July 13, 2007

Dalian (CHINA)

And I thought College Applications are Stressful in America

Well, **brushes the dirt off the keyboard** it feels good to be writing again! Now, if I can only figure out what to write about...

I went out to dinner last night for some northeastern dishes (东北菜) with a group of Dalian natives who are on summer break from their studies in Hong Kong. As has been the case for quite some time now, I wasn't sure what to expect because I only knew one of the six people coming, but experience always takes over in such situations. It is strange what a difference an ounce (granted, an inexhaustible ounce) of confidence will make in a person; I suppose this is the advantage of having been through so many novel situations.

Over dinner I learned an interesting fact that has somehow escaped my radar: when applying for universities, Chinese students can only apply to one top university. This is obviously in stark contrast to (dare I say all?) other countries where one can apply wherever they like so long as they pay the application fee. Imagine the stress students must be under when trying to balance choosing a great university and being practical about where they will be accepted.

The problem arose recently when Tsinghua University (China's top university) had 73 students who were accepted and subsequently opted out of attending (most went to Hong Kong, England, or Singapore). For a world-class school like Tsinghua, this is absolutely unheard of, and the Chinese government wants to make sure such a loss of face never happens again...

Thank goodness I never had this problem - I applied to Georgia Tech, was accepted with a full scholarship, and that was that.

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