<p>I will be studying abroad this summer at Tsinghua University in China. The program is sponsored by my school and all of the classes are considered the same as at my home institution, but they are taught by local Tsinghua professors (in English) and our classes will be a mix of local Tsinghua students and students from my school. </p>
<p>I’ve heard rumors that Chinese students, especially at Tsinghua, are expected to spend 16 hours per day studying, and that despite that, their exams are so difficult that it is still nearly impossible to get an “A” (90/100). I don’t want to see China from through the window of a dorm room just to get B’s & C’s and tank my GPA! It seems cruel to give students such a cool opportunity, then stress them out with an especially intense workload so they can’t experience it. I am somewhat concerned that the professors will take pleasure in “introducing us” to the Chinese way of studying.</p>
<p>The director of the program downplays the difficulty but I am afraid he just doesn’t want to scare everyone away.</p>
<p>It is very common for study abroad to lower your GPA I’m afraid. You are one step ahead of the vast majority of study abroad students, who mostly don’t even consider this until they come back. You needs to decide to
-not go
-choose another program
-do your best to research the program and find out ways to minimise GPA drop. </p>
<p>It seems like you are opting for option 3. I am sorry I cannot help you specifically regarding China, but you are doing the right thing researching it.</p>
<p>Oh man, that is not what I wanted to hear… crap!</p>
<p>I am having a hard time figuring out just how bad it is going to be. If I’m going to come out of it with straight B’s and C’s I just can’t go - the impact on my GPA would be huge.</p>
<p>I should also add that I’m an engineering student, and the Chinese are apparently especially brutal in that area.</p>
<p>It depends on your school I think. Some schools do count the grades into your GPA and others don’t. </p>
<p>The problem most people run into is it alters their GPA because of the different grading systems throughout the world, and would might be considered a C here might be a B+ somewhere else but schools might only look at the numerical value.</p>
<p>At my school, they do things a bit differently. As long as we get a C where we study, the credits will transfer but will do absolutely nothing to our GPA.</p>
<p>The most important thing to do is to talk to your study abroad advisor to learn about your school’s policy on credit transfers and that should help you decide if it is worth it for you to study abroad if you are concerned about maintaining a good GPA.</p>
<p>My school DOES count it toward my GPA. I actually register for the courses on my school’s website, we are not taking normal classes that Tsinghua students take. The syllabi are designed by professors at my school but the classes taught by Tsinghua professors and half of the students in our classes are Tsinghua students. It’s a weird sort arrangement. I don’t know how much control the Tsinghua professors have over the course content (I don’t know if they write the exams, for example).</p>
<p>I doubt it. I go to one of the most notoriously difficult engineering schools in America, but if by “dumbing it down” you mean they aren’t going to give us exams that cannot be completed by anyone in the given time and that the highest attainable grade will be a B, then yes, I hope they “dumb it down.” A’s on American exams are intended to be attainable, while a 90/100 on a Chinese exam is intended to be somewhat unattainable. That difference has nothing to do with the content of the exams, it is only reflective of a difference in the values of our education systems. I have spent my time in school developing my study habits around the American style of examination and my GPA in America reflects my performance against my American peers.</p>
<p>Yep, sounds like dumbing down to me. In many European grading systems, most students will not break 70, but it is intended to leave room for the odd very smart person. Seems like American grades are dumbed down in that they have a much lower ceiling?</p>
<p>A ceiling is only too low if many people are reaching it. At my school, only a handful of students out of a couple thousand graduating each year finish with 4.0s. </p>
<p>No system like that distinguishes the odd “very smart” person, unless you define “very smart” as being someone who writes fast and is able to quickly multiply 29*61 in their heads. </p>
<p>I guess this just comes down to your strange definitions of “very smart” and “dumb.”</p>
<p>That’s not really true. My sister is a mathematics undergrad at university in Paris. Her final exams tend to have many questions that require you to prove new theorems that you haven’t seen before. The vast majority of students will only be able to do one or two, but every year there are a couple of students who do ten or more. Those people have real mathematical ability, and it’s not just multiplying fast.</p>
<p>Students in American universities can only achieve that level of intellectual stimulation by enrolling in graduate seminars.</p>
<p>Tsinghua is not intense as stated above. I’m currently in Beijing, my ex-girlfriend is a Tsinghua student in Social Science. She definitely didn’t study 16 hours a day. She said the classes were not that hard-- she had to study, but they weren’t unbearably difficult.</p>
<p>Old post, I know, just for future reference…</p>
<p>Is this the best way to frame the question? In my opinion, gpa is too narrow as sole criterion. You would gain immensely in broadening your mind by going to live and study in China. You may also stand out more in the eyes of admissions officers with that kind of experience.</p>