Chinese Government Scholarship: Transferring Schools, Changing University Placement

[tcvu]

Hello, I am a sophomore at the University of Delaware and have been awarded the Chinese Government Scholarship for the academic year of 2010-2011.

I applied to three schools:

1. Peking University

2. Beijing Language & Culture University (BLCU)

3. Nanjing University

I was placed at Central South University in Changsha, Hunan. FML.

I am going to document my attempt to transfer my scholarship to a school in Beijing. I have arranged accommodations and tickets for Beijing, and was only alerted July 28th, that I would not be in Beijing. My school (UD) has always sent people to Beijing because we are guaranteed a certain amount of slots for the Chinese Government Scholarship ever year. I had no idea I wouldn't be in Beijing. I thought BLCU would be a safety because I figured I would not be accepted at Peking... Central South University is usually ranked top 20 schools in China. How I got into there but not BLCU is mind boggling to me.

I contacted Liu Xiao at the Chinese Embassy in Washington and am in the midst of contacting officials at Beijing Normal, Central South, and of course the Chinese Scholarship Council.

I have read in many of these forums that it is almost impossible to get in touch with the Chinese Scholarship Council... but I'm going to try. Hopefully, I can document my attempts and this thread will be useful to future scholars who might undergo the same duress and anxiety I am feeling.

P.S. If ANYONE has any information about living in Changsha or attending Central South University-- PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE reply to this thread and give me some input. I have found nothing substantial online so far. I just want to know what international dorms are like, or if my mandarin language studies will be affected by the local dialect. ANY advice will be welcomed.

P.P.S. If you have attempted this process in the past, please post your experience for future reference.

[tcvu]

My back and forth emails with the Chinese Embassy:

ME: I have been placed in Central South University, but I do not know if this is a mistake. I applied to three schools -- Peking University, Beijing Language & Culture, and Nanjing University. I never applied to Central South University. Is it possible for my school assignment to be in Beijing, as I know no one in Hu Nan? Are decisions final? Please, I'd appreciate any information.

EMBASSY: If the schools you applied have recruited enough students and refuse to accept you, CSC will contact other schools for you based on your major. It's probably unlikely to shift to other schools.

ME: Thank you for your reply! If the schools I have applied to have recruited enough students -- is it possible to apply to Beijing Normal University? My school (the University of Delaware) has a special relationship with BNU, and I was there this past winter for a study abroad. I did not apply to BNU at the time I sent in my application because I had not visited China yet. Can I forward my application to another institution and transfer my scholarship there? I feel like there could be a possibility due to the nature of BNU and UD's relationship. I've also already figured out housing and was about to sign a lease for an apartment in Beijing. If BNU does not need to provide housing, would there be a better chance of acceptance?

EMBASSY: Your host univeristy kept your documents. If you want to apply BNU, you will have to prepare another document for them. And, you must talk with CSC and also Central North University. I am not sure whether you can bring the scholarship to another university.

ME: Thank you for your prompt response! Is there a liaison officer for CSC within the United States, or must I call their number in China? I can't seem to find an email address that works for them either. I will try calling both Beijing Normal and CSC tonight. Is there anything you feel I should do? Does CSC normally respond to calls? Thank you for all of your help!

EMBASSY: It seems probably unlikely to shift to other schools. I used to contact CSC for scholarship acceptants to shift to other schools in the past. But all of them were refused. Each university has a fixed number of scholarships. If you want to change school, that mean you will give up the scholarship of your host university, and the university you want to go has recruited enough students. They can't have more students even if they have got scholarship from other schools.

ME: I know that it is probably unlikely, but I will make a round of calls tonight. I still want to try to see if I can switch universities. I've prepared this entire year to be in Beijing, so I want to put in my best effort to see if I can be there. Thank you again for your help!

EMBASSY: try this number 86-10-6609XXXX

This person is in charge of the scholarship program. Sorry I don't know his name

I don't believe people should try to transfer to schools unless it is a serious situation where you are in an entirely different city. Please PM me or reply to this thread if you would like the number and explain your situation and I will gladly release the number. I don't wish to release the information in case Ms. Liu Xiao at the Chinese Embassy was doing me a favor.

[Jonnynue]

as mentioned in the other thread I like you have been sent to a completely different city than I was looking for. I was hoping to be in Zhejiang or Tianjin. I was trying to avoid the main cities as they have way too many foreigners already. While in Beijing you get exposed to putonghua you also are less likely to face having to use your Chinese in all situations thus giving you an outlet to keep using English.

As long as the learning program is good I think a smaller city might be better now to learn about the culture and language. If you need a specific major and its not Chinese then I would highly recommend switching to a school that is well established for that. However with the Chinese language I think your good to go as long as your not say in Guangzhuo or Xiamen. .

[tcvu]

I guess one of my main concerns is whether or not I will absorb the Changsha/Hunan accent? I heard they mix some letters in their Mandarin? I could understand clearly the Beijing accent but have been warned that I will not understand the Hunan accent. I want to go somewhere where I will absorb the most intelligible Chinese accent for business purposes. My main concern is my Chinese language studies being affected. I also want to figure out my accommodations. >_< I had everything figured out in Beijing, and this hubbub has really put a wrench into everything. I am calling CSC tonight -- and I also have an interview for an internship in Beijing tonight. Hopefully things will sort themselves out slowly.

UPDATE about transferring: Received an email from my Chinese professor at UD saying that there may have been a misunderstanding. She is trying to contact another professor for more information.

[jbradfor]

If your main concern is with the accent, then don't worry.

Yes, locals in Hunan have a reasonably strong accent. But it is extremely unlikely that you will acquire it. I'm not sure what your level is now, but unless you are very gifted at languages odds are you will have a very strong English accent, unless you study Chinese for many years and really work on it. Most of your teachers should have been to have a standard accent anyway. [And if they don't, then the quality of the school is such that the quality of your teachers' accent is probably not your biggest concern.] In terms of understanding the local accent, that might take a bit of work. However, my understanding is that the accents in Changsha are fairly uniform compared to, say Beijing. So once you learn to understand the local accent, you should be able to understand most people there. This is as opposed to, say, Beijing, in which such a high percent of the people are recent immigrants that you never know what accent you will encounter.

BTW, I'm feeling pretty much no sympathy for you. You have a full scholarship to go to China to study. That's great! To say your life is f*($&()#d because it's not the school of your choice is a bit extreme. I understand you are taken aback by this and it changes your plans, but have some perspective!

[Sarpedon]

Oops, Wrong Thread.

[tcvu]

Lol, I know. I'm thrilled to have received the scholarship! I'm sorry if my post was a little extreme. It's just I've been making arrangements for Beijing for the last half year, so this speed bump has put me into a predicament I wasn't prepared for (even more so, now that I only have a month before school is in session). I'm excited to be in China for a year! I promise!

As for picking up the accent -- I am Vietnamese, so I'm more worried about getting rid of my Vietnamese accent that I have when speaking Chinese (which is difficult when they're both tonal languages). I don't want to worry on top of that about getting rid of a local accent. =( I'm hoping in the city, it'll be more subdued (the Hunan accent that is)? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks so much for your input! It's the first comforting thing I've heard so far.

[Jonnynue]

@tcvu hey so am i (ok 1/2). As picking up the language I would only worry about the accent if you have a very hard time learning the language. As long as your in class you will be fine. In fact the benefit is that the teachers will know how to help you avoid the accent. They also have to teach the locals to speak properly too. In Beijing they seem to be more lax assuming you will learn or just can't learn. The only time I have seen someone not learn is if they are in the canton areas and don't go to school. Shanghai in the past seemed to be a problem as people wanted to speak shanghaiese and were strongly opinionated about it. As far as business goes you anything close to putonghua is good, but once you get out of Beijing people respect you when you understand their dialect of putonghua. So you for this you will either need to travel and stay in various areas or just be good at picking up the difference.

So here is my pro/con list for Central southern

Pro

1. Learn both Putonghua and a local version of it

2. Away from a bunch of foreigners

3. Less chance of being forced to use English

4. More cultural exposure

5. Business opportunities for smaller people

6. Much cheaper

7. Better weather

Con

1.Beijing has more conveniences

2.BJ Lots of foreigners to speak and hang out with

3.BJ Lots of bars/restaurants/shops

4.BJ Lots of people speak English

5.BJ if you look Asian and don't speak Chinese will be less pressure to learn.

6.If you look Asian in Hunan they will just assume you speak mandarin so no english.

7.BJ is 3x more expensive

8.Business opportunity are for the big guys, it is hard (permits and money) to set up your own shop there.

[Patpat]

Another person in my dept has spent a considerable amount of time in Changsha and has really good things to say about it. He learned spoken Mandarin there, mostly through osmosis, and beyond a few zhi-chi-shi problems that being in class would certainly have prevented, his "local" accent is not noticeable.

[roddy]

I just sent you a PM morison!

Wherever possible please keep discussion in public so that others can contribute and benefit - would appreciate it if you can repost any questions here.

[tcvu]

So I received this email from my friend in China:

i am Hunaner and changsha is close to my hometown. but to tell the truth we dont speak mandarin here daily and we speak kind of dialect instead which you prossibly can not understand any one word . do you know the Cantonese? our dialect is really strong and hard to get an idea as the Cantonese does. so ,that is to say , you will be hard to find some guys speaking good Mandarin around you. in Beijing almost everyone can speak perfect Mandain. I know lots of friends who are from the North china and they all begin to speak poor Mandarin due to the influence of surrounding .that is why i am so worry about you. changsha is not beijing and shanghai. it is just a capital of a province , its public order, people quality and education quality is suly worse than beijing shanghai even guangdong. of course the central south china university is a good university but you know what ? it is actually a technology university does not perform well in the liberal art field. so why not choose hunan normal university or hunan university at least one is an art university and the other is a comprehensive university.

Any input would be appreciated!

And this is the email from Morison20 through PM:

There are two different internet connections. School internet is shared and so is slow in peak hour. It is 15RMB per month. Alternative is ADSL from China Telecom. For 1 year, you will have to pay 600 RMB for 2Mbps (Mega-bit per second) dedicated speed.

The teachers teach in standard Mandarin with proper accent.

[ben_bnw]

Hello !

I'd love to know what you finally decided concerning this scholarship opportunity in Changsha Uni. I'll apply soon for the next scholarship program (2011-2012), and same as you, I will choose Beijing in priority. If I have the choice of giving up the scholarship, or going one year to a province capital such as Changsha (or any "middle-size" metropol in China, I admit it's hard to decide. Pros and Contras.... Can you PLEASE tell your feedbacks about that experience?

Thank you so much in advance

benoît

[morison20]

TCVU >> Sharing your experience in Changsha may help others to know more, plan better and prepare themselves for completely different environment.

[dtanak]

Hey, i've been studying in Beijing for 4 years now trying out different majors and learning the language, I found a one I really liked. It's the central uni. of economics and finance, i'm supposed to be a 2nd year student is there this year.

I applied and got the full Chinese goverment scholarship. and put my current uni. in all the of the slots, BUT i got sent to Hubei uni. in Changsha. I 've been there be4 on a school trip, it didn't fit me well. It's a beautiful city, but I remember getting sick and the food not being right for me, plus I love ma school, it took me so long to find a school I truly like. I'm already a 2nd year student there AND the teacher who's in charge of scholarships of my school said he would accept me, he was shocked when I didn't get into my school.

My friends r here, my teachers r here, I already paid for this years rent... my whole life is here. I LOVE BEIJING.

I don't know what to do now.

So what did u do? Did u go to Changsha? How is it? Please reply ASAP!

[roddy]

I've moved some posts about Central South University to here

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35492-central-south-university/

If you have questions about a specific university, please find the relevant topic here

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35207-university-index/

We're trying to keep information about universities easy to find.

[Aicha 01]

Hi! I am going next year to Fuzhou medical school or Hubei medical school for Mbbs in English. But I was wondering if there is a possibility for me to transfer to another Chinese medical university in my second year.  Please can anyone help me?

[EnergyReaper]

@Aicha 01  You'd better consult the school you will go. Good luck!

[Flickserve]

On 5/26/2019 at 3:13 AM, Aicha 01 said:

! I am going next year to Fuzhou medical school or Hubei medical school for Mbbs in English. But I was wondering if there is a possibility for me to transfer to another Chinese medical university in my second year.  Please can anyone help me?

 

Why would you want to change?

[Aicha 01]

Actually, I don't know exactly what it will be like to study there, but I was thinking maybe I would want to transfer to a top medical school for my second or third year, or just in case I don't like it. 

[Flickserve]

11 hours ago, Aicha 01 said:

I was thinking maybe I would want to transfer to a top medical school for my second or third year

 

If they didn't take you first time round, why would they take you in the second year or third year? I would probably think the chances are very low but you can ask. Not sure how your original uni would view it though - possibly not sympathetic as you are effectively saying that they are not good enough.