What universities in the U.S. (or Canada) have a good Chinese program, small class sizes, and are inexpensive?

[Yadang]

I have checked out some other forums on this subject, but it seems that most deal with universities not in the U.S. or deal with a summer or short-term program. The post I did find seemed a bit old, and perhaps things have changed since then...

I am a college student, currently enrolled at a college with no Chinese program. However, last year I spent as an exchange student in Taiwan. I have since realized that I want to study Chinese to a high level, and probably involve it in my career. I have applied to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, as they have a really good Asian Languages program. The only thing I’m worried about are class sizes, and so, I want to look into a few more colleges. The characteristics that are important to me are:

1. Great Mandarin Chinese language program

2. Small class sizes (in all classes - not just the Chinese ones) - so perhaps a liberal arts school, as I am in now

3. Cost is also an issue - I’d like a relatively inexpensive college, or one that gives a lot of money to people studying Chinese.

4. In the U.S., or at least nearby, like Canada, if need be

Thanks for all your help!

[Meng Lelan]

I was impressed with the caliber of Chinese language faculty of Williams College, but it might not meet all of your criteria.

[manimal]

I have a few friends that studied Chinese at University of Maryland - College Park, right outside of Washington, D.C. The Chinese classes are relatively small (I think ~10 people), but the other classes can be large. It's my alma mater, so I remember taking some of the general classes with 200+ students in one lecture hall. But classes in my major were about 20-30 on average. It's a state school, so the tuition is probably around 30K for non-residents of Maryland. 

 

Hope this helps!

[Yadang]

Meng Lelan, what do you think wouldn't meet my criteria? Mainly the cost?

 

manimal, hmmm - I'd really like to avoid even taking general classes with more than 30 people, if I can avoid it, but I'll definitely check out the University of Maryland - College Park. Thanks for the suggestion!

Have any of you attended or have friends that attended Brigham Young University, and more specifically, enrolled in their Chinese Flagship program? I recently found out about them. They have pretty small class sizes, a really good price, and one of I think 9 Chinese Flagship programs in the U.S. Have you guys heard anything about them?

[Meng Lelan]

Williams College is a private university so maybe the tuition is more than what you are looking for.

Brigham Young is very active in Chinese language education, in fact they were one of the few locations in the US given funds (which is getting less and less every year) to host the summer Startalk programs.

[manimal]

No worries  

[Ailuo]

I went to SUNY Albany, they have a decent Chinese program. Probably one of the best programs that I have seen though is at Hamilton college in central NY. Excellent program, but the college is maybe a little pricey. I don't know about scholarships though.

[muyongshi]

University of Colorado at Boulder has an excellent program. They are one of the few schools that I know of that has really good 古代汉语 available in addition to their main curriculum.

I am not sure about cost though. Regarding class size, I can't really answer in general. For the lower level Chinese classes, I think it's usually around 20 but as soon as you do more than the first year class size drops dramatically and when you get to the upper division, ten was high for most of classes. 5 was the average if memory serves.