Which university?(1yr language course) : Tsinghua, BNU, Beihang, CNU, or BLCU?

[Starcaller]

Hi there everyone and nice to meet you all

This is my first post in this forum. I wanna study Chinese in Beijing for around 1 year. I've planned to study this upcoming spring semester 2010, and now im considering which university should I go. I've done quite a lot of research, tho I cant seem to decide where to go. I wanna make the decision right, and it would make this whole thing a lot more easier if i could have some advices from people here

Now there are several university choices in my mind. There are Tsinghua, BNU (Beijing Normal Universities), Beihang, CNU (Capital Normal University), and BLCU.

At first when I started planning to study in China, I thought of Tsinghua as my first choice, since it's known as one of the best university in China. It would be nice to study there. If I'm correct I know its well known for engineering science, tho I have no idea about their Chinese language course. From what I've heard their teachers seem to be younger than other universities. Is that good or bad? Their campus are beautiful and big. I would love to know about learning experience. Is their class big or small? what about foreigners diversity? and what I should expect from studying here? For one thing Tsinghua's cost n fee could be among the most expensive ones in Beijing.

For Beihang, I think my first impression on this university is good. Its among the best Uni in Beijing and is well known for... um... rocket or aircraft science thingie? Their campus seems really nice, looks new and clean, not too big or small. Its around the city area and transportation seems pretty good. It got one of the cheapest course too.

About BNU (Beijing Normal University), it's well known as a university for teachers if im correct. I've heard that the course here is pretty intense and teachers are strict with you. That could be a good thing if I wanna improve my Chinese fast, tho I also wanna take sometime to enjoy other activities too. I dont know about other things about this university, tho.

I'm pretty clueless about CNU (Capital Normal University). It comes to my interest because I applied for a 1500$ scholarship exam. I wrote an essay and I personally think i did pretty well, tho there's no guarantee I will get the scholarship. I heard this university has undergone some serious renovation not long ago and all buildings are new. I'm not sure about education quality. I can't find enough information of this university online anywhere. Their wikipedia page is rather tiny. The only factor I consider this university is the scholarship. If anyone can provide me more info about this university i would appreciate it. Btw, the result of this scholarship will come out on 25th December 2009, and by that time I can't apply for some universities anymore. Should I wait or should I move on?

And yes, the last one is BLCU. The tuition cost is considered on the higher side for me, and I believe most Western students choose to study here. I would prefer a university with less native english speakers, tho the course here might be good as this university is meant for teaching Chinese to foreigners, right?

And is there any difference in social groups between each university? I think most top students in China go to Tsinghua? I would love to know the environment of each university, personal experience, or anything you wanna share. Btw, whats the speed of each university's wireless internet in China?

Further information about me is that I'm pretty much a beginner in Chinese. I know a few words here and there, took a beginner course as my free elective in college, but that's all. I don't know enough words or grammar to make a decent conversation.

I'm sorry if my post is a little long, but I'm taking this China study trip seriously as I wanna improve my Chinese as much as possible. I also wanna take a break from my design career for a while and hopefully find my inspiration in China, and find what I really wanna do. Since I've entered the design industry for roughly 1 year I never get a chance to create a work I can call my own. So maybe I'll start my own project during the time I'm studying in China.

So if anyone can kindly provide me with information I would truly appriciate that. If you have any information please feel free to share. I wanna thank you in advanced for anyone who answer my question. Thank you. love ya all!

[dali3927]

i would suggest BLCU and Tsinghua as first two options, they are both located in Wudaokou area which is a great environment for learning language. I have a friend who is currently studying at BLCU in group class, her classmates are from different countries, she got a scholarship from BLCU as well for one year study, basic free, no need to pay anything.

i think all those university are offering group class ranges from 15-20 people in a class, sometimes it depends. however, it save you a lot more money if you study at university than private Chinese schools. I know some friends who are taking group class in uni. and take some one on one Chinese class as supplement, it works out great. hope it helps.

[knadolny]

And yes, the last one is BLCU. The tuition cost is considered on the higher side for me, and I believe most Western students choose to study here. I would prefer a university with less native english speakers, tho the course here might be good as this university is meant for teaching Chinese to foreigners, right?

This is the school I chose. I thought it was great, but I wouldn't necessarily think it is the best for a beginner. You'll be in class with a lot of Koreans and Japanese (maybe) who will be ahead of you on the characters. I found that useful in my studies but I started as an intermediate. I think the beginner classes are not nearly as good as the ones I had in the US. Of course I paid probably 10 times as much in the US as well. You'll just have to work harder.

And is there any difference in social groups between each university?

The foreign student at BLCU is huge and overwhelming. I liked that and had a blast while learning Chinese. As I wrote somewhere else I met my wife at BLCU so I think the social groups are great there. Wudaokou where BLCU and Tsinghua are located has a great buzz, is full of tasty restaurants, and can stil have a Beijing feel even though there are lots of "foreigners".

I think most top students in China go to Tsinghua?

They go there for engineering and not to learn Chinese. You won't get much benefit from the fact it's rated highly in engineering. you said you had a design career so maybe you could meet people while you are there in your field.

I would love to know the environment of each university, personal experience, or anything you wanna share. Btw, whats the speed of each university's wireless internet in China?

I enjoyed having classes with Koreans (north and south), Japanese, Cubans, etc that I can't really meet in the US. The classes are bigger than the US and the teaching style took some getting used to. I didn't like the teaching style at first but after six months appreciated it.

Further information about me is that I'm pretty much a beginner in Chinese. I know a few words here and there, took a beginner course as my free elective in college, but that's all. I don't know enough words or grammar to make a decent conversation.

Good luck!

[Starcaller]

hi dali3927 and knadolny! thanks a lot for your replies!

i would suggest BLCU and Tsinghua as first two options, they are both located in Wudaokou area which is a great environment for learning language.

makes me think that environment may affect our language learning quite a lot. It would be nice if I get to socialize and make friends with the local. Maybe joining groups or social activities? Will the universities provide us such opportunity or do we need to find it ourselves?

I have a friend who is currently studying at BLCU in group class, her classmates are from different countries, she got a scholarship from BLCU as well for one year study, basic free, no need to pay anything.

I wish I got scholarship like that XD

This is the school I chose. I thought it was great, but I wouldn't necessarily think it is the best for a beginner. You'll be in class with a lot of Koreans and Japanese (maybe) who will be ahead of you on the characters. I found that useful in my studies but I started as an intermediate. I think the beginner classes are not nearly as good as the ones I had in the US. Of course I paid probably 10 times as much in the US as well. You'll just have to work harder.

Thanks for ur helpful advice. I'm currently taking a chinese course from a chinese tutor near my house. the course is for beginner level and all students here are children XD hahaha. very young children too. Most of them are in elementary school. It felt kinda weird and funny that I'm the ONLY grown-up here, but after a few times it feels quite fine and refreshing in a way. They are all very bright and energetic the course proceeds quite slowly, but its better than nothing. I'll quit my job in a month to get prepared for my china trip, and I think i'll use that time to intensively trained myself in chinese as much as I can before i go (tho i dont think i'll pass to intermediate level by that time XD)

Wudaokou sounds like a nice place to hang out. I still havent decided where to go, tho. I was just informed that the result for my scholarship at CNU will come out this 30th November (a lot earlier than their first statement). A few more days later. The scholarship is only partial tho and I'm still considering other universities. Oh well I just cant seem to decide. Seems BLCU got nice reviews around here. If anyone got info or experience about other universities feel free to share too!

[brian.h]

I plan to go to BLCU in fall 2010 for one year. My reason for choosing BLCU is the classmates. I am studying in china to get an immersion experience, but at the same time I do not want to be a lost soul who speaks little mandarin. My reasoning is most of the students will have a similar mindset and hopefully want to meet new people from around the world. I considered Shanghai, but I decided it will be better if I can pick up the Beijing accent.

Let me know which route you choose.

I would like to stay in touch with you to share things we learn about preparing for the journey and the experience. I am concerned about housing right now. I don't want to pay the high prices that programs include in packages, but I don't know enough about locations and the little details about apartments or roommates. thebeijinger.com has been a good resource thus far.

Good Luck, Brian

[Xiwang]

A Chinese American writer living in Beijing recently described Wudaokou as being the "Harvard Square" of the Beijing university district. I love that description. Here at my school in Shanghai, there is no such area like that where students naturally congregate. I didn't realize until recently how much I missed Wudaokou.

[greenarcher]

Having a couple of english-speaking classmates is not entirely a bad thing specially if you are starting at the most basic level with zero knowledge of Chinese. It is so hard to communicate with your classmates when you don't have a common language (like a Japanese who can speak only Japanese). Your class would be something like the Tower of Babel. Yes this happens even in a school with plenty of foreigners like BLCU.

About Tsinghua

The types of classes for the advanced level seems pretty good, campus is huge and the number of foreign students is very few. They use books from Peking University.

About Peking University

If I did not go to BLCU, I should go here, that's what my BLCU teachers said. Their language program is much better than that of Tsinghua according to them. I also know people from Beida and what's good about this school is that you can have a different level for your writing/reading and speaking/listening unlike in BLCU where you have the same level for all classes.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, it all boils down to your eagerness to learn. I know someone from Ukraine who reached the highest level here in BLCU after just 2 years of studying.

My teacher also said that for foreigners, it is the HSK level that matters and not very much on the school.

My short review of BLCU

There are a LOT of students here with ZERO chinese. I'm in the intermediate class but I can vouch for the teachers here. They really specialize in teaching language to foreign students (as opposed to comments I've read somewhere stating they are merely chinese-speaking locals), what's even better is that most of them doesn't have an accent that can hamper learning. The books are great too, I think a bit better than Peking University Press.

If you have ZERO chinese, BLCU is the place to go. Some say it's a party school and there's too many foreigners but for me, if you really want to learn chinese, this is a great place to start. Chinese is the universal language here, there are a good number of students who don't speak english.

Campus is not as nice as Tsinghua or Beida but the small size enables you to reach anything on foot. It's pretty cozy too.

The high number of foreigners can work both ways. You can get stuck with english but you can make friends with people from different nations. We are 19 in class composed of 11 countries.

Plus the location is very good, walking distance to the subway station, lots of small malls and supermarkets nearby, lots of food choices too.

[Starcaller]

Hiya Thanks for all your reply! You guys are so sweet! its very helpful! haha BLCU still gets the most positive review here. Make it tough to decide where to go

A Chinese American writer living in Beijing recently described Wudaokou as being the "Harvard Square" of the Beijing university district. I love that description. Here at my school in Shanghai, there is no such area like that where students naturally congregate. I didn't realize until recently how much I missed Wudaokou.

Xiwang, I love that description too. haha. sounds like an interesting place. I'll make sure to visit there once im in Beijing

I plan to go to BLCU in fall 2010 for one year. My reason for choosing BLCU is the classmates. I am studying in china to get an immersion experience, but at the same time I do not want to be a lost soul who speaks little mandarin. My reasoning is most of the students will have a similar mindset and hopefully want to meet new people from around the world. I considered Shanghai, but I decided it will be better if I can pick up the Beijing accent.

Let me know which route you choose.

I would like to stay in touch with you to share things we learn about preparing for the journey and the experience. I am concerned about housing right now. I don't want to pay the high prices that programs include in packages, but I don't know enough about locations and the little details about apartments or roommates. thebeijinger.com has been a good resource thus far.

Good Luck, Brian

Nice to meet u Brian! i'll let you know once i've decided! Maybe we could hang out sometimes when we are both in Beijing, if you dont mind.

I dont know much about housing info but i think theres plenty information in this forum, especially info about BLCU. Maybe you can try this thread:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/63-taiwanese-writer-san-mao26&highlight=BLCU

theres some nice information inside

Greenarcher, your review about BLCU is nice and helpful. I'm pretty much a beginner so maybe its a nice place for me XD. Tho I'm a lil concerned about zero local students. Awww I would love to have some chinese friends. Thinking about campus size, i guess i prefer one thats not too huge, so it wont be a pain to walk between buildings. Maybe I'll cut Tsinghua out of my potential choices.

Tomorrow the CNU scholarship result will come out! Dunno how its gonna turn out.

If I dont get the scholarship I may consider applying for Beihang or BLCU.

More replies and info are welcome guys!

[greenarcher]

There ARE local chinese students in BLCU. As a matter of fact I think there are a lot more local students than foreign students where almost all are more than eager to meet people from the west.

[Starcaller]

hey! im back again thanks for all ur replies.

The scholarship result came out and I didnt get it =/ but i guess its fine since CNU isnt my university of interest in the first place.

Now I'm applying for Beihang university would love to go for BLCU, tho I'm concerned about budget. and Beihang does seem like a nice place =) I'll be there this spring semester 2010. Thanks again for all ur input, I really appreciate it! wish u guys luck, and see ya in Beijing this upcoming spring!

[victjai]

Hi ^^

I'm currently studying at BNU taking their language courses and management courses.

In my opinion it's a very good school to learn Chinese.

The teachers aren't really that strict but they do help you alot to improve your chinese

[MrZ]

Hi sorry to push this up again but has anyone done Beihang? looks like the cheapest of the lot so far. any downsides in regards of the teaching?

Cheers