Grading systems: Grade vs. Pass/Fail

[across]

I want to study Mandarin in some or all of these places: Taipei, Beijing and Harbin. I'm about to finish undergrad and don't want to worry about grades. I'll email the departments separately if need be, but does anyone know of the grading systems at any of these:

-National Taiwan University (regular program, not ICLP) in Taipei

-National Taiwan University (ICLP) in Taipei

-Boomerang Language Institute in Beijing

-Tsinghua in Beijing

-CET (multiple locations)

Thanks!

[imron]

Most places in mainland China give grades out of 100 for each subject. Less than 60% is considered a fail.

[across]

Thanks for the help. I hate the pressure involved in courses when they are for a grade...makes me study too much and obsess over the grade. The focus should be on learning, not getting good grades. I hope I can find some good schools that offer courses as pass/fail.

[anonymoose]

What kind of course are you hoping to pursue? If it's not a course where you end up with any formal qualification, then there's no question of any grade. Short-term language courses are like that. You might have exams, and they might be graded, but if it doesn't count towards anything, then who cares anyway?

[Meng Lelan]

When I was in CET Beijing in 1993 they had their own grade reports which doesn't show up on your home school's transcript. When there comes a time when you want to get college credit for CET courses you had to write CET and ask them to send the transcript to your school. So in a way the CET grades didn't do anything to your home school grades.

[across]

What kind of course are you hoping to pursue? If it's not a course where you end up with any formal qualification, then there's no question of any grade. Short-term language courses are like that. You might have exams, and they might be graded, but if it doesn't count towards anything, then who cares anyway?

I plan to study Mandarin in Asia after my bachelor's degree but before I start grad school. It won't be a part of any degree. I'll be applying to MBA programs after studying Chinese for a while. Years ago (I'm in my late twenties now), I got plenty of C's and F's in the limited amount of time that I went to college. These days, I avoid A- grades (90-94%) like the plague. The shit grades are from other schools than the one I'll soon be graduating from. I want admissions committees of top MBA programs to see that the shit grades are behind me. If I go to China and end up with 70% here, 80% there and so on, it will look like I've went back to my old ways. MBA admissions committees, as far as I can tell, commonly want transcripts from every undergraduate institution you've ever attended and/or the grades from every undergraduate level course you've ever taken. And that is my concern. If you are found to be untruthful in the application process, you could very well have a $160,000 (plus opportunity costs and living expenses) degree revoked. It would be a real joy trying to pay that off without having the degree. While studying Chinese, I don't want the constant stress that is associated with always wanting to fall in the 95-100% range. That's the sort of thinking I'll likely fall back into during grad school, so while studying Chinese, it would be nice to get a break from that. It's stressful and can cause one not to live a balanced life. I need to figure out a way to get top-notch Chinese instruction without hurting my odds of MBA admission. Any ideas, anyone? I appreciate everyone's comments.

[anonymoose]

I understand. Well, I studied Chinese for a year at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. They did have exams, though since they weren't going towards any formal qualification, it seems that the grades were rather inconsequential. As far as I know, they were used to assess whether you could progress to the next level the following term or not (but at advanced level, you were free to choose your own courses anyway). At the end of the course, you could get a certificate to show that you had attended the university. I don't know whether they print your grades on the certificate or otherwise give you a transcript. I didn't bother going to pick up my certificate as I went there to learn Chinese and wasn't bothered about grades and certificates.

[across]

If the results of classes in the PRC (and presumably Taiwan) are pretty much always recorded on a 0-100 basis rather than pass/fail, I'm thinking the best stress-reduction route in my situation could be to attend language schools that aren't part of colleges/universities. That way, I won't be expected to make any mention of those grades on MBA applications, and getting average grades in Chinese classes would thus be completely okay. I suppose what I'm looking for could be schools that aren't accredited in the sense that the coursework could be transferred to degree-granting institutions.

[amandagmu]

I recommend ICLP in Taiwan. They don't have an extremely formal grading system (there are no grades), but you do write a lot of essays, final speeches, take exams, ETC. Many of the teachers have years of experience and some have taught at Middlebury or other American universities--this can be very important for you when it comes time to apply to grad school. The ICLP program is quite serious and you do a lot of work which your teachers will unofficially "grade", thus they will get to know your Chinese level and your personality quite well. If you're a good student I assure you they can write excellent recommendations.