Hong Kong Thread

International Students
1

<p>My son is in 11th grade at a good U.S. boarding school - native English speaker with some Spanish. 230 PSAT. He is presently trying to decide about college - Pepperdine, Claremont McKenna, and Pomona are high on his list. Some of his Asian classmates have been telling him about these two schools:</p>

<p>University of Hong Kong
<a href="http://www.hku.hk/admission/international.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hku.hk/admission/international.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The Hong Kong Univesity of Science and Technology
<a href="http://www.ust.hk/intl-admit/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ust.hk/intl-admit/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>What are your perspecives and opinions?</p>

2

<p>shouldn't it depend on where he wants to settle?</p>

<p>I think the UK uni's should also be considered. it holds great presitiege over the general HK population than do american colleges (I think...)</p>

<p>and with a 230 psat (presumably, he is a top notch student), he should aim for higher colleges than the ones listed.</p>

3

<p>pomona and claremont mckenna seem to be good choices for your son. i'm not so sure about pepperdine though; your son's PSAT score is well above the average caliber of the students at pepperdine. </p>

<p>about the hong kong colleges... from what i've heard, the university of hong kong (HKU) is the most prestigious college in hong kong, but its monopoly over the prestige is starting to be split up with the rise of other colleges such as the hong kong university of science and technology. </p>

<p>i think HKU is still better for social sciences and humanities, which are strengths for pomona and claremont mckenna too. </p>

<p>the question is, where does your son want to work or what does he want to do after college? the HK schools have their prestige heightened in HK but most people in the U.S. can't gauge what other colleges they are comparable to.</p>

4

<p>I mistyped S2's PSAT - - it was 220, not 230.</p>

<p>My son's goal is to get an MBA and then an JD. He feels that doing his undergrad work in China will put him in an excellent position to deal with the world as it will most lilely exist twenty or thirty years from now.</p>

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<p>language would be a problem, i think. and hk unis are quite different from china unis? for one, i think hk unis teach in english and cantonese, whereas chinese unis teach in mainly chinese.</p>

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<p>my son was told (but doesn't know for a certainty) that both of the HK universities are taught in UK English.</p>

7

<p>oh my hk friend told me (though that's 2yrs ago) that they teach in both, weightage depending on how international the uni is and the major itself... i guess u shd check it out for sure if u r really interested in sending ur son to hk?</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
both of the HK universities are taught in UK English

[/quote]

more like Hong Kong-ese English ... certainly not in the Queen's language.</p>

<p>The official language of instruction is supposed to be English. However, some classes might switch to Cantonese if there is no 'foreigner' present.</p>

<p>Personally I believe that your son will get a better college education in Pomona or Claremont McKenna than any unis in Hong Kong. He can accomplish the same with a year of study abroad or exchange at HKU or HKUST (Global Business). If he wants some China experience, a better alternative is to do a term/year at TsingHua or Beijing University.</p>

9

<p>GoBlue81 - - -</p>

<p>Good food for thought, Thanks</p>

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<p>The classes are taught in English (certainly at HKU!) and the education is great but these unis don’t have an old reputation. They are in the process of building it up.</p>

11

<p>dad<em>of</em>2,</p>

<p>you can’t find a greater opposite than LACs vs HK universities. if he’s competitive for pomona, he’s gonna be competitive for the global business (hkust), or maybe even IGBM (hku).</p>

<p>here’s the pros and cons i can think of for going to global biz or IGBM in hong kong:
pros:

  1. cultural/language immersion
  2. greater chance to land an internship with top investment banking/management consulting firms (hk office of course); this is just a guess but a reasonable one because the two programs (esp. igbm at hku) are the premier programs in hong kong while here, even if u finish with good gpa at pomona, you are still probably just a number and there are still hundreds of similar kids from at least couple-dozen other top schools competing for those positions at nyc. this is assuming your son is aiming for those types of positions (nothing wrong with other aspirations).
  3. much lower sticker price and potentially huge $ savings; also, hk universitites are known to give merit scholarships to top internationals; they want to globalize their program
  4. overall international experience</p>

<p>cons:

  1. lack of intellectual atmosphere; students are very motivated but very biz-oriented. the city culture places premium on money and commerce. definitely nothing like pomona
  2. lack of humanities offering - polar opposite of LACs. this is again related to the fact that they don’t emphasize on humanities and those subjects are not popular among students
  3. risk of never getting used to the lifestyle/overall experience</p>