I thought academically there is not much difference (or at least significant difference) between HKUST and other famous US schools in terms of undergraduate physics. I am aiming for a physics degree in the long term and planning to attend graduate school in the US. I chose to attend HKUST because I thought it would set me up well for a grad school. However, I have been told that students in HKUST are primarily interested in getting jobs and not much academically focused. I do admit that HK universities’ natural science programs (especially physics) are quite relatively weak compared to other international universities’, but is there really such a huge gap in undergrad level? I do have other options such as going to UCSB. Everyone around me told me to go to US instead, and maybe transfer from there if I’m not satisfied. But I’m quite reluctant about this decision since transferring is very competitive and I personally don’t know much about UCSB (I only know that grad school physics at UCSB is great, but not sure about the undergrad CLS at there. Heard CCS physics course is great as well but taking graduate course at undergrad level seems very risky and daunting to me) But I’m hoping to hear more about Pros of UST’s physics.
Just curious, where do you from? And why you choose Hong Kong while there are all these countries to choose from?
A lot of time deciding between which school really just come down to a personal preference. So thinking back about why you had chosen to apply HKUST and UCSB may help you figure out where to go.
I would say in term of science, UCSB is definitely better than HKUST, but the problem is if UCSB really fit you better than HKUST.