Confucius Institute Scholarship

[igacave]

@geogeo, I am affraid that it is not possible since 2014.

[MathewW.]

What are the deadlines. I am still waiting for my passport. Is it possible to enroll till end of May?

[alyoon]

@MathewW, it seems that deadline is the mid. of June. A lot of people are still waiting for their HSK\HSKK sertificates.

[CharlieLi]

Hey guys.

 

So I already have a problem with my perspective CIS. I have just recently decided I want to do a year of Chinese Study in China next academic year! However, it seems that I need the HSKK to qualify for the scholarship, even though I already have HSK 3. I immediately signed onto the next available HSKK exam which is taking place this month, however, the results are expected to come through a month later, (early June) which will means I'm going to have to wait until then before I can apply for the scholarship. It's fortunate that there is no deadline for scholarship application, however, I am aware that the universities themselves have application deadlines before they fill quotas etc. How would you advise to proceed?  If I apply for a less popular university, does it have more chance of being accepted? All help and advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[Geo_chan]

@Jellyfish Congratulations on getting accepted by Fudan!! 

 

My application is still on the pre-admission stage, and I haven't received any more updates for a couple months now...Not actually sure whether I've been pre-admitted or not since the wording of the final comment is a bit vague. Anyway, I've sent the university an email to clarify so hopefully they reply soon *fingers crossed*

 

@hoshinoumi Thank you for translating your blog post into english!! It's been very useful

[方茹婷]

Good news Everyone!
Today the website was all good, so I finally submitted my application. I wrote a letter to them on Sunday, both in English and Chinese, they answered to both of them today, but they responded to my English letter that "I should rather write a letter in Chinese to them".  
Good luck to everyone!

[LinZhenPu]

@geogeo

For anything other than the 4 week scholarship, a HSKK certificate is a basic requirement and it is best to have at least HSKK中级 although HSKK初级 can be accepted for some categories. But you really need to have a HSKK certificate. They will be looking for anything that automatically disqualifies applicants so as to reduce the bulk of applications so I would say that being without a HSKK certificate will mean their scholarship application will be automatically rejected.

 

@MathewW.

Leaving it until the end of May is really pushing it. To give you some idea, last year I tried to apply for this year's March intake and by the end of November it was already too late. You need to try to make sure you submit your application to Hanban before the the middle of May. For something so time critical you probably should have paid the priority processing fee for your passport. If you really cannot sign up before the end of May, make sure everything else is 100% ready to go including and this is very critical your Confucius Institute's recommendation letter. 

[igacave]

Guys, I am really nervous.  Uni that I applied to (Nanjing Normal University) wants to interview me. What kind of questions may I expect? 

I applied to MTCSOL.

[Jellyfish]

@Geo_chan Oh, really? To me your statement reads like "Fulfils the requirements, suggest to admit" (as in, Fudan is suggesting Hanban that they should grant you admission to Fudan under the CIS). I've got a somewhat similar (though a bit wordier) statement which I'll send you later, just for comparison. My Chinese friends said that based on the statement, Fudan are accepting and recommending me to Hanban, so I'm assuming yours is the same?

 

@方茹婷 Woohoo well done!

 

@CharlieLi A lot of members here are suggesting that Hanban look for any excuse to exclude people from funding so I guess based on that it's better to wait for your HSKK results. Personally, I was in a similar position (briefly) where they changed the HSK3 score requirements this year compared to last year. My previous score wasn't high enough and it didn't look as if there would be another HSK test in my area until mid-May. So my CI applications advisor told me I could submit my application as is, without meeting the requirements, and they could say in their recommendation that I'm preparing for the test in May and will submit my results as soon as they come out. In the end, I found a HSK test I could take and managed to get all my documents and requirements together in time. Bottom line though - if I were you, I'd ask at your CI if it's possible to submit your application as is (without the HSKK) and with them confirming that you've taken HSKK and are just waiting for the results.

Between submitting an incomplete application (with the CI's support) and submitting a late application (and risking that your uni/Hanban has already filled the quota), I don't know which is better. Does anyone here have any experience or insights with this?

[艾墨本]

2 minutes ago, Jellyfish said:

Between submitting an incomplete application (with the CI's support) and submitting a late application (and risking that your uni/Hanban has already filled the quota), I don't know which is better. Does anyone here have any experience or insights with this?

In general and after living in China, I would go with the first because with the right "connections" most any bureaucratic barriers can be overcome. In contrast, statistics are undeniable. If they are allotted 5 slots, they only get 5 slots. Period. The first is more human, the second is more mechanical.

[Jellyfish]

5 minutes ago, 艾墨本 said:

statistics are undeniable. If they are allotted 5 slots, they only get 5 slots. Period.

That was my instinct, too. If it was me I'd go with the early, incomplete (CI supported) submission. It's always better to get a wider opinion on this though so thank you for sharing your experience!

 

@CharlieLi About uni deadlines, with the CIS you don't have to apply directly to unis (unlike with the Government Scholarships) so the uni deadlines are not important here. You're right though in that unis do fill their quotas pretty quickly. From @hoshinoumi's excellent blog post ( https://unaestrellademaraventurera.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/cis-application-process/ ) you can see that if your first choice uni rejects you, your application gets forwarded to your second choice, and then to a random third party uni. Since your application is already a bit late it might be worth taking a "short cut" and choosing less popular unis as your first and second choice. That way you don't have to wait for unis to forward your application (and potentially adding days or weeks to the process). Again, this is just what I would do in your position - I'm by no means an expert and still waiting for the results of my own application.

[CharlieLi]

@Jellyfish

I've been advised by my Confucius Institute to application deadlines with individual universities, they said they couldn't write their own letter of recommendation until they see my HSKK score. I'm trying to trawl and research my way through a list of universities possible to apply for now, and I'm not quite sure which ones I need to be putting on my application for strategic purposes. If anyone has any insider knowledge here, i'd be very appreciative!

 

There are a heck of a lot of universities in China which accept this scholarship, so it's quite hard to 'know' which are less popular. I'll get in touch with them to see if it's possible to send my application without the HSKK, with the assurance that I am awaiting scores. 

[Geo_chan]

@Jellyfish Yeah, I checked my emails this morning and Fudan confirmed they have pre-admitted me. I guess I was thrown off by the "suggest" 建议 part. Anyway, I guess we're both just waiting for Hanban now! 

 

@CharlieLi With regards to strategically choosing which unis to put on your application, I would ask your CI whether they have a partner university because sometimes it's easier

to get into that one. Or ask them if they have any contacts in other universities. The reason I say this, is because I knew who also applied to Fudan Uni last year via CIS and she got rejected initially. But because the director of my CI used her contacts and guanxi, she managed to get Fudan to accept her in the end.

 

[Jellyfish]

@CharlieLi Bummer that your CI won't support your application without the document. I don't know all that much about applying directly to unis for your CIS place - it seems a bit strange to me but if your CI recommended you do that then I guess go with it! It's definitely a good idea to contact your uni(s) of choice about your prospective application or CIS. I recommend you contact both the department you wish to study in (in your case probably Chinese language) and the foreign students admission office. I've contacted four unis' foreign students admission offices, none of them ever replied. The department heads are much quicker/more reliable with their replies in my experience.

About which unis might be less popular - unis that are not located in major cities and which don't rank high on the Chinese uni rankings.

[艾墨本]

3 hours ago, igacave said:

Guys, I am really nervous.  Uni that I applied to (Nanjing Normal University) wants to interview me. What kind of questions may I expect? 

I applied to MTCSOL.

I'm also hoping there is someone that can reply to this question or talk about university interviews more generally. What do they consist of?

[Jellyfish]

@igacave and everyone else who is interested in uni interviews: Sorry in advance, this is not going to be terribly helpful but it's all I know. I've read somewhere (probably either in the Government Scholarship forum or in the uni forums) that for Shanghai Jiaotong university, applicants must sit a skype interview. I've been looking for the posts but I couldn't find them again (I only had a quick look so it's worth digging for posts on SHJT interviews in the forums I mentioned). From memory, the interviews were short, involved a brief test on the subject the applicant wanted to study, and overall were a bit shambolic (with bad internet connections and audio). At least one person who described their experience was sure they'd failed but I think everyone who posted in the forum passed their interview (including the person who thought they'd failed).

Have you tried looking at the Nanjing Normal Uni forum (if there is one)?

[LinZhenPu]

@igacave Be prepared to answer questions (in Chinese, of course!) about your personal background and your Chinese learning background (where you studied, how long for, what you do to study in your own time), any previous experiences of having been to China, your previous experiences studying at university, what you can bring to Nanjing Normal University's student community, what you plan to do during your time in China and Nanjing other than studying, your motivation for undertaking the MTCSOL, what research topic you have thought about and your future plans after you complete the program. Good luck!

On 03/05/2017 at 1:50 AM, CharlieLi said:

 If I apply for a less popular university, does it have more chance of being accepted?

Probably, but bear in mind that the less popular universities may have a smaller number of places available for scholarship students.

[igacave]

Hey guys, after today's interview I got preaccepted by my first Uni. It seems to go so much faster than years before. I know that every Uni has its own regulations, but I think that you shouldnt wait till last moment.

@LinZhenPu, I thank you very much. You have been tremendous help. Where have you applied?

@Jellyfish, you were right about problems with connecting - it was a disaster  thanks for all your help. And good luck! 

Let's keep each other informed

[igacave]

to sum up for future applicants:

1) It is getting harder to get a scholarship.

I have applied 3 times, 1st time failed, 2nd time won, 3rd time - we will see. But I observe what's going on for four years already  and I see that every year they demand more documents, higher scores and interviews. 

2)High HSK and HSKK results don't guarantee anything these days.

Sometimes it is just luck. But I would choose Uni that is not very famous, preferably associated with your local CI.

3) Apply as soon as possible.

Scholarship is getting more and more popular. Every year Universities have to check a lot of documents. From my experiance: Fudan, Nanjing Normal University and Hangzhou Normal University usually deal with applicants realy fast. I know people who have been pre-admitted already, and it is 4th of May.

 

[Kemian]

@igacave Congrats for the pre admission ! What did they ask you during the interview ?