with a few Japanese and foreigners as well. The Korean schools seem to offer a pretty good bang-for-buck ratio. Class sizes are small, (12 max, usually 5-8 ), and tuition is 600 RMB a month for 2 hours a day. The classes are pretty intensive, and I haven't felt the need to up my class time due to an abundance of free study time. There are a few other schools like this across the city, but they mostly only advertise in the Korean magazines, and since I don't speak Korean, I'm not exactly sure where they are.