Tsinghua University

[lylestyle]

Chiquita,

So after being in the IUP program longer than a month, do you still think its worth it? I am actually looking into doing it next year, would love to know if you're liking it. Main question is, is it really worth the price tag, are you learning alot? Thanks

[djwebb2004]

Chiquita and others with IUP experience: I am wondering if I went to IUP with around 2000 characters, how big an improvement in my vocabulary would be seen in 32 weeks. If they made students learn hundreds of words a week, it would be possible to get to a very advanced level in a very intensive 32 weeks. Do they have a structured way of introducing vocabulary? Did you learn hundreds of words every week? Do most people leave the course scoring top marks in the Advanced HSK? On the IUP website it says that there are 6 levels - I thought you had to be intermediate to start off with! Does this mean that most peopel studying 4 8-week modules do Levels 3, 4, 5 and 6? Thank you.

[Tony]

hi everyone,

i just want to ask a bit more about tsinghua's mandarin program. much of the discussion on this thread was on the iup program.

i've read a couple threads on this board with regards to the mandarin program @ tsinghua and the reviews have been overwhelmingly negative. i'm wondering if this is in comparison to how good BCLU really is or if it is just plain garbage althogether. that is to say, is it really that bad compared to what you would find in other schools across china?

i really need some advice because i'm seriously thinking about applying to another school.

thanks in advance,

tony

[trevelyan]

The teaching is no worse than elsewhere, and the classes were about 12-14 to a room when I went there, which is much better than BCLU now. I'd check class size and go with whichever school gives you the smallest class. A minor problem is that the desks in their classrooms seem to have been designed for 12 year olds, and the seats sloped downwards.

The campus is gorgeous, but the real problem is that the foreign students are isolated and Tsinghua lacks the social student community of universities like Beida and even BCLU. They students just literally work too hard. If you want to do club-like things and have an interest in anything besides photography you might want to look elsewhere.

Positives: they have a great quasi-McDonalds on campus which does a great chicken-burger.