<p>@SDG1, so did you get interviewed for HKU?</p>
<p>Hehehehe
I’ve got my conditional offer from HKU today. (requested it slightly early so I can respond to other colleges) - I am pretty positive the other decisions for those applying to the same course is out by the end of next week Weds - Friday.
THE FEELING OF GETTING ACCEPTED IS GREAT ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS FOR BBA (IBGM) - I am really really happy :)</p>
<p>now I need to find a way to satisfy the 40 points condition :S</p>
<p>Assuming nothing goes wrong, see y’all who will be in HKU next year :D</p>
<p>@Flibb, nope…</p>
<p>@TheGrand, lucky you! (I am so jealous xD) Did you get an interview for IBGM? And yea, I hope to see you in HKU!</p>
<p>Oh TheGrand, do you mind to list your grades here?</p>
<p>Congrats theGrand</p>
<p>Now we both have to work towards 40 points in IB haha… So fun. In 2 weeks. ****</p>
<p>But we have American backup schools, so at least we will definitely have somewhere to go!</p>
<p>Btw yea, what do you think the acceptance rate for top courses like IBGM are in HK? I know they only accept 1% top students locally but that doesn’t really mean much because score wise a SAT 2200 is top 1% in the US.</p>
<p>[Bachelor</a> of Business Administration (International Business and Global Management)](<a href=“http://www.fbe.hku.hk/programme/undergraduate/ibgm/]Bachelor”>http://www.fbe.hku.hk/programme/undergraduate/ibgm/)
AS Use of English 3.75
AS Chinese Language and Culture 4.42
2AL+1AS Equivalent Subjects3 4.87 </p>
<p>The average is virtually straight A on 2AL+1AS; getting that is definitely much harder than getting 2200 on SAT. Actually SAT is so easy that it’s a poor tool to differentiate who are really the most competitive academically. HKAL and HKCEE are better for that. One of my friends got 2300 on GRE (in 1998) and had 3A, 3B, and 3C on his HKCEE (in 1993) which isn’t even nearly as bad as HKAL.</p>
<p>@ysbera: I remember recalling statistics which I have seen in one Chinese website - approximately 4% for HKU’s IBGM (if I am not mistaken by the numbers). And yes, at least we have backup schools so just in case we don’t make it into the 40s, but I’m pretty positive we will :).</p>
<p>@SDG1: Umm. I don’t really want to put my grades up here, but I really did only send in my IGCSE results (mostly A*s) and my predicted IB Scores which is 40+ obviously. Originally I was arranged for a phone interview, but I couldn’t make it, so I went for a physical interview. It was tough but it went pretty well 
- (which probably helped my case) and lots and lots of leadership roles in all sorts of things.</p>
<p>Further to Sam Lee’s point, getting an A on HKALE is extremely difficult, I remember looking at statistics from Wikipedia for HKALE Physics, and each year the proportion who gets an A for the past 3 or 4 years fall below 1%, so imagining getting 3 As on that. AND bare in mind its not the 1% in the world - its 1% of the Hong Kong Chinese population - which makes it much harder ;)</p>
<p>i’m in Hong Kong right now and HKU is the best.
some of the requirements are higher than oxfords i think for law and medicine.</p>
<p>That’s a good thing then. So I imagine the students who study IBGM and Dual Degree are the best students in HK?
Do HK students choose to not go to top US universities to go to those really good programs?</p>
<p>HK local students choose to stay mainly because of financial reasons and that HK Universities do know how rigorous HKALEs are compared to anything else. In the UK they compare the British A level to the HKALE by saying an ‘A’ obtained in HKALE is equivalent to an ‘A’ in the British A level which is unreasonable because HKALE is so much harder.
(The % who gets A, B AND C in HKALE is equivalent to the % who gets A in the British A level)</p>
<p>Furthermore, US Universities do not really advertise abroad, I wouldn’t have even considered applying to the US if I didn’t do personal research + influences from friends.
I know recently from the news that the 13- 15 top scoring students (top 0.X%) - about 9 chose HKU and about 4 chose CUHK - none chose HKUST. </p>
<p>The hardest programs I believe in HKU would be Actuarial Science, Medicine, Law, BBA IBGM and BBA Law. Most of the top students chose Medicine followed by Actuarial Science. The requirements for these 5 courses are probably the highest.</p>
<p>Oh ok. Is HKUST considered just not as good as HKU or just because the top HK students don’t want to do engineering related courses? </p>
<p>Hmm I am also interested to know, is the Dual Degree program on the same level as IBGM for prestige and quality? </p>
<p>But yea its so great you are on this thread. Its so nice to have someone who knows so much about HK universities and be in a similar situation as me haha. :)</p>
<p>Interesting: this is from a hong kong newspaper</p>
<p>More than half of the top students who were offered early admission to university this year have opted for the University of Hong Kong.</p>
<p>Some 423 students who passed the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination with flying colours last year and chose to skip A-levels have been offered university places this September through the Early Admissions Scheme, Jupas said.</p>
<p>HKU scooped up more than half of the cream of the crop, with 226 top students scoring an average of eight As in last year’s HKCEE applying for admission to the university.</p>
<p>Medicine was the most popular subject for the 11 straight-A students who chose HKU, with six of them enrolling in the major.</p>
<p>Other popular choices were actuarial science and the double degree in law and business management, both of which were picked by two straight-A students.</p>
<p>Chinese University got 173 students, which accounted for 41 per cent of all scheme applicants. Six of the top students were straight-A scorers who snatched 10 As.</p>
<p>Amidst the financial meltdown, business-related programmes at Chinese University have proved popular with the top students. Subjects such as insurance, financial and actuarial analysis, and risk management have reported a 48 per cent rise in first-choice applications compared with last year.</p>
<p>The university’s physics department admitted 10 top students this year - double last year’s figure. The department also admitted 13-year-old Kenneth Kan Man-fung through the non-Jupas scheme. The youngest-ever candidate when he took the HKCEE last year, he scored one A, five Bs and a level 5* in English. He is the youngest student ever admitted by the university.</p>
<p>Hong Kong University of Science and Technology admitted 24 top students this year, of whom nine chose to major in the dual degree programme in technology and management. Global business management admitted eight students.</p>
<p>Introduced in 2002, the scheme allows Form Six students who score six As or above to apply for early admission into HKU, Chinese University or the University of Science and Technology.</p>
<p>I feel silly asking this, but what exactly is Jupas? :)</p>
<p>what about for engineering??
is HKU still better than HKUST?
My dad went over the program of study in each school and told me that HKUST’s engineering program looks much better and engineering-focused…</p>
<p>@ysbera: Yeah HKU and CUHK took most of the top students. But you do have to take into account of the size of the undergrad students: Both HKU and CUHK are about twice the size of HKUST. And it also has to do with the entrenched belief that HKU and CUHK are the top schools in HK.</p>
<p>@Flibb: Jupas is not for us :D</p>
<p>@Rubichino: It is like comparing MIT’s engineering w/ Harvard’s. MIT is better, but many ppl still go to Harvard b/c of the easier workload and prestige.</p>
<p>@ysbera: That was the article I was talking about (somewhat differently phrased) - I would say HKers STILL (from my perspective) regard HKU as the most prestigious universities because the average caliber is simply higher than that of HKUST and CUHK. This is supported by the figures in your article</p>
<p>SDG’s analogy of Harvard and MIT is somewhat right, except I wouldn’t use MIT to represent HKUST. To answer your question, I think it is incorrect to generalise that HKers do not like engineer majors. They do, and some are really impressive too, and some choose HKU over HKUST because of the Harvard-MIT issue (again I must emphasize I don’t totally agree with the choice of schools but its a good example) My parents will have no doubts choosing HKU over the other schools even if I intend to major for engineering. I + they still believe HKU is a better school overall. For me PERSONALLY, it is not only important that I get into a good course with smart kids, I like the atmosphere of everyone being somewhat intellectual in their area 
AND that it is in the city-center. </p>
<p>**One interesting point I heard from some people, it seems that the better students in HKUST are only concentrated in a few courses - so in some other courses the caliber of students slips quites steeply - that’s just for a point for reference.</p>
<p>“But yea its so great you are on this thread. Its so nice to have someone who knows so much about HK universities and be in a similar situation as me haha.” Thanks :D</p>
<p>@Flibb: JUPAS admission scheme refers to the application to HK Universities using the strength of HKALE results. Non-Jupas would be vice versa.</p>
<p>@rubichino: True, it may look better, but see my argument above.</p>
<p>@SDG1, TheGrand: Thanks!!</p>
<p>T_T
I dunno why it has become a daily routine to check this thread even after getting admitted… LOL
I should really stop now…</p>
<p>@Flibb: you are welcome 
Have you made your mind where to go?</p>
<p>@TheGrand: I have to reply to CMU Qatar by 7th May, and am still awaiting their financial aid package. I guess UST will also inform me of their decision and scholarship (if any). Ultimately, my decision will have more to do with finances! So yes, not decided yet :)</p>