Tsinghua or Fudan University?

[nhlktl]

Hi all,

I am applying for 2015 fall graduate programs to the politics fields at Tsinghua and Fudan Universities at the same time. Both universities' rankings are quite good but they are in different cities. Wha do you think in which university is better than another?

Is there anyone studying at one of these universities and want to share your experience?

[ChTTay]

Hi there,

 

Have you read the thread on Tsinghua University?

 

Check out pages 6 and 7 and look out for my posts

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35322-tsinghua-university-chinese-courses/page-5?hl=tsinghua

 

You might not find someone who has studied at both Universities but you could look at both of their forum pages here and see which one appeals more.

[OneEye]

You might also think in terms of cities. Beijing or Shanghai. Which one sounds more like a place you'd like to live? If you pick one because it seems like a marginally better program but living there makes life miserable for you, you've picked the wrong one. A lot of people overlook this when looking at schools, but it's a very important consideration. You'll be spending years of your life there, after all.

[amb62]

I'm currently a student at Fudan, I can help you if you have any questions about Fudan, but I have no clue about Tsinghua, its better to check both universities first and compare it according to your needs.

[ChTTay]

Personally, taking oneeye's lead on looking at cities, I'd pick Beijing over Shanghai.  It's the capital, history was made and is being made here. You can see how fast China is changing by looking at how quickly Beijing is changing. There are many interesting places to see of historical and cultural value. These days both cities have their fair share of pollution. This winter I think Shanghai might have even had it worse on average. Having lived here for the last 2 years, and probably one more year, I don't really have any complaints about it. You can do whatever you want to do here - whatever your interests are.

 

From the perspective of a Chinese person, Tsinghua has a lot more weight than almost any other University in China (on par with Peking U). If you intend on working in China or with China in the future, it would look very good to have Tsinghua on your resume. Equally, if you intend to study Chinese as well, Beijing is the 'the home of putonghua' so you would get a lot of people recommending you study in Beijing over anywhere else.

 

It can be hard to actually visit both of these Universities before you decide as often the application deadline isn't that close to starting University OR you might still be at school etc. I would say it's not so necessary to come here and look first. Just go for it (by 'it' I mean Beijing).

[shuoshuo]

I study in Shanghai, it's my favourite city. I have been to Beijing. I personally feel Shanghai is so much more 'awesome' than Beijing. Having said that, Tsinghua is much more prestigious than Fudan. I wouldn't even place Fudan in the same league as Tsinghua. If you're studying politics, I would be quick to assume that Beijing would be anyone's first choice, it being the capital of China. So that's my 2 cents on this topic.

If you are asthmatic, I would steer clear of Beijing and highly polluted cities. Shanghai has got its days though, but it is better than Beijing in terms of pollution. But Beijing has central heating, Shanghai is horribly cold indoors during the winter.