Studying abroad

[L337Llama]

So, I am a CS student at Virginia Tech. I am planning to study abroad for the fall semester. I want to go to Asia. I lived in Korea when I was a lot younger because of my dad´s work, though I don´t remember korean.

So, with that in mind, and because my gpa is about a 2.7, there are four options for me: (as well as links for VTs side of the program)

city university of hong kong

Kansai Gaidai University in Japan

Soonchunhyang University in Korea

konkuk university in Korea

I am allowed to apply to two per semester, so my first choice is picking the two to apply to. Im worried since my gpa isnt that great, it will hurt my chances alot. The applications consist of my transcipt, a short essay (only 500 words), a letter from a teacher, and release forms and that sort of thing. the letter wont be a problem, as I had a really good rapport with a drawing teacher I had last semester. And for the eassy, I can mention the fact I have been overseas before, since they want use to mention our strengths. I can´t find out very much about how competative or hard it is to get into study abroad programs for a semester, and it is my biggest worry now.

As far as I want to get out of the experience, I want to learn a foreign langauge, so whatever country I go to I will be taking language classes for, and I want to get as much cultural experience as well, so I will be taking culture/buisiness/international relation classes. I´ll try to get what cs I can, but I doubt I will be able to get all the equivalent courses.

So, I´m posting here to keep anybody interested in this, and wondering if people will be able to share experiences with me or any advice.

adios

 

[Parasitic]

Well, the CUHK program looks likes where they just stuff all English-speaking exchange students together and not really what you're looking for, especially if you wanted to learn a foreign language.

There's a good chance the only transferable classes are humanities and you're only allowed to take classes within a list of acceptable courses to take, since you're an international exchange student and the instructor of that course may be required to teach in English when a student of your status is in the class, so you could be very well limited. Keep that in mind when you choose your own classes at VT.

And you'll be surprised on your chances of getting into study abroad programs. Some universities (especially public state ones) readily promote study-abroad programs because (a) they want to raise their international status and fame in hopes of attracting quality int'l students and (b) the campus and classes are near full or over capacity and they wouldn't mind having less students while collecting tuition.

On the topic of tuition, make sure you check with the program office and see how the fees are paid. You may have to pay VT tuition and fees which would work out to be quite expensive compared to paying tuition and fees at your guest university due to differences in cost of living and exchange rates, etc.

 

[TridenT]

Mm.. You sure about this? I usually only hear of people who are perfect GPA students going abroad. (They also happen to be at least decent with the language of the land; they can at least understand almost everything you are saying, they just can't speak greatly)

I don't think it is wise. I suggest raising your GPA and learning Korean before you try to go over. :-/

 

[L337Llama]

Well, here is an update for it. I've been doing paperwork for Virginia Tech, and emailing the international offices at schools in Korea that I am looking at. The offices were really helpful, and the people at Tech have been nice. I've been told only 1 other person is applying to the same school as I am, so it looks good. A lot of people at Tech apparently don't try to go to Asia, its much more competitive for Western Europe.

If anybody is interested in this, ill try keeping it updated more often.

 

[ViviTheMage]

shit's expensive ^_^ ... but worth the experience imo.

 

[L337Llama]

So, I got an another update. I was originally applying to Konkuk, but I had to switch to City University of Hong Kong in order to take computer science classes. Either way, the office here has been great with helping me. The people in Konkuk were friendly, so I feel bad about having to withdraw my application from them. There are summer programs there that I might try in the future. Who knows?

I got my stuff in, so now I am waiting to hear what they say. Hopefully it goes well.

I got a lot to do if I do go abroad... I need to figure out what to do about banking, cell phone stuff, a visa, plane tickets...

 

[Farang]

If you are at all interested in Thailand I would highly recommend USAC. Fscking cheap too, I saved money by going there for two semesters. School is a joke so you just want to take gen ed courses there though. They have another program in India where I did not attend any courses and just traveled, got 3 A's and a B from the program director who essentially took a bribe in the form of a "utility bill" and a survey I filled out at the end saying how great of a director he was.

edit: it is a little over $3k a semester, it is $1k if you just apply directly to the school and skip the third party

 

[L337Llama]

Oddly enough, the housing in Hong Kong is cheaper than tech. Its about 600 a semester, and right now my dorm is about 1300 a semester. I was expecting Hong Kong to be more expensive.

I want to go all over the world, hell if I could I'd like to spend as much time of whats left at college overseas. I have 3 semesters after this one( a semester behind because of CS requirements). It doesn't help that Blacksburg is a boring place to live. I'm getting a good education. The engineering school is fantastic, but Bleaksburg... meh...

 

[dainthomas]

Hong Kong would also be good in that english is widely spoken. So if you're not fluent in chinese you won't be totally helpless.

 

[L337Llama]

The people at the office mentioned it would be good to go to Hong Kong because of that. The colleges VT is affiliated with there all use English for their classes. I'll be able to at least talk to people at school since they have to be fluent in English.

 

[Farang]

In my experience the home country's language doesn't much matter if you are taking courses in English. This is because the part of the school you are attending is where they put all the English classes, so in most cases you are studying with Korean or Chinese or whatever students who are fluent enough in English to enroll. As far as outside of class I found it more rewarding to have to learn enough of the language to get around, but that is just me.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555
Mm.. You sure about this? I usually only hear of people who are perfect GPA students going abroad. (They also happen to be at least decent with the language of the land; they can at least understand almost everything you are saying, they just can't speak greatly)

I don't think it is wise. I suggest raising your GPA and learning Korean before you try to go over. :-/

I've studied abroad twice and had far from a perfect GPA

Hogeschool van Utrecht, Netherlands
Oxford, UK

My undergrad GPA was right around 3.0

 

[L337Llama]

The problem with the school in Korea was that there weren't simply enough CS courses offered in English for me to take and still graduate on time. There were two classes, but one was a prerequisite for the other. I'm planning on doing two CS courses, 1 language course, and two culture/history courses. So, with the language class and a lot of exploring, I'm hoping to learn as much as I can.

Once I know for sure if I am getting in, I will also be buying Cantonese Rosetta stone to practice with until August.


There are simply fewer people from VT trying to go to Asia, so they have lower requirements to get more people to go. Also, when I was there they were pretty sure I was the only person from VT trying to go CityU, a few people were trying to go to other schools in Hong Kong, but there is much competition for me. Hopefully these factors work out in my favor enough.

 

[skim milk]

studying abroad in college is one of the best things you can do

don't listen to Tridentboy, he's an idiot.

you don't need a high GPA and you don't need to know the language for a lot of these programs if you search. I went to study abroad at a top school in Asia and all the classes I took were in english.

 

[2Xtreme21]

I went to France for a semester my Junior year. I had quite a bit of French classes, so I was more proficient than others in my group (25 of us all from the same university), but I think the minimum requirements were only 2 semesters of French. It was total immersion, and you'd be surprised how much and how quickly you pick the language up. The key is to fight the culture shock tendency to mingle with other English speakers and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Best way to learn a language, bar none, is to study abroad.

 

[L337Llama]

One of the things I needed for my application was a letter of recommendation for a teacher. I got one from a really nice drawing class teacher I had. I wanna get him a small gift or something and write a thank you card. Any suggestions for a thank you gift?