Hong Kong vs. US, help me on this decision please!

rev1303
Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:51:02 +0000

Hi!
I’m really having trouble deciding which school (well first off, which country) to head off to.
Here are the colleges that I’ve been accepted to:

Hong Kong University of Science and Tech - for mechanical engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign - m.e.
Georgia Tech - m.e.
Purdue - first year engineering
UC Santa Barbara - m.e.
UC San Diego - computer science
Carnegie Mellon - admitted for physics (mellon college of science), waitlisted for m.e. (carnegie institute of technology) and computer science (school of computer science)

Now I’m thinking mainly between HKUST and Carnegie Mellon… so where should I go??

HKUST provides a 3 year program for me (because I’m an IB Diploma student) and I could potentially get renewable full tuition. Now that… that’s what really makes me want to go here.

Otherwise I’d go to Carnegie Mellon, but another problem there is I’ve been accepted for a physics major, which isn’t quite my first choice. Also, I’ve been studying in China for these last 9 years and I was kinda looking forward to studying in the states…

I’ll most likely study as a grad student too, so some suggestions have been to study in HK for my undergrad and go to the states for my grad study. I’m thinking of a master degree in m.e., maybe MBA or a dual master degree, or perhaps even a doctorate for m.e… I’m Korean so I also have 2 years of mandatory military service, so the 3 year program in HK might really save me some time.

So my questions are, which school would you recommend? Would it affect my study a lot if I majored in physics instead of m.e.? Besides that, I’d also appreciate some information on the campus environments and college life these schools. Thanks!