Cucas And Applications To Chinese Universities

[Jordi]

Hi,

Anyone has had any experience using CUCAS (China's University and College Admission System, www.cucas.cn) for applying to a chinese university?

So far, I think:

Pros: They let you pay the admission fee of the universities by Paypal, which it's far more convenient than sending by post in a cheque or cash. Besides, you can upload the documents required for applying to their website and they send them to the university. So if they can save me the hassle of sending documents by post to China, it's worth it (my country's post service is both expensive and unreliable).

Cons: They charge you a 30 USD fee for their services (for this price, you get five admissions) and it seems the admissions fees for some universities stated on their website are a bit overpriced.

So my questions are:

1) Are they as good as it seems?

2) Is using CUCAS faster than applying directly to the the university?

3) Any hidden charges?

Thanks a lot!

[roddy]

CUCAS (also known as chiwest earlier) are quite new, don't think we've heard from anyone who's gone through the whole process with them. I can see the need for an option between doing everything yourself, and the full-service study-in-China agencies. There was some mention of them here. I think Admissions.cn is a similar deal, not sure though.

[fanglu]

They charge you a 30 USD fee for their services (for this price, you get five admissions) and it seems the admissions fees for some universities stated on their website are a bit overpriced.

Which means they don't just charge you USD30, and I'm guessing that is the 'hidden charges' you asked about. Having said that, its not too bad.

So for example BLCU charges at USD75 application fee if you apply directly for a 1 semester course. Going through cucas is USD90(BLCU application fee) + USD30 (cucas processing fee - in theory you could apply again and not repay this, but why would you need to apply more than once?). So the difference is USD45. Depending on what your bank charges for telegraphic transfers and how much the postage from your country to china is I suppose its not too bad, particularly considering that you can do it all from home and avoid having to go to the bank and post office.

[kdavid]

I have first and second-hand experience with them.

When I first found the site I was floored. How could something related to China's universities be so organized and efficient? My first impression was wrong.

Sure, it looks great, and the "live help" helps, but none of the reps have been able to answer any of my questions on the spot. They always have to "check with the university" and will "send me the email later". To date, I've never received any answers nor follow-up emails. I've even made an attempt to follow up with them on their own projected time line and have still failed to get results.

And I wasn't asking difficult questions:

What's the breadth of this course?

Who are the professors?

Can I enroll in this program without the HSK?

Are any scholarships available for the fall start?

None of this is surprising, really. I can understand with all the universities here that one person wouldn't have access to a lot of information. You also can't expect that many universities here will be as well organized as this site looks.

My second-hand experience comes through a colleague. She registered through CUCAS for a degree program at HIT here in Harbin. After she registered (and paid all of their fees), she was told she had to visit the university. When she did, HIT told her she then had to pay their (HIT's) registration fees AND fill out all of the paperwork she filled out for CUCAS a second time. So, she had to do all of the work twice and pay the fees twice, as if she hadn't used CUCAS at all.

My advice: cut them out. Contact the school directly. Take names and notes. You'll learn more in the process.