Hongkong Applicants 2014

I don't visit this forum much anymore but I thought I would drop by and see this year's Hong Kong thread. I applied last year same time as you guys, and got into top programs at HKU(BBA Law), CUHK(Law), HKUST(GBUS). I have had a great time here, but I have some insight to share with you which I think you should know:

To Hong Kongers:
All I have to say, is that if your family won't run into financial difficulties, take your education abroad. A marginally known university like St Andrews or Durham etc fares better in the HK job market compared to local grads, and you will have MUCH more fun. I don't care what the common perception among Hong Kongers is - Chinese people who went abroad typically have much better communicative skills and a brand name that doesn't exist JUST in Hong Kong. Xenophillic preferences still exist in this place, particularly in the job hunt, so don't mistake yourself. In addition, while you can always make the best of what you are given, studying in Hong Kong on average is more miserable than studying in the UK/USA.

Regarding employment, there only exists two real exceptions to this rule: Law and Medicine. Because of barriers to entry for foreign grads, it's typical for people in Med and Law to get good jobs right out of school. But for the best business jobs, the sad reality in HK is that most of the best jobs go to students they fly in from New York and London, who are often Chinese-Americans or HK students who studied abroad. For example, the top law firms (e.g. Skadden, A&O) regularly take batches of HKU law students, but investment banking front offices wouldn't touch HK BBA students with a 5-foot pole.

See http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/too-many-americans-us-graduates-in-hong-kong for details.

To Internationals:
You can come to HK for a college education if you want: it might look novel or "unique" and it might give you exposure to Asia. But let me be very clear: there is absolutely no reason you should aim to work here after graduation. You are putting yourself through a lot of unnecessary hardship.

The average entry-level wage here is half as high as one you would find in the US or UK. Even after tax, it's still 20-30% lower. To add insult to injury, the cost of living in HK is much, much higher than most cities in western countries. It is on par with New York/London. You will be getting paid less salary with more expenses. This is because locals typically live with their parents until they're 40 and married: and companies KNOW this. They know locals don't have to get housing of their own, so the salary expectation is much, much lower. But as an international, you have no family. You will have to get your own place. Trying to do this is hell. The average entry-level salary for an above average business student is 15,000 HKD a month, pre-tax. The cheapest, most barely livable apartment (think slum-level) you will be able to find is around 7,000-8,000 HKD a month, and that's before utilities and furniture and all that.

To put this into perspective, 15k HKD a month equals to 25k USD a year. The average graduate salary in the US (and most European/Aus countries) is around 45-50k. You can run the tax calculators yourself, but even after-tax you end up with a lot less than elsewhere.

You might not know the implications of this because you're in high school, but you will have a bad, bad time. At least compared to your home country. Unless you're coming over from a place with really bad living standards (like Iraq or something), you really should have better options.

see http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/26/thread293170.html for more information. I encourage you to read all of it.

PEACE

Just received an offer for Business and Management and HKUST for IB 37 points.

Is there some group of facebook for new entrants?

Just received an offer for Business and Management and HKUST for IB 37 points.

Is there some group of facebook for new entrants?

Thanks for sharing the information!
I am a Hong Konger and I received offers for Psychology from HKU, Bath and Durham. Would you suggest me to stay in HK or study abroad?

Is this your first or second choice?

Thanks for sharing the information!
I am a Hong Konger and I received offers for Psychology from HKU, Bath and Durham. Would you suggest me to stay in HK or study abroad?

If your family can afford it without a hitch I'd go abroad. Personally I like Durham more than Bath purely because of the atmosphere and location.

If money is a problem stay in HK.

Durham. Psychology leads you nowhere, so you will have to come back to Hong Kong to see if someone would want you in something else.

i applied to hkust, city u and baptist but also applied to the uk (as most of you have i guess)

What courses did you apply?


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for hkust, i applied for business & management
for city u, i applied to the global business systems management course
for baptist, i applied to bba!

for uk i applied to business management for all of them

I have also applied for Global Business Systems Management at CityU also! But I have heard nothing from them...


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oh nice! yeah same :/ what curriculum do you take? IB, btec, a levels?

ALevels
You?


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oh same which school do you go to? (if you dont mind me asking )

I am studying at an EMI school in Hong Kong. I did the local curriculum (DSE) but I applied universities through Non-Jupas system
You prefer UK or HK?


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Thank you! But I just wonder if I want to study master of clinical psychology in HK, will studying in HKU gives me an advantage?
Also, it seems that most people in HK have not even heard of Durham or Bath...