HKU/HKUST/CUHK?

[Magician]

Has anyone applied and got accepted or know someone who have applied and got accepted to HKU/HKUST/CUHK?

[crimson.threads]

I'm from Hong Kong, so yeah, I know a bunch of people in all of these unis even though I'm currently studying in England. I also know a bit about the application process... anything I can help you with?

[Magician]

Nice!

 

Do you know about their grade combinations (IB/SAT/ACT/SAT2/TOEFL) they had, their offer (conditional/unconditional), their majors, and their ECAs?

 

Also, what do you think it is like to live and go to college in Hong Kong?

 

Thanks!

[wynnewong]

i got offers from all three but i believe the standards for local and international applicants are different? PM me for more info (:

[Magician]

Sent PM!

[lettuce]

A lot of people from our super small graduating class received offers from HKU/CUHK/HKUST! Some even received offers from all three. (PM for more info on this

 

I'm a Taiwanese living in Hong Kong and um, people either hate it or love it here

 

The biggest problem with living in HK is the awfully expensive rent, but if you'll be living in uni dorms, that wouldn't be a problem. Congestion is also another problem in Hong Kong, and last year's Occupy Central caused some serious transportation changes (not implying my political stance or anything!) but I doubt there'll be another movement in the future that is as big as the last one. The weather here is pretty bad, lol, with frequent rains and terribly hot summers, but there are days when the weather is just breathtakingly good, then again those days are rare. You might have heard the next one- people here in Hong Kong are fast-paced and can be a bit rude; the truth is, there are rude people everywhere in the world, so don't fret, I'm sure you'll find lots of great people in HK. And the thing about people being extremely busy and fast-paced, those are very apparent in the Central and Causeway Bay district, there's even one time when signs saying 'Please do not stop walking' (or something like that) were put up in the Central MTR (metro station), lol. HK is a financial center, so busy people wearing suits are really everywhere, but their attitudes vary.

 

One positive thing about living in HK, is its convenience. This kind of contradicts the whole congestion part, but if you avoid taking public transportations during rush hours, you'll be fine. HK has the airport express, trams, buses, mini buses, taxis and the MTR so traveling in HK is not a huge problem. If you love shopping, there's a lot of shopping malls and local stores in HK, but goods can be expensive. As a Taiwanese I seriously think Taiwan goods are way too cheap compared to the goods in HK, but this is a limited response because I don't shop a lot . One thing I really love about living in HK is its exposure to foreign culture. There are a lot of foreigners/minorities here and I think that makes HK culture very diverse and unique. So when you go to universities in HK, yes, your class will likely be dominated by Asians, but there will be a lot of people with very different cultural backgrounds. Last but not least, language. Although Cantonese is mainly used, there really aren't too many HK citizens that can't speak English and Mandarin, so I think it's awesome, awesome, awesome.

 

HKU is located in Hong Kong island, which is like the 'busy' part in Hong Kong, but it also has several departments in the Kowloon side, I think?

 

CUHK is in LIKE THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, no just kidding . It's in New Territories, which makes it a little more isolated, but there could be other departments located in other parts of HK, I'm not sure. Transportation is definitely trickier because it's in New Territories, faraway from the crowded areas in HK, but the upside is that CU does have its own MTR station. The great thing about CU is that it has a huge campus, so I'm sure it'd be fun place to explore and experience.

 

In regards to HKUST, sorry can't give insights because I don't know a lot about it.

 

Despite the downsides, Hong Kong's definitely a great place to study (but that's just my opinion!) and HKU/CUHK/HKUST are all fantastic universities Wishing you the best of luck!

[Magician]

Thank you lettuce and wynnewong for all the kind and detailed responses!

[crimson.threads]

Oops, this is rather belated! I can tell you all about living in Hong Kong- I was born there and lived there for the majority of my life. (I'm serious, I will actually give you good restaurants to visit haha)

As for the distance between the island and it's other unis, I reckon the ones in Kowloon aren't too bad- it's still quite an active part of HK! Especially if you go to Hong Kong PolyU- it's literally on the boundary between HK Island and Kowloon, so it's probably one of the most well serviced uni's I've seen.

 

It's just when you get to NT that commuting can become quite a bit exhausting- probably 1+ hour by MTR and 2+ hours by bus. Shouldn't be too bad if you fall asleep on the bus like me though As far as I know, there are definitely dedicated transport links for universities (the MTR just opened a MTR station for HKU!), and my aunt who works at UST takes a bus directly there from a transport hub in HK (I think TST or Admiralty?)

 

HK is super fast paced, and you'll find that it might be a bit of a culture shock- it's either extreme fast pace of the central island, or the... hick parts of town (lovingly referred to as the 'dark side' of hk), which tend to be the New Territories- they're just really slow paced and chilled. All in all, it's an unique exp.

 

As for my friends who're studying in HKU/UST/CU, they all did IB, and all ended up in a range of subjects. We studied at an international school, so we got the non-JUPAS stream, which I'm guessing is what you'll be benefiting from (as you're from tw?) non-JUPAS tends to be a bit less competitive than JUPAS.. probably by about 3 marks or so? I'm not entirely sure, as it's hard to compare local and international students in the two JUPAS streams. You'll definitely have less competition, especially if you score well and aren't looking to do an overly competitive subject like Med? (the number of local students vs available spaces is staggeringly disparate!)

 

I know people who got into law programs in the non-JUPAS with scores of about 39/40/41, but there are the occasional ones with 37/36/35. Med is usually about 42-45 lol. Architecture is usually ~35? Engineering tends to be about 35-39, dependant on your subjects.

 

if you can't make it in, there are several smaller private colleges around HK which probably will take you- but since you're only asking about the three biggest unis I'm guessing prestige is relatively important to you. (not a bad thing!) UST is king in all science + business related subjects, with HKU king in law / med, and CU in arts / business / law. generally it goes as such in public perception: HKU > UST > CU, but that changes depending on subject

 

#endrant

[Magician]

Thanks for the response!

 

Yup, I'm interested in applying for Engineering, more specifically Computer Science, so I'm more interested in HKUST among them all lol.

 

Do you think people generally consider HKUST Engineering graduate > HKU Engineering graduate? Thanks.

[crimson.threads]

From what I see, yeah HKUST > HKU engineering. The facilities are rumoured to be better as well for engineering, as UST specialises in science based / technological subjects.

 

Obviously as a result, the competition for a spot in UST engineering tends to be a tad more intense than for HKU engineering.

Don't take my word for it though! But from what I've heard from friends, they usually view UST as superior for engineering, physics, etc. 
 

You should probably also run through the syallbi and compare what they teach you- the HKU course might have a little less prestige, but that's negligible if you're not learning something you love.

Edited May 23, 2015 by crimson.threads