Best Engineering Universities in China, need opinions!

[sujeto]

Hey guys, well at this point, It's almost confirmed, I'm goin Harbin Institute of Technology. Everybody and his dog is warning me about how COLD is Harbin, specially coming from a very hot southamerican caribbean country like mine. I picked this university cause I'm very impressed about the fact that Harbin has developed it's own space program being of the fews universities to design, build and launch its own satellite. However that's what wikipedia says,

 

On google you may find a lot of web rankings which I'm simple ignoring, those ranking may well know about US Universities, but know nothing about Southamerican Universities (they aren't accurate at all about my specific country, they put as the best Universities which we barely have hear about  )

 

 

Can you guys please tell me what is the real status of Harbin Institute of Technology in the Science and Engineering Field, worth all this effort i'm putting into go study there?, taking in mind it's hard weather and the isolated position compared to Shanghai or Peking?

 

Other options I had

 

Beihang Univeristy

Wuhan University

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (Chengdu)

 

Those teach English classes of the Master Degree I wanted ( Electrical and Computer Engineering)

 

Also I was accepted at 

 

Tsinghua University (Only taugh Management Engineering which I hate)

Shanghai Jiao Tong University (I received too late the pre-acceptance, plus their international department is slow and lazzy).

 

I had chance to pick other universities but these were my main target, from where I choosed Harbin Institute of Technology.

 

Did I make a good decition?

 

Please If you are not sure, I request you to ask your relatives or friends who live in China. The public opinion is the most important.

[grawrt]

I have no clue about anything engineering related or school related,

Just wanted to comment that Harbin isn't cold all year round. I've been here for two seasons now and I can tell you the summers can get hot, but not unbearably (usually between 26-31, although some days might reach to 34 but not often). When I first got here it was in March and the ice on the river hadn't melted yet. It was windy but not unbearably cold. I'm sure winter is cold but winter is only a small part of the year, so that should make you feel a bit better. Also everywhere is heated. they still had the heat on everywhere in march and I was dying.

Since you already made the decision there's no point regretting it. Just think of how much fun it will be, all the locals feel like Winter time is when the city is really special and there's nothing like it else where.

Have fun!

[sujeto]

Thanks grawrt for your imput. Certainly, If I were there for only Cultural reasons, Harbin would be one of the best places for me to visit, not peking or shanghai where chinese culture can't be caugth that well. Harbin has an almost magical scenario with the old chinese-russian culture, the cold winters and the warm people. But as I'm goin China for only professional academical reasons, It's a bit complex to judge. 

 

It's good to hear you about the temps 26-31, all the other guys from the CSC program were telling me.- What! dude your crazy you will get your ass frozen in a second.- But they have not been in Harbin never but only in Pekin, so they actually dont know nothing.

[kdavid]

Harbin is a great city. I lived there for eight years.

 

Some things to keep in mind:

 

The cold can get the best of you as the winter is essentially six months long. March is when things begin to get a bit warmer. December through February is very cold. The biggest issue for me was being cold ALL the time. While there is heating, it is poor in many places. Both my third apartment and school had ice formations inside the windows, for example.

 

Additionally, the pollution over the last two years was horrendous; and not just during the winter.

 

HIT is renowned throughout the country. If you do decide on Harbin, you'll need lots of layers and N-95 face masks.

[sujeto]

kdavid, why is the pollution that bad in China, I don't get it. Does this happen also in USA for example which is also an industrialized country?

 

Also you said HIT is renowned but how much? compared with the listed universities can you tell something? compared to Beihang Univeristy, Wuhan University,Shanghai Jiao Tong?

[Guest scooby]

I think you made a good choice.

[shuoshuo]

I have only been to Harbin briefly, I've lived in Shanghai for many years. Compared to Shanghai, I don't find many of the other cities impressive...but I agree with another poster: there is something special about Harbin. The atmosphere is amazing and the cold isn't too bothersome because there is central heating. Very unlike Shanghai where it cannot compare to the freezing temperatures of Harbin, but when it's cold it's just cold everywhere (both indoors and outdoors). The people in Harbin are friendly, and down-to-earth.

 

That said, Tsinghua is a top university so I don't know if I would choose HIT over Tsinghua. But if you are attracted to the Harbin program over the Tsinghua program then go for it. You definitely don't want to end up stuck doing a program for years if you aren't going to enjoy it.

 

But you also need to think ahead, e.g. after graduation, will a HIT degree get you where you want to go or will one from Tsinghua get you there?

[kdavid]

If you've been accepted to another university with a bigger name, I'd choose that other university. In regards to earning a degree within the PRC, the name on your degree is likely to mean more in the market outside of the PRC.

 

The only reason I'd choose HIT over Tsinghua, for example, would be if there's a department within HIT that ranks highly in a specialized field in which you're interested. Additionally, if HIT has a specific faculty member with whom you can research and author papers, that'd be another plus.

 

Otherwise, Tsinghua would be much better for both brand recognition and networking. It will also likely mean more to future employers who may not know some of the other better known PRC universities. 

 

To answer your question, HIT, I believe, is one of the top ten engineering universities in the PRC.

[sujeto]

I didn't choose Tsinghua because the only Master which they offered me was Management Science and Engineering, while It's a nice field, isn't not my field. I don't see myself Managing anything but in a Laboratory designing and researching. It's a pita they didn't have too many Masters in English avaible.

 

Shanghai Jiao Tong was one of my best target, saddly they considered my application too late after I sent the request to CSC. Somebody told me HIT and SJTU are at the same level though.

[kdavid]

HIT is a very good university for the sciences, and engineering in particular. I'm sure you'll still have an opportunity to work with great professors and network.

 

Pollution aside, Harbin is also a great city, and has really come into its own in the last couple years in terms of providing creature comforts for westerners (e.g. Starbucks, Burger King, Subway, H&M, etc.). This will allow you to both experience a more typical Chinese city while also having familiar outlets.

 

Good luck!