US or Hong Kong?

[hotpaws]

I am an international student.Currently ,I have accepted both by Hong Kong University,Emory University and Johns Hopkins-graduate program.My major is public health.Now I am making the tough decision.Though I know JHU is a dream school for almost every medical student,the tuition fee is a large amount of money.I want to know some information about the employment status about these 2 schools in America. Moreover,what is the living condition about these two cities-Baltimore and Atlanta?Thanks

[zerolife]

unless Emory is giving you significantly better funding, I would choose JHU (or HKU). I don't think anyone can beat JHU's Public Heath program.

As to JHU vs. HKU, only you are able to figure out whether you can comfortably pay JHU's tuition without spending your parent's & your entire life saving.

As an international student myself, I suggest not to expect finding employment in the US with your major. Unemployment in US is really terrible (and things aren't look good for the near future either), you don't have any advantage as an international student in Public Health, and most importantly, while American students are able to move home and keep the living cost to a minimum, you are continuing burning through $$ while you are trying to find a job after graduation.

[grad_wannabe]

I don't know anything about your program or field, nor have I been to either Baltimore or Atlanta, but I can tell you that Hong Kong is an intensely amazing place. I don't know whether you've visited, but it's a high-paced collision of peoples from all over the planet, overflowing with energy and culture. It's like the cross roads of the whole world. I would move there in a heartbeat.

[Yang]

Baltimore isn't the nicest of places, neither is Atlanta. I lived in Atlanta for a year. Emory is in a nicer area of the city, and I think Atlanta is a better city as a whole than Baltimore. However, Baltimore is close to DC, which will have more cultural activities. Atlanta does have the CDC, which I assume would be an incredibly rich resource given your field - so I doubt it's a huge step down from HK or JH. Is your graduate program a terminal degree?

Edited April 29, 2010 by Yang

[hkmousey]

Have you been in Hong Kong? - I visited the city in 2004 and 2007 respectively. I cannot deny that it is an amazing city. But the air pollution is very bad. Since your major is public health, it might be an ideal place to study. This former British colony had changed a lot since the late 1990s. It used to have bilingual street sign. Now is only limited to the tourist areas. The university is located at the mid-level Hong Kong island. The locate/small restaurants do not have English menu. Do you know Chinese? Another concern I have is the standard if the academia. HKU was part of the Commonwealth countries when it was a British colony. It had a very high standard and was very hard for the locate students to get accepted. Twenty years ago there were only two universities in Hong Kong. Now is very different. Hong Kong is part of China and the education system has changed and HKU accepts more students. The student body is much much bigger than 20 years ago. It is NOT so hard to get accepted. - Hong Kong is now has 7 or 8 universities. In addition, the education system has been changed and I have no ideas what is the standard of the Hong Kong higher education under the China government's education regulations.

You have to ask yourself why will you decline John Hopkins University and attend HKU? If it is for life time adventure and international study opportunity, that might be fine. If it is a hope for better future employment, then you need to give this idea a second thought.

I will go for John Hopkins University.

[pea-jay]

Not going to comment on the programs but I have been to all three cities (Baltimore most frequently) and have to say Hong Kong is the most interesting place of the three. Baltimore has its nice areas and is an easy train ride to DC to the south and Philly and NYC to the north if you need to get out of town or pursue potential opportunities. If for some reason I had to work in DC, I would prefer to live in Baltimore myself and take the train into that city. Atlanta is more spread out and further removed from the Northeast Corridor. It is however a major city with plenty of opportunities.

Edited April 30, 2010 by pea-jay

[hotpaws]

Baltimore isn't the nicest of places, neither is Atlanta. I lived in Atlanta for a year. Emory is in a nicer area of the city, and I think Atlanta is a better city as a whole than Baltimore. However, Baltimore is close to DC, which will have more cultural activities. Atlanta does have the CDC, which I assume would be an incredibly rich resource given your field - so I doubt it's a huge step down from HK or JH. Is your graduate program a terminal degree?

I know JHU is the best choice in public health field,but the tuition fee is really expensive and lays a very heavy burden on my whole family.So I plan to study in Hong Kong first to get a master degree and then apply for PhD degree in America.What I am concern most about right now is that I am afraid that I cannot get a degree in such a good university,such as JHU,in the future.Thus I have not made my final decision.

[kobe36]

@hotpaws are you able to get any financial aid from the school? scholarships?

I am just going to comment on the Hong kong part as I have never been to baltimore or atlanta but I have lived in HK before and regularly visits. For me personally, I think it is a great city. The food/culture is awesome and things are cheap and from what I understand, HKU is a very prestigious school, probably the best in Hong Kong (I don't know about now). However, I think a part of the decision making part will also be based on where I want to be after graduate school. Are you planning to stay in the US to find a job or move back to Asia?? If you get a phD are you planning to teach in the US or Asia??

[lambchop]

This is puzzling. JHU funds all first year PhD students, if I'm not mistaken. You may want to check with JHU again for funding availability.

HK is more comfortable to live in. But school-wise, it's JHU, no doubt. It's quite difficult to gain admission to JHU, especially for medical-related studies.