A well structured, transformative experience January 10, 2026

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Academic opportunities are the main reason I attended. The academic rigor is high, especially for the 1.5 credit language course, which featured frequent yet manageable work, projects and exams. Class sizes of 5-8 and weekly one-on-one's with professors, local roommates, experiential excursions and structured interactions with locals, and content well-tailored to contemporary life in China all created an engaging and fulfilling environment in which to improve my Chinese. Despite coming into the mainland with a background in traditional characters, I was accommodated and felt real progress in terms of confidence and complexity of communication in my language ability. The two elective courses I was initially very interested in are not offered this semester, but I was still able to join my backup politics and economics courses and have them counted for Pomona International Relations major credit. The cons of the electives in general are that they are 3-hour lecture-based seminars; nevertheless, I appreciate all of my courses for their detailed readings, promotion of in-depth interaction with the city via field classes and assignments, and very knowledgeable instructors (professors pulled from prestigious universities across Shanghai and the rest of the country, such as Jiaotong University).

On-site administration of your program

On-site staff were extremely helpful. Staff members had an office on the same floor as all of our classes and were easily accessible during course breaks Monday through Friday; moreover, we all had one another's WeChat accounts from which they send out important reminders and updates weekly and answered questions quickly. After initial phone and banking troubleshooting, most of my interactions with staff involved travel advice and requests for reimbursement. When it came to other resources, I took advantage of the initial wellness consultation, but did not partake myself and so cannot speak to the quality. CET Shanghai fully covered Internet and access to university exercise facilities. Their travel reimbursement policy covered public transportation and cultural event tickets with no food, drink or alcohol up to about $10 USD per item and $50 USD total per day (my local transportation and entertainment estimates above would be many times higher had the budget for this policy not been in place for 2/3 of the program). CET Shanghai is also very exploration-oriented. I'm not sure if CET's other programs have this, but they had a budget to reimburse most daytrips up to about 50 USD per student for 2/3 of the semester abroad. This really motivated me to see every corner of Shanghai and the surrounding cities, on solo trips or with friends, until the budget ran out. I even earned the inaugural "Cultural Ambassador" award because of my systematic use of the budget.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

For housing, I lived comfortably in a double with a local Donghua University student (in my case a grad student), from whom I was able to learn a lot about the local area. I daresay the dorm room itself was even better than my large double in Lyon freshman year because of its spaciousness, the fact that me and my roommate shared a private bathroom, and the fact that we were provisioned with AC and heating. I was able to get water cold or warm, use the washing machine at under 1 USD (and hang-dry in my room), and study in the study room on the same floor as my room (4th floor - never had any elevator issues). My classes were all in a brick building a 2-minute walk away. If there were any issues with literally anything, we had quick access to CET staff via WeChat. There was also always an (Chinese-speaking) attendant at the entry to the building.

For food, meals were 2-4 USD at the University dining hall. Even with several semesters of Chinese, I had to learn new food and measure-word names to communicate serving size, but pointing at an item worked as well. I primarily ventured out to restaurants only with Chinese class, friends, or on daytrips, but you can find great food at a cheap mom and pop shop pretty much anywhere.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

My goal was to balance a sense of belonging both abroad and at home. well, and though a long distance breakup at the beginning of the program made me doubt, my family was steadfast and my friends inconsistent but there. In regards to sense of connectivity and completion abroad, I would share that I accepted it's okay not to be 100% immersed all of the time and let your program goals evolve as you transform through experiences abroad. I initially sought new experiences and met many kind Chinese people on my own, but my American friends through CET organically became my bedrock in the second half of our program. There is so much to gain with both an individual and group journey abroad. This was my first Thanksgiving away from home, for instance, and it was lovely to return to American food with my "found family" (probably 1/5 times I did this in the entire program because Chinese food is so good).

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

N/A

No safety issues. A dark alley in urban or rural China is as safe as Pomona College during the daytime - I had no safety issues whatsoever. The closest thing to harassment came as I went solo traveling on a daytrip and a taxi driver followed me, driving beside the sidewalk as I was walking. They spent five minutes trying to get me to take a ride until they gave up. No other haggling I experienced reached this point, although you should be aware that debating prices is common in certain settings and could make someone new to it feel an artificial sense of pressure.

I felt fulfilled throughout the program, so much so that I didn't want to leave!

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

CET Shanghai fully covered Internet and access to university exercise facilities. Their travel reimbursement policy covered public transportation and cultural event tickets with no food, drink or alcohol up to about $10 USD per item and $50 USD total per day (my local transportation and entertainment estimates above would be many times higher had the budget for this policy not been in place for 2/3 of the program). Some input costs include buying hygiene products at the start of your program (teeth floss is uncommon in China - look up a list of goods that are hard to find). Depending on what phone you use, you may explore a SIM card or e-SIM to have a Chinese phone number (CET can pay for physical SIMs provided by China Mobile on site as well as a data plan for your entire stay). There are also several VPN options (roughly $50 the "Other" monthly cost estimate I listed). Do your research on your banking and how foreign fees may be applied (roughly $25 the "Other" monthly cost estimate I listed) What you pay for yourself is primarily food and some of the cost of public transit. CET's partner university in China, Donghua University, did not include a meal plan and instead had students upload funds to their ID card to pay for meals. These meals were often as cheap or cheaper than even mom and pop shops in Shanghai and there are 6 dining halls (floors) to choose from.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Dorm

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• Local Students

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• Americans

• Opportunities and justification to engage in experiential learning
• Applicability of Chinese course material to daily life; promotion of reflection via electives
• Accessibility of program staff, small class sizes for Chinese, and relationship-building in general

• Updated phone, internet and banking advice
• Reflection integrated into final weeks of Chinese curriculum

The Academic or Linguist