<p>I am US high school graduate and got accepted to both NYU and HKU to study economics.</p>
<p>Can someone help me with the decision which school is better for my career?
I plan to apply top MBA in US regardless where my undergraduate education would be.</p>
<p>Top MBA programs are more interested in your work experience (two at minimum, preferably more than that) than they are in the name of your undergraduate college or university. Go where you will get the best grades, have access to the most interesting internships and best career counseling, and where you will be well prepared for the GMAT.</p>
<p>Thanks for your quick repsonse. I know NYU students have more access to internship during 4 years of college. However, if I choose to go HKU, would have opportunity to do internship in Asia. which would be more beneficial to the MBA application or post-graduate employment?</p>
<p>Price is probably something you want to consider as well. I don’t remember exactly but I think tuition at HKU is something like $15,000 per year compared to $40,000+ at NYU. Unless you have some strong aversion to Hong Kong or the financial difference is much less it seems like HKU would be a better choice. NYU probably has a small edge in academic reputation but the schools are fairly similar.</p>
<p>That’s a great point. Both offer me scholarship. However there is still difference of about $30K a year. My parents are very supportive to either school and that takes away some pressure of financial factor in the decision makeing. </p>
<p>I am also considering other factors like local connections of US vs Asia, culture adjustment, etc.
HKU is known strong in academics. It offer great education but also means strong competition and therefore may be more challenging to maintain high GPA.</p>
<p>30k is a lot of money per year. Assuming you’re ok with living in Hong Kong I can’t imagine spending 120k over four years to go to NYU instead of HKU.</p>
<p>Good luck trying to get good grades at HKU. Pretty much all the students there are either from Hong Kong or China and are extremely smart.</p>
<p>Good luck getting interesting internships and jobs if you go to HKU … Unless you are well connected.</p>
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Many students in HK would welcome that opportunity.</p>
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I don’t know if connection plays a bigger role in HK than in the US.
^Most wouldn’t. It’s NYU CAS, not Stern. If they would, it wouldn’t be not so much about NYU, but more about the experience of getting away and the chance of migrating here, which are both moot for the OP!</p>
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I don’t know if you are familiar with the market here. For example, half of Citicorp’s summer intern class was filled by relatives, or relatives of important clients. The OP will also have to compete with local kids returning from US/UK universities including those from NYU Sterns.</p>
<p>The market here is much smaller than the US or NYC. I don’t know if the OP knows Chinese and speaks fluent Mandarin. If not, he has little chance getting a job in China.</p>
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You’d be surprised how many kids pick NYU as their first choice, Stern or otherwise. Granted those are kids who can afford it. Besides, the OP is only in HKU Econ, not in global business or the other more “desirable” fields. Corporations here tend to recruit at the more popular fields as the students there are prescreened (similar to recruitment here prefers the most selective colleges).</p>
<p>I couldn’t find statistics for the number of Hong Kong undegrads at NYU but the number has to be a tiny fraction of the enrollment at HKU. Unless NYU is much much more selective than HKU this suggests that the vast majority of Hong Kong students are unwilling to pay an extra 120k for NYU over HKU.</p>
<p>^^What I am saying is you are misapplying the willingness to pay for HK kids. The HK kids are paying for the experience of going to schools overseas, be it NYU or whatever AND the option to immigrate. That experience and option are special to HK kids but it’s nothing special to the OP. If anything, it’s going to HK that’s more unique to him/her. The willingness to pay for HK kids is pretty irrelevant.</p>
<p>So you are essentially paying 100k more only because it <em>may</em> be easier to get internships in the US.</p>
<p>UMTYMP student,
In general, no. HKU is more selective to HK locals than NYU to US kids.</p>
<p>“AND the option to immigrate”</p>
<p>Make that “hope” to immigrate. There is no degree program in the US that guarantees a work visa at the end of it.</p>
<p>^Yes, “hope” or “chance” would be better words. </p>
<p>In fact, I actually met quite a few Chinese students paying $$$ for their masters of accounting programs here in DC just so they can possibly get some job offers here. They gave up offers from the Big4 in China and they already knew most of the materials! Education isn’t really what they are after and they really regretted coming here after a very tough time in their job search.</p>
<p>Lots of good input. Thank you all very much. I was born in US and grow up here. Although my parents are originally from Asia but I have no connection in HongKong at all. It sounds like finding a good internship in HK will require some luck. Internship in NY may be easier. Currently I still weigh two schools equally except for the cost of attendance. </p>
<p>I still wonder if anyone out there like me, had already attended HKU as international student and graduated there, and back to the states? What’s their experience in HK? Does this 4 year study in HKU help their career opportunity. I personally think this would be very unique experience but wonder if others have the same viewpoint. </p>
<p>I am planning a trip to HK next week to see the school, the city etc, hopefully to get a good idea about the physical environment and people there. Hope to make final decision after the visit.</p>
<p>HKU may be more selective to HK locals statistically (over 80% of my son’s graduating class got into the Big 3, HKU-CUHK-HKUST though not necessarily in their first choice majors like medicine, BBA-law, global business, etc.). HKU is not so selective for non-JUPAS applicants as they like to attract more international students (currently most of the int’ls are from mainland China). If you can get into NYU, chances are you can get into HKU (except for medicine and BBA-Law).</p>
<p>I do agree that the Far East experience may be valuable to the OP especially if you are interested in business. I would recommend, however, spending a term or a year here for study abroad. Many US universities have exchange arrangements with HKU/CUHK/HKUST. Some schools even run their own programs with their own professors (e.g., UT-Austin accounting) with opportunities to visit business operations in China.</p>
<p>p.s. To the OP: You may have problem getting good summer internship in HK as you will need a work permit. It is not a deal breaker but it is a hazzle for the employer for short term employment (takes 4-6 weeks and they may have to place an ad on the newspaper). Companies have no problem doing that for permanent hire.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the insight! 
It helps to know the internship access in HK and working permit issue. I will take it into my consideration…</p>