Questions and more questions about studying in Hong Kong

[Shreyashi.98]

Hi guys, (this is going to be a long, lengthy post so turn back now if you don't want to be overwhelmed)

So I'm a year 11 IGCSE student right now, but that's going to change after my exams in May/June this year...

We are making our IB options right now, and I'm stuck with group 2 (and having a major dilemma).

If I am studying in Hong Kong (see below), will Chinese B suffice? I'm Chinese so I'm worried about racial prejudice...

We had this kind of Q&A session with the current year 12's last week, and apparently only two people in their year group are doing Chinese A...in fact the majority of the first language students in my year group are thinking of dropping to Chinese B (HL). Needless to say, I don't think my Chinese is at a near native level (at all).

So if it does suffice, does Chinese B SL and HL actually make a difference during university applications? I am currently studying Chinese as a second language at IGCSE, and predicted for an A/A*. Apparently our school doesn't allow students to take Chinese B SL if their attained IGCSE grade is above a C (unless they are currently a foreign language student).

So that leaves me with B HL. However, as great as my predicted grades are, is the jump from IGCSE and IB quite large? After all, the first language students are literally flooding to B HL. Not to mention, I don't have that much confidence in the language (especially writing)...I'd say I was lucky in the mocks– we got a topic that I wrote about not long before, that was covered by my Chinese tutor. That probably bumped up my mark by quite a bit, because it saved me masses of time during the exam. I'm not exactly a big fan of the language either– I honestly don't enjoy it too much. I'd say my aspirational grade for Chinese is 5/6?

I'm aiming for HKU or HKUST, and planning to study bio-medical engineering. What tends to be the minimum mark required to be considered for an application? I heard it's very high– please explain! My choices are also quite limited, as my mother is adamant about staying in Hong Kong for my studies. In fact, we just had a heated argument a while ago (which is what inspired me to write a post), as she can't pay for the school fees abroad– I'm not sure about financial aid, however she says she has done her research...

Are there any other universities in Hong Kong with good, recognized courses in this field? As far as I know, HKU and HKUST have interesting courses, but of course they will be difficult to get in.

I am quite confident with Maths/Physics/Chem, so no problems there. However, which group 3 subject should I take? I'm thinking Environmental Systems and Societies as I really can't do much else (made a mistake of choosing Psychology at IGCSE).

For my extra-curricular, I honestly can't say too much:

-Currently a part of an environmental project at School to reduce use of plastics, and I have been to a conference a few months ago. Have you guys heard of Plastic Free Seas? I imagine this project will expand to other environmental issues at school as well, and will go on well after I graduate.

-A member of our school's MaD (making a difference) Council, which is basically like the student council, but focusing more on charitable and environmental causes. I'd say MaD is a pretty big thing in our school– our teachers rave about it all the time. I can't say I've been contributing much so far though...(still looking for opportunities to, however the upcoming plastic project should give me plenty to talk about!)

-I'm top in the running to receive the position as my houses' MaD representative next year! It's a role that is below House captains, however is still quite important (The application process hasn't started yet, but there is honestly no one else in my house that was even bothered to involve themselves with MaD).

-And finally, planning to apply to be a good, old prefect... (Perhaps you can detail the application process if you still have steam left answering all my other questions?)

-If I need more academic achievements, I'll try to involve myself with some math competitions next year that our school offers...do you guys think it will be useful? (e.g. UKMT, ASMA, AMC, HKMO, SEAMC (I'll try though I don't think I'll be selected for the team))

So back to my original problem– if Chinese B DOESN'T suffice, what are my alternatives? Will I be accepted if I do French SL instead? Should I try to do another exam outside of school to serve as the Chinese requirement? (Though I imagine time will be very tight).

Thanks all of you that just finished reading my post...and apologies to my friend– I'm using her ibsurvivial account to post this!

[twilight]

Are you a native Chinese speaker?

Since you want to do bioengineering, taking Chinese B as HL will decrease your HL option by one, unless you plan to do 4 HL. I'm not familiar with the IB requirements for Hong Kong universities but I would assume for bioengineering courses you would need at least math and biology at HL, and likely chemistry HL as well.

From your ECA where you are part of a recycling project, I take that you are passionate about environmental issues, so I think ESS would be suitable for you. Otherwise another option is possibly geography. I didn't do geography, but all my friends who took geography SL said it's quite easy, and I guess that would be more related to environmental issues rather than say history. Else you can do economics, which is the most popular option in my school for all students who don't find any other humanities particularly relevant to them.

[Shreyashi.98]

Are you a native Chinese speaker?

Since you want to do bioengineering, taking Chinese B as HL will decrease your HL option by one, unless you plan to do 4 HL. I'm not familiar with the IB requirements for Hong Kong universities but I would assume for bioengineering courses you would need at least math and biology at HL, and likely chemistry HL as well.

From your ECA where you are part of a recycling project, I take that you are passionate about environmental issues, so I think ESS would be suitable for you. Otherwise another option is possibly geography. I didn't do geography, but all my friends who took geography SL said it's quite easy, and I guess that would be more related to environmental issues rather than say history. Else you can do economics, which is the most popular option in my school for all students who don't find any other humanities particularly relevant to them.

For sciences, I'm planning to do HL physics, HL maths and SL chemistry...

Our school doesn't advise to take two group 4 subjects at HL- however it is necessary?

According to HKU's site, I need to take physics/math HL...

However for HKUST, I can't find the page with the IB requirements– their engineering department actually doesn't offer bio-medical engineering programs though...However bio-molecular engineering seems quite interesting at the moment as well.

After all, my options for studying bio-medical engineering aren't much as I have to stay in Hong Kong....so I don't mind deviating slightly as long as it's an engineering course with relations to medicine.

As for languages, I come from a Chinese background, however I grew up learning English so my Chinese as a result is considered subpar for a native speaker.

Edited January 17, 2014 by ZaraMallik23

[twilight]

Usually it is not required to do 2 sciences at HL, but doing 2 sciences at HL will keep your options more open. Like say you change your mind and want to do chemical engineering, there are universities that require chemistry, physics and math all at HL. Or maybe things change and perhaps you got some scholarship and don't necessarily have to study in HK, then the requirements will change again. Doing Chinese B at HL is quite useless I feel as it is not even an A language so I don't think even if you're doing linguistics, they'll take a B language into account. It just limits your options.

I haven't been checking the entrance requirements for many universities since the place I applied to doesn't even need IB results, but physics and math HL seems to limit your option to those physics based engineering like civil, mechanical, electrical, aerospace. If you have one more science HL, be it biology or chemistry, it then opens your options to bioengineering, chemical engineering and even materials engineering.

I'm not sure why your school doesn't advice taking 2 group 4 at HL, because many people I know who are doing science/engineering in universities have had physics/chem/math or chem/bio/math as their HL. Doing 2 sciences at HL really is just to keep your options open, unless you're very sure which engineering branch you want to do, since most engineering does not require chemistry.

[Shreyashi.98]

The problem is that my school is forcing us to take Chinese B HL unless we flunk the exam...(getting lower than a B). So I would have to take 4 HL subjects?

Many people advise against it as they say the extra workload is like suicide...but I have seen some people doing it.

Or do you advise me to just drop chinese completely and do French SL?

This is because I've been hearing different things left and right, so I'm not sure whether you need proficiency in Chinese, or just any foreign language....

So for bioengineering, I should take Biology HL as well?

[twilight]

If everyone in your school takes Chinese B HL, then there must have been students with those kinds of subject combinations that have gone on to do engineering in university just fine.

How proficient is your Chinese really? Chinese B is not even meant for native speakers in the first place, so technically a subpar level for a native should be enough for Chinese B. Have you seen the exam questions for Chinese B HL? If the questions look like a piece of cake to you, then I guess it's fine to do 4 HL subjects. But does your school allow you to even do 4 HL subjects? Since your school seems to be rather rigid about subject combinations.

In my school, due to the unfamiliarity with the new language A syllabus, they asked students whose native language is not English yet are proficient enough in English to do 2 language A subjects, English A and their native language A. A few of my friends who are Chinese did not want to take Chinese A, and so they decided to take French Ab instead, and one of them is going on to do engineering. This is of course a different case than yours as my friends' languages were all in SL.

I'm assuming by proficiency, you mean that Hong Kong universities require you to show proof of Chinese proficiency level before being admitted right? Is Chinese B even at HL a valid proof at all? Being non native English speaker, when I was applying to universities in English speaking countries, I don't think too many universities deemed English A as a suitable proof of English language proficiency. There should be other ways to show your Chinese proficiency. Since language is just language without any concrete syllabus or guidelines, I don't think it would be too difficult to do those tests as long as you are proficient enough.

I'm not really sure about the case for bioengineering actually. I haven't really met anyone wanting to do bioengineering, and since I don't do biology, I don't really know the biology kids in my school well. But I think you don't necessarily have to take Biology HL because my friend who applied for medicine didn't even take biology. Of course, any kinds of prior knowledge you have would be a plus, but it should be fine even without the prior knowledge. I also don't know how bioengineering is like, but chemical engineering is said to be 10% chemistry and 90% engineering, so if bioengineering is anything like chemical engineering, you would be fine without Biology HL. It's just that I find chemistry and physics complement each other well. But if you are going to do any engineering at all, just make sure you have Physics and Math at HL.