[jimbo]

Yep we all hang out socially, usually drinks or dinner and trips to the cinema.

Theres a friendly bunch here and I'm sure you'll be made welcome.

[MarcHK]

You mention your accomodation will be Kowloon. If you are at PolyU, CityU or BaptistU you'll need less money for transportation than at other Universities, like UST or CU.
I live in Kowloon for 3 years now as postgraduate student and I would say 5K excl. rent is a reasonable amount of money to live 'normal'. By 'normal' I mean spending on average around 40 - 60 $ for a meal, go out for a beer once a week, get some nice food on weekends, transportation, stationary and books.

Some Universities have a buddy-programme for exchange students, were local students take care of the foreign students and show them around, especially during the first weeks. I guess there will be a big group of exchange students at your university. If you don't find enough friends there, ask the international offices at other universities and try to get a few email addresses.
Some nationalities also have trainee- and student email-lists in HK. Maybe check the website of your embassy in HK or chamber of commerce, whether there is some kind of contact list of people currently in here.

Congratulations on choosing HK as place to study!
Marc

[mrcheese321]

Yea, I gave very little thought to actually studying here. My main focus was the trip and experiencing something new.

Locals are very hard workers education wise (I've heard varied accounts in the business world). They are intelligent and can prepare and memorize things for a test like no other.

It is a difference in culture. Americans tend to be trained in critical thinking. Our expertise is taking a problem, expanding it and trying to solve it creatively. Locals seems to be trained more in hard knowledge. Thye take a problem, can apply a million prinicples, definitions and just general facts to it and solve it that way.

The two classes that I'm in that are based on critical thinking (two management classes) I'm making A's in. The two finance classes that are based on definitions, principles, and set models, I'm making a C in. And it isn't that I'm making that bad of grades, it is just that the other people here make such good grades that the class average is so high and when you are compared against every other student, you get screwed in your grades. A lot of that has to do with the curve though as well. A c- is considered average here where at my school a c+/b- is considered average.

For example, in my investments class the median grade as a 91 on the mid term with a standard deviation of 5. That means that if you made a 99/100, you got an A- on the test. If you made anything below a 80, you failed. Any test in America that the class average was that high would mean that there would be no curve, but we go with a set grade scale, so anything that is a 90 or above would be an A, 80-90 is a B, and so on. It is just very different here.

Of course, if you are pass faill, then don't worry about it. You will pass a class no matter what. I've heard that most schools don't allow exchange students to be failed. It has to do with university relations. If your school fails a student, when that student goes back to their home campus and word gets around, your school is pretty much killed off on the exchange partner list. But it is all a rumor, I'm not sure if that is true or not...

Yea, I've hung out with the people from this forum a couple of times. I've been for drinks a couple of nights and then to one of the dinners (I'm going to the one on Monday night as well). It is actually a lot of fun because I like getting out of the "college scene" and conversing with older people every now and again.

My school has an international student associaition that helps gives exchanges "buddies" and e-mails and phone number of people to contact is you have any questions. I've found that the other people living in my floor and my room mate to be the most helpful, but I'm guessing that you aren't living in a dorm because you are living in Kowloon so you don't have that option...

You will have a blast though. This is a great city to study in. I've loved my time here. It is really scary how fast it went though. It feels like yesterday I was getting into a plane to fly here, but in reality it was 3 months ago. I don't want to go back, but I graduate in May and if I don't go back to my business soon I will be very, very poor

Good luck here,
c

[STAM4NICK]

Originally Posted by mrcheese321

Yea, I gave very little thought to actually studying here. My main focus was the trip and experiencing something new.

Locals are very hard workers education wise (I've heard varied accounts in the business world). They are intelligent and can prepare and memorize things for a test like no other.

It is a difference in culture. Americans tend to be trained in critical thinking. Our expertise is taking a problem, expanding it and trying to solve it creatively. Locals seems to be trained more in hard knowledge. Thye take a problem, can apply a million prinicples, definitions and just general facts to it and solve it that way.

The two classes that I'm in that are based on critical thinking (two management classes) I'm making A's in. The two finance classes that are based on definitions, principles, and set models, I'm making a C in. And it isn't that I'm making that bad of grades, it is just that the other people here make such good grades that the class average is so high and when you are compared against every other student, you get screwed in your grades. A lot of that has to do with the curve though as well. A c- is considered average here where at my school a c+/b- is considered average.

For example, in my investments class the median grade as a 91 on the mid term with a standard deviation of 5. That means that if you made a 99/100, you got an A- on the test. If you made anything below a 80, you failed. Any test in America that the class average was that high would mean that there would be no curve, but we go with a set grade scale, so anything that is a 90 or above would be an A, 80-90 is a B, and so on. It is just very different here.

Of course, if you are pass faill, then don't worry about it. You will pass a class no matter what. I've heard that most schools don't allow exchange students to be failed. It has to do with university relations. If your school fails a student, when that student goes back to their home campus and word gets around, your school is pretty much killed off on the exchange partner list. But it is all a rumor, I'm not sure if that is true or not...

Yea, I've hung out with the people from this forum a couple of times. I've been for drinks a couple of nights and then to one of the dinners (I'm going to the one on Monday night as well). It is actually a lot of fun because I like getting out of the "college scene" and conversing with older people every now and again.

My school has an international student associaition that helps gives exchanges "buddies" and e-mails and phone number of people to contact is you have any questions. I've found that the other people living in my floor and my room mate to be the most helpful, but I'm guessing that you aren't living in a dorm because you are living in Kowloon so you don't have that option...

You will have a blast though. This is a great city to study in. I've loved my time here. It is really scary how fast it went though. It feels like yesterday I was getting into a plane to fly here, but in reality it was 3 months ago. I don't want to go back, but I graduate in May and if I don't go back to my business soon I will be very, very poor

Good luck here,
c

To analyze the previous posters comments on grading scales in particular. When I studied at HKU with 5 others from my school, we ALL returned to our home school with a significantly lower GPAs, and the ratio was 1:1---What we got at HKU equals what we get at our home school on our transcript. This included fails at HKU, which some of us received. As you might expect it was rather unsual to have 5 US students all perform poorly. So take the above posters comments with some perspective.

[GOODMAN]

Scientifically speaking, your situation is not a strong enough proof that HKU is a less than standard school but an observation. A good school still produces students with failing grades. Although I agree HKU are not the strongest in some of the disciplines, we can’t really conclude your reduction of GPA is the result of attending HKU. Just my 2 cents…….

[STAM4NICK]

Originally Posted by GOODMAN

Scientifically speaking, your situation is not a strong enough proof that HKU is a less than standard school but an observation. A good school still produces students with failing grades. Although I agree HKU are not the strongest in some of the disciplines, we can’t really conclude your reduction of GPA is the result of attending HKU. Just my 2 cents…….

I agree with your comments, though I hope my post did not imply that my/our simple attendance at HKU was the only result of a reduced GPA nor that HKU is a
"less than standard school." This was not my intention.

I think this is one of the first threads on studying in Hong Kong, since I cannot recall such an in depth one when I studied there.

[mrcheese321]

My grades transfer 1:1 as well - whatever I make here is what I get there.

I actually know that a lot of exchanges are finding their GPAs dropping signifigantly after this semester. I know that mine is going to drop a fair amount. I had a 3.7-3.8 before I came here and I think I will have about a 3.5 when I get back and add my grades from here.

I think that the drop is a combo of things. 1) the grading system is different than the one back home and I'm not used to it and 2) I at least, (I don't know about others) didn't really come here to study, it was more to travel, experience something new and to just take a break from school.

I'm okay with the drop, it isn't like it is going to kill me or anything, in the end, grades don't really matter, but it is kind of annoying to see 3 years of hard work to keep my GPA up go down the drain in one semester...

[Laughing_Monkey]

Personally i feel that the Uni standards here are about the same as a lower mid-table UK university. But maybe thats just my course.

[mrcheese321]

UST is rated one of the best MBA programs in Asia. I don't really know if that means anything, but it is something to brag about

I think that it comes down to the difference in the system here for me. I've never had to study this much to just learn so many small facts. My school tends to be more focused on the big topics and makes you learn those and apply them not just regurgitate them back word for word on a test.

[Laughing_Monkey]

Its like someone was saying the other day, HK has one of the best business schools around, but from my experience i think the Masters standard here (HKU) is about the same as the BSc standard at a better UK university.

Like you say, there is a big difference in the students. The local students seem to have a more clinical than critical approach to work.