My scholarship worth US $2000 AND ONE VOTE OF YOURS!

[prateeksha]

大家好! I am Prateeksha from India. I have already made a few posts on this forum regarding scholarships and funding to come and study at Beijing Language and Culture University. I have finally had luck and have been selected amongst 30 candidates for the 2000 US dollar scholarship at CUCAS [China University and College Admission System].

Here is my complete profile: http://scholarship.cucas.edu.cn/candidateInfo.php?oid=703

It will only take a minute of your time to vote for me and help me win this scholarship. Voting is open till 30th July. This 2000 dollar scholarship means a lot to me. Please vote, and please ask your friends as well. 谢谢你们!

[Brian US]

So the winner of the scholarship is decided by an online vote open to everyone? Is this organization backed by the Chinese government? I've never heard of this and would be very cautious. I hope you didn't send them any money.

edit: After going through the website it is clear this is not an official government program. Nothing wrong with going through a private company to study/travel in China, but when you have to pay $30 to be "eligible" for a $2,000 scholarship then they might be up to something.

[prateeksha]

Brian US, thank you for taking out time for my cause :rolleyes:

You might have figured that it is not an official government program, but the embassy of PRC in New Delhi recommended CUCAS when I contacted them regarding admission procedure and college details. This is what their About CUCAS page on their official website says:

"CUCAS - China’s University & College Admission System - is the official online portal for international students applying to China's universities. CUCAS was set up with support from China’s Ministry of Education to act as an online liaison between international students and China’s universities. "

I have not paid them 30 dollars to make me eligible for the scholarship. I took admission in BLCU through CUCAS with 30 dollars as their processing fee.

This Excellent Student Scholarship is going to be decided in two stages. First was the primary evaluation, after which 30 shortlisted candidates are in the run for public voting. I personally find this system of open public voting strange, but this is how it is.

Anyway, it is my common knowledge that either CUCAS is not a topic which is ever brought into discussion on this forum or people are not very aware of it. To us in India, it seems very convenient and reliable.

[imron]

Anyway, it is my common knowledge that either CUCAS is not a topic which is ever brought into discussion on this forum or people are not very aware of it

It's come up several times before:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/29068-is-cucas-legit/

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25675-cucas-and-applications-to-chinese-universities/

After going through the website it is clear this is not an official government program.

Not an official government program, but I don't think you can just get a .edu.cn domain name because you want one, so there are probably connections somewhere, however tenuous.

[prateeksha]

imron, thank you for bringing up previous discussions. :rolleyes:

[imron]

28 more votes and you'll have surpassed Arman from Kazakhstan to take the top spot. Good luck.

[prateeksha]

That is true. However, the voting is on for the entire July. And then, the top 4 candidates will get 2000 dollars each. SO basically got to stay in top 4till month end.

[Brian US]

Good luck prateeksha, and you have my vote!

Although the program has governmental support, according to kdavid's review, I don't think it goes far. When is the last time a Chinese governmental official commented on chinese-forums? They are also recruiting teachers, so I would look at this as more of a for-profit agency with some government connections than a governmental scholarship.

[Keown]

I'd call CUCAS Scholarship is a shameful scam. I personally applied through them to a university because it seemed like they are deciding in a way that is fair and correct. However, this system of deciding who is 'excellent' is more than dubious. I deeply regret using CUCAS, I wouldn't recommend to anyone. By begging to my friends and to strangers to vote for me?? No thanks. CUCAS only want one thing: to raise the number of visitors for their website and the selected candidates are ones who are used as a tool. They did not even ask permissions from the candidates to publish their motivation letter and photo on their website. And yes, they are most likely given financial support from the Chinese Government to do this. Disdainful...

Oh, almost forget to mention. They have an another scholarship called 'University Scholarship'. They imply that you can apply online for that, but in fact, you can't! You have to apply through the university, but the university itself won't answer your emails, or if they do, they will redirect you to CUCAS. So, beware of CUCAS, think twice before using them, I wish I haven't...

[prateeksha]

Had CUCAS been selective enough to allow only some chosen body of students decide the winner amongst 30, there had been no question of psoting this topic on forum. I don't think there is any "begging" here, since this is only how CUCAS has decided to elect the winners of the scholarship.

When I was going through my application process through CUCAS, I read about this scholarship. It mentioned that preliminary evaluation will be done by CUCAS on the basis of academics. Shortlisted candidates will be put for voting "by students" and the final winners will be selected. So actually, even I had no idea that the "ballot" will actually be free and open to all, which frankly is a little surprising to me as well.

All said and done, I want to win this scholarship. I have already applied through CUCAS and the scholarship process is coming to a close too soon, so no point discussing whether I should have or not.

Peace. And thank you everyone.

[Keown]

I am not talking about how they select the 35 candidates. I am speaking about how the top 9 winners are selected. It has nothing to do with being excellent. Maybe excellent in terms of convincing strangers to vote for you. This system is created by people who has no bigger brain than a monkey.

[LA Guy]

A little tongue in cheek commentary here ...

Keown:

"... By begging to my friends and to strangers to vote for me?? No thanks"

uhhh, the new paradigm is called: "Social Networking" B)

I guess even in China the number of hits/views is the most important factor to marketing your services.

Whether it's good or bad matters not, but the fact that people notice increases your business bottom line.

Giving Chinese student candidates who "excel in Social Networking" the reward is in effect a popularity contest is really the

core issue here. CUCAS must be receiving financial benefit by conducting the contest in this way.

That said, I would say that only "peers/students" should be voting.

Well, here in the US, the cost of a College Education has skyrocketed and the cost of a education may even exceed it's value in the job markets.

So, maybe the Chinese Universities and CUCAS ( out of necessity ) have their own plans on how to fund these scholarships and thus the popularity/viability of the Universities.

So let's be creative:

Each of the 30 candidates should have a 1 minute video on U tube and provide a voting mechanism.

Host a Chinese TV show like American Idol or Britains Got Talent and let the Chinese students vote.

Have a series of funny skits that the candidates must go thru ( like those crazy Japanese game shows ).

This will bring ratings and interest .... :rolleyes:

LA Guy

[roddy]

Scholarships are awarded based on need or merit. This is a prize for helping them market their site. Not necessarily a bad thing, but lets call it what it is.

CUCAS have been around a few years now, and have had some good feedback. I am not convinced by their marketing techniques.

Government approval doesn't really mean much - since when has the Chinese government been a benchmark for efficiency, honesty or reliability?

[Keown]

Yes, so use CUCAS if you are lazy and have $30 to spend on convenience, but if you wanna get the chance for the scholarship, don't! You will be only a marketing tool used. And they are highly ignorant if you complain them, they only answer if it is convenient for them...

[roddy]

Keown, you sound angry and angry people aren't credible. If you want to post a factual account of what actually happened, without the insults and adjectives, someone might pay attention.

[prateeksha]

Keown:

"... By begging to my friends and to strangers to vote for me?? No thanks"

uhhh, the new paradigm is called: "Social Networking" B)

Exactly! If they make it possible for everyone to vote, why won't the candidates ask everyone to vote!

That said, I would say that only "peers/students" should be voting.

I feel exactly the same. Even though I am at a comfortable winning position, I whole-heartedly agree with this argument.

So let's be creative:

Each of the 30 candidates should have a 1 minute video on U tube and provide a voting mechanism.

Host a Chinese TV show like American Idol or Britains Got Talent and let the Chinese students vote.

Have a series of funny skits that the candidates must go thru ( like those crazy Japanese game shows ).

This will bring ratings and interest .... :rolleyes:

Very intelligent ideas. But wonder if they will be implemented on CUCAS. I would have been game for it!

[prateeksha]

Scholarships are awarded based on need or merit. This is a prize for helping them market their site. Not necessarily a bad thing, but lets call it what it is.

roddy, don't I just agree with you? Instead of the scholarship exactly going to someone who is in real need of it, the winner would be somebody who can get a lot of people on internet to vote for him/her, whether excellent or not.

Yes, so use CUCAS if you are lazy and have $30 to spend on convenience, but if you wanna get the chance for the scholarship, don't! You will be only a marketing tool used. And they are highly ignorant if you complain them, they only answer if it is convenient for them...

What's the harm in that? My experience with CUCAS so far has been smooth and good. As an Indian student applying to a university abroad, it can be very hassling to keep sending unreplied emails of inquiry to colleges and making calls which are seldom answered in English. CUCAS offers all those services, so why not? There have been way too many discussions on the forum where people have talked about sending emails to BLCU authorities and never getting a response. With CUCAS, all my queries were answered within one working day. And what more to top it that the embassy of PRC in India recommended me to through CUCAS for the admission process!

There could of course be people whose brush with CUCAS hasn't been worth a mention, but I have not faced any problem with CUCAS.

[Keown]

I just shared my impressions. Roddy, you are absolutely right when said scholarships are awarded based on need or merit. And social networking has nothing to with either of them. It is a competition, and not a scholarship, so it shouldn't be called a scholarship. Not to mention 'excellent students scholarship' - what a joke!

[roddy]

So, voting's over - what happened?

[prateeksha]

The voting suspended for a couple of days in mid-July because a female from Belarus "got" 3000 votes in one single night. They restarted the voting after reducing everybody's "fake" votes.

I won the 2k dollars, finishing at first position.