Best experience of my academic life Past Review
By Tong Young H (Human Biology, University of California - Merced) for
University of Hong Kong / HKU: Direct Enrollment & Exchange
The abroad experience allowed me to interact with people from all over the world who do not hold americanized views, thus enlightening and intriguing. My life is forever changed for the better, more critical of my actions, and actions of the US. The immense culture and way of studying abroad truly needs to be known and I feel person should not be able to live his or her life in such ignorance.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was less than my previous Uni experience. The grading system is on a bell curve, so competition is extremely difficult. The teaching methods are very similar, and the Uni boasts a different class of student from what I'm use to. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
They did their best and made it clear what you could do or not do. They tried to help in the best they could, there are some rules that were no fair but it worked out with some talking and diligence. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
During my application process I was able to choose my housing and I was able to get in my second choice. With out that housing I know I would not have benefitted as much as I would have by not living there. The people and neighborhood were absolutely fantastic. |
| * Food: |
If you like asian food. That is the first and foremost requirement. Then HK is the absolute best place to go for any asian food. Rotti, curry, duck, thai, viet, korean, japanese, chinese, and all the exotic/fusion alike. Of course if the food isn't good enough you can also travel to the place of origin to have it also to compare. Asian food in HK is incomparable, ask anyone who actually like trying new foods, and HK definitely has it all. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Hong Kong is the center of the Asian world. Located in the north of the south east asia region. It is the place to go to explore every surrounding asian country to gain the most knowledge about different cultures, politics, and views on the world, life, and the US. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
City is incredibly safe, just don't in by yourself to Wan Chai or anything. Make sure the most important is to get your HK identification card. Regarding health, it is just 100 hk which is a very small price to pay if you for some reason need to go to the Emergency room. Very important. very very important. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | You can spend about 63 US dollars a week on food. You can spend up to triple the amount for even better food. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Alot of spending will go in to 24 hr Mc Donalds. It's delivered too. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Never fear, put in the effort, be prepared. Just go for it and have the time of your life. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Principles of Chinese Medicina |
| Course Department: | BIOL 2531 |
| Instructor: | J M F Wan |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Enlightening. Straight forward memorization. Cultured. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Basic Biochemistry |
| Course Department: | BIOC 1001 |
| Instructor: | D K Y Shum |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | This was was incredibly challenging, and you are expected to know alot. This course cannot be survived unless an individual has skill/talent/prior knowledge or a thorough study of the material. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Molecular Medicine |
| Course Department: | BIOC 3609 |
| Instructor: | D Y Jin |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Learning about stem cells, cancer, EGFRs, and the like. The most difficult course I have ever taken in my academic career. More memorization than Organic Chemistry. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | do not take this course if you are not truly interested in the subject matter. |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Chinese as a Foreign Language |
| Course Department: | CLDP 2 |
| Instructor: | |
| Instruction Language: | English/Mandarin |
| Comments: | Basic Course. Not difficult. Good introduction. Expect to try and learn more on your own by finding people from Mainland China. Do not expect to learn the language just by attending class and quickly finishing homework. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Cognitive Psychology |
| Course Department: | PSYC 7 |
| Instructor: | Hayward |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Difficult but satisfactory. The class was interesting. It was short and sweet. The subject was easy to memorize. Make sure you are able to interpret the subject at hand in the essays rather than regurgitate material. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Life-Span Developmental Pyschology |
| Course Department: | PSYC 9 |
| Instructor: | P. S. Yeung |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Great course. I would recommend it. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Human Physiology |
| Course Department: | BIOL 2218 |
| Instructor: | W Y Lui |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Extremely comprehensive. Difficult. Can be done with some effort. Multiple professor course. Each specializing on their own system. Some were well taught some. Some were not. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Introductory Microbiology |
| Course Department: | BIOL 135 |
| Instructor: | S. B. Pointing |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | I highly recommend this class. Talks about food MiBi, medical MiBi, and many other MiBis. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
| Course Name/Rating: |
Chinese as a foreign language |
| Course Department: | CHIN 1502 |
| Instructor: | Chen |
| Instruction Language: | English/Mandarin |
| Comments: | A tougher course than Putonghua for foreign learners. Don't take if it your not going to put outside effort learning putonghua outside of the classroom and in a Catonese speaking environment. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: |
