<p>I'm just wondering, since it is my understanding that the Chinese high school curriculum is very rigorous and the gaokao covers material up to what we would consider the 2nd year of undergraduate education. I'm a bit worried, since they may be very formidable academic competition...</p>
<p>No. </p>
<p>(Well, not noticeably to me at least. I don’t have any stats, so take this with a grain of salt.)</p>
<p>Not that I’m aware of.</p>
<p>however, international students are welcome with open arms!! (more $$$ coming in for the school)</p>
<p>No, but I do notice that Chinese and Korean international students are <em>generally</em> (always exceptions! and depends on what classes, really) very focused in their studies, especially if they are studying engineering or premed. </p>
<p>I can categorize international students into different groups based on my interactions with them. Almost half of my friends are actually international students, so I wouldn’t say my generalizations (that I shall keep to myself) have no basis. </p>
<p>If you work hard, go to office hours, and master the material, don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Thank you for the comments! I look forward to meeting some Chinese internationals at UW!</p>
<p>You may be on to something here. Even more specifically, I’ve noticed that Chinese international students who wear balaclavas and drink 5/8 of a cup of orange juice between 3:14 PM and 3:17 PM on prime number days of the month tend to always get 4.0s, 76.4% of the time. It’s quite astonishing, really.</p>
<p>sumzup! You’re not supposed to tell the internets the secrets of the 4.0 students! DDDD: </3</p>
<p>This is also why orange juice seems to always completely disappear when the monthly sale comes around …</p>
<p>I feel that it would be wise to also add in what i noticed. There is an underground international student assembly that takes place once a month under the University of Washington. I had the rare chance of observing their rituals. They spoke in a foreign and ancient tongue that took me weeks to decipher afterwards. </p>
<p>They partook in this odd ritual called “hotoo” which i later translated as studying. They enclose themselves in cramped spaces in where they spend hours reading “Kintas” or books. These books seem to be related to the material that is given in class.<br>
My analysis would be that these books have magic powers that “inform” or “give” the reader knowledge on the subject. I am blessed to have been given an opportunity to see their ways.</p>
<p>With the number of observations we have collected, I believe we could join forces and publish a paper.</p>
<p>Never let it be said that undergrads cannot perform research!</p>
<p>Love this thread. LOL.</p>
<p>I have a higher GPA than all four of my Chinese roommates. So no. Absolutely not.</p>
<p>Well, maybe a Chinese school graduate knows more than an American, but what some international students actually lack is critical thinking skills. I was one of them. The education system where I studied (also in Asia) didn’t emphasize critical thinking much – it was mostly pure cramming. Memorizing formulas, definitions, textbooks, etc… We used to find essays and research papers on the internet and turn them in. Teachers weren’t much concerned about it. Oh, and another thing - grades could be bought 
(i didn’t buy any though). BUT I have never been to China - I don’t know how it is there. May be some similarities.
Now I would rather write an interesting research paper or do something else, but not cram! I hate cramming…</p>
<p>Not all chinese internationals are educated in chinese schools in china though. They may have been attending an international american school, for example, so no gaokao.</p>
<p>“Well, maybe a Chinese school graduate knows more than an American, but what some international students actually lack is critical thinking skills.”</p>
<p>Watch the documentary, “the china question”. It discusses this very fact, that critical thinking skills are not being taught. It goes on to further say that because of this, they are less innovative. They are however very great at memorizing/learning/copying…so one of the reasons their economy has gotten so strong is our outsourcing of our labor to China. This outsourcing shows them how we do things, they take on those ideas and make copy products for themselves.</p>
<p>These of course are generalizations and do not apply to every individual & every situation</p>
<p>In the end it doesn’t even matter whether these Chinese students do well or not. As long as you’re putting in your best effort, what do you have to worry about? And how will them doing well affect you anyway (at least to a significant extent)?</p>
<p>writtenonthebody has written the best comment on this entire thread. All one worry about is themselves…doing the best job they can. </p>
<p>I don’t find myself in competition with other students, no matter where they are from</p>
<p>writtenonthebody: I think OP is concerned because some classes are curved. Thus, if international (really, Chinese students aren’t your only ‘formidable international classmates who are here to destroy the curve’) students perfect the exams and you don’t, it’s harder for you to get a better grade.</p>
<p>In many classes, especially intro courses, you are not only tested on how well you grasp concepts, but how you do relative to your classmates so there isn’t grade inflation.</p>
<p>Example: If the median of a course (mean can be skewed, so profs generally refrain from using mean) was a 80% instead of 70% like previous quarters, then a 2.7 may be placed at the 80% mark instead of 70%.</p>