Differences between summer study abroad programs

[blebaford]

I'm looking for a program to study abroad in China this summer. I've noticed a great discrepancy in the costs of different programs. Including housing, costs range from under $400 per week (China Study Abroad at Yunnan University, or directly applying to a school in China) to over $800 per week (most CET programs, and programs run by US Universities). I was strongly considering a USAC program in Chengdu, because it cost under $3000 or 5 weeks, which was a lot less than other US-based programs. But programs like China Study Abroad are much cheaper, and people still say CSA is overpriced.

What am I paying for if I choose a CET or USAC program over a CSA program or just studying at a China-based language school? I'm under the impression that going with a US-based college program would place me with a group of college students so I would easily gain a group of friends rather than being alone. If this is the case, the USAC program could be worth it as long as I don't end up speaking a lot of English. I'm worried that if I choose a program like CSA they will just stick me in Yunnan University and I won't have any friends or be able to make them since I'll only have 4 semesters of Chinese under my belt. Are my impressions correct or is a program like CSA a good option for a college student without enough Chinese to get around?

[icebear]

I can't comment on specific programs since I'm only looking at year long programs myself. That said, I can offer some food for though.

What are your goals and their relative importance? I take it there may be four general ones (although their rank is nebulous from your message):

• Completing transferable credits (?)
  
• Improving Chinese
  
• Having a fun abroad experience
  
• Not spend too much
  

If transferrable credits matter at all to you the private language school option goes out the window and you're stuck with whatever programs your school is willing to recognize. You mention a private school as an option so I'll treat it as one below.

If improving Chinese is your main goal I'll just say that with $3000 you could really load yourself up with a lot of great 1 on 1 classes with a private language school or a tutor. I'm certain this would be better for your Chinese. I spent 2 months in Beijing last summer. I took 12 hours of 1 on 1 courses a week at around 100 RMB per hour, or about $1500 - you could find much cheaper in smaller cities or focus more on language exchanges for free. I spent less than that again on an amazingly fun 2 months living in Beijing. I had friends already in Beijing (I worked there before), but those big cities are very transitory in the summer and thus a very easy place to make friends (both local and Chinese). Going through a study abroad program which is short may be counter productive from a Chinese perspective as you end up spending most of your time getting to know other foreigners in the program. In a longer study abroad (a semester to a year) there is the opportunity to realize after a month that you've wasted a month speaking English and then crack the whip - not so in a summer program.

If your goal is a good adventure experience I'd say you're better off taking a week of private courses to loosen your tongue and then traveling around China. Mixing this with more Chinese, you could instead spend much of your time in one city taking courses in the morning and getting to know friends in the afternoon (as I did in Beijing last summer) - and mix this with a weekend trip or two. This is very feasible in the larger cities; you'll have no problem meeting locals so long as you put yourself out there.

I think studying in a formal program has its place (I plan on doing a year program starting the fall), but I wouldn't be interested in spending so much on a brief summer program. $3,000 is 75% of 1 years' tuition for a full time Chinese program in Beijing...

If you are set on a agency run program, what you are paying for is for them to handle all the logistics and paper-pushing for you. I personally think this isn't worth it, as you can be setup in most cities pretty quickly - a few days in a hostel while you look for sub-lets. That said, if you are set on a program I'd say go for the cheapest of the reputable ones, and try to locate in a predominantly Mandarin speaking city - I'm guessing the final teaching quality will be fairly homogenous across them.

[blebaford]

My main goals are improving my Chinese and having fun. By "fun" I mean I'd like to make some friends and get to know whatever city I'm in (so traveling around China isn't what I'm looking for this time). If I can accomplish this without spending a lot that would be great too. Transferrable credits don't matter; I just hope to make the next year of college Chinese as easy as possible (if I do learn enough to advance a whole level I can probably do that without the credit, which I don't need). Length 4-8 weeks would be ideal.

I don't really want to go to Beijing as I'm sort of paranoid about the air quality considering I want to get some good training in. I'm also just more drawn to smaller cities. I think Kunming would be ideal (provided they speak mostly Mandarin). Harbin could be cool too or any other mandarin-speaking city besides Beijing of Shanghai. If the opportunities in the big cities are really great I could be swayed but I feel like smaller cities would be cheaper, safer, and more authentic.

With the suggestions you've given it would be totally cool if I brought a friend along (I might start trying to convince a few) but I'm pretty worried about being alone in a city where I can't communicate effectively. I'm not very outgoing, to the point were even if in an English-speaking city I'd be very apprehensive to go alone. That's why I'm considering more expensive programs; it seems like I would have a group of people that I'd see often and go on excursions with. For this same reason it would be nice to stay in a dorm on a college campus if I didn't have a program group to fall back on.

There are agencies like CSA where you pay to have them set you up at a Chinese university or school. Then there are the more expensive programs that play a larger role, sometime even provide culture classes in English. I don't really want to spend my time learning stuff other than Mandarin, but these programs (such as USAC) would provide stability and give me a group that I'd get to know well. May or may not be worth the money depending on what I can get for less.

[icebear]

I don't really want to go to Beijing as I'm sort of paranoid about the air quality considering I want to get some good training in. I'm also just more drawn to smaller cities. I think Kunming would be ideal (provided they speak mostly Mandarin). Harbin could be cool too or any other mandarin-speaking city besides Beijing of Shanghai. If the opportunities in the big cities are really great I could be swayed but I feel like smaller cities would be cheaper, safer, and more authentic.

Given what you've said, and your personality, I would still recommend a language training school in one of the cities you've suggested (both Kunming and Harbin have ardent supporters here - use the search function for old posts). Most language training schools have programs for group classes as well which will be even cheaper than what I mentioned, usually in groups of 3-8 students. This will provide an opportunity to meet others, and perhaps enforce Chinese since some are likely to be non-English speaking Koreans, Japanese, etc. I don't think you should be so worried about inability to communicate - with 2 years of Chinese training plus a couple weeks of regular, small classes in a Chinese city you should be comfortable with basic communication at least.

On top of that make a point of going out to bars and other social events like sports frequently (both of those cities have expat websites with event/bar information) - that's mostly what you'd be doing as a summer study abroad student, if you are the typical summer student (I think). Also use local websites to find language exchange partners and arrange one each day of the week for an hour. The exchange doesn't have to be a strict classroom setting - go for a walk in the park, get some coffee, etc - the best language exchanges lead to either better Chinese, a good friendship/relationship, or both.

Just my 2 cents.

[daoyi]

I'd recommend Nanjing Normal University's summer program. Yes Nanjing is incredibly hot during the summer, but there are lots of foreign students there & Nanjing is a fantastic city. I went to school there last year and am going to start graduate school at Nanjing University in September..

For expenses it is:

2400RMB-5200RMB for courses, depending on duration (3-7 weeks, and everything in between), 4 hours per day.

On campus housing is 65rmb/day, you could probably sublease from a student for the summer (check www.nanjingexpat.com), or stay at a hostel if you wanted cheaper options.

Cost of living in Nanjing is moderate. I live in Suzhou now and I consider Suzhou to be noticeably more expensive ...

Check out everything on here:

http://school.cucas.edu.cn/HomePage/163/

I personally think just living in China and having discipline to study will mean much,much, more than whatever the 5000$/summer program can offer you ...

[jbradfor]

If you're concerned about air quality, and want to have a good time, have you considered Taiwan? If you want a smaller place, Taichung might interest you. I went to Tunghai some years back: http://clc.thu.edu.tw/main.php . They have an 8-week summer program. They have an option in which you can live in the standard dorms as well, which is great for meeting Chinese students.

[roddy]

So, did you end up on any particular course?