Chinese living abroad wishing to study in China?

[locospocous]

Hi all,

I was born and (partly) raised in China and am now living in the United States. I can speak fluent Chinese and read and write pretty well, but not to the degree where I can take those Chinese college entrance tests (高考). I'm applying for college next year. Does anybody know what is the best thing to do in my situation? Should I apply for study abroad or apply as a Chinese student? And how hard is it to get in? Any input would be greatly appreciated

thank you

[gato]

If you are a US citizen, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get admitted to a Chinese university. You should apply to each school you're interested in separately. The school might have its admissions exam (like Beida below), but the exam standards will be much lower than that for an incoming Chinese freshman. I don't know exactly how much lower the the admissions standards are, but there are many students who couldn't get into top schools in Taiwan and HK studying for their undergraduate degrees at Beida and Tsinghua (both schools would only consider the top-100 or so applicants from each province for mainlanders). The standards for foreign students shouldn't be any higher than they are for HK and Taiwanese students. Since you already read and write Chinese, it shouldn't be overly difficult.

Here's Beida admissions website for non-Chinese students:

http://www.oir.pku.edu.cn/newoir/stuab/info.asp

[gato]

If you are not a US citizen, you might have to take the exam required for Taiwan and HK students.

http://dean.pku.edu.cn/zhaosheng/gat/gangaotai.htm

But have you consider going to either Taiwan and HK for university? Many top mainland students are going to HK because universities there tend to have more resources, teach in English, and have a more flexible curriculum.

[gato]

See this about the current state of things in Chinese universities.

http://news.163.com/06/0814/06/2OFG02JV0001124J.html

调查显示34.7％的受访者后悔上大学

2006-08-14 06:45:00　来源: 中国青年报(北京)　

几年前，上海交通大学、清华大学博士生导师刘西拉教授，在两校大四年级成绩比较好的学生中进行的一次调查也发现，2／3的学生对大学前三年的课程“不满意”，觉得“没什么收获”。

　　“所谓的专业其实并不专，公共课要求很多，而且这几年我花在英语上的时间占了一大半。我真不知道为什么古汉语专业对英语有这么高的要求。”一名汉语言专业的大三学生说起这些，还是觉得“很郁闷”。

　　对此，高等教育研究学者、上海交通大学的熊丙奇教授认为，我国的高等教育本身确实需要改革。“现在50％以上的大学生将经历主要用在外语学习上，考四六级、考GRE、考托福、考雅思等等。相反，他们对专业课投入的精力却很少。另外，现在大学开设的很多课，都不是学生想学的专业知识，而是规定学、要求学的课程。”

[Jonny Wang]

Why do you want to go to college in China if you are in the U.S.? Only about half a billion Chinese students wish they were in your shoes: able to go to university in the U.S. If you come back to China now for university, you'll just become another of the multitude of Chinese students all doing the same thing - going to low-quality universities and then competing fiercely for not enough jobs with low, low salaries. (not to be overly negative or anything ) What does every ambitious Chinese college grad in China do to try and seperate themselves from the pack? Go to grad school in the U.S., Canada, Australia or some other western country.

If cost is the reason you are considering not going to college in the U.S., consider attending whatever the best public university is in the state in which you are living. In-state tuition at these schools tends to be very low, and loans are easy to get (at least if you are a U.S. citizen). You can easily work part time while in school to help pay the costs, too (again, if you have permission to as a citizen or green card holder).

Coming back to China is a *great* idea, but I'd encourage you to do it *after* college, and hopefully also after grad school and several years of work experience. *Then* you'll stand out from the crowd as a Chinese with U.S. university education and fluent in both Mandarin & English. Getting a great job then will be easy as pie.