PhD at CUHK or PolyU (Hong Kong)

[francesca84]

Hi!

I am Italian, I have a BA and MA from Rome University in Chinese Studies, and I applied for HKPFS in December 2012 to start a PhD in autumn 2013. This week I received to offers from both the Universities where I had applied, offering more or less the same conditions (money basically) but I'm not sure where to go!

 

I applied to the Social Sciences depts of CUHK and PolyU.

1)The Chinese University of HK is far more prestigious than PolyU, however, at PolyU I found a very good prof who'll be my supervisor, whereas at CUHK I still don't even know who my supervisor will be.

2)I already know a friend of mine who's studying at PolyU and whose supervisor is the same as "mine" and he's always praising this professor, but he also told me that the rest of the dept is not that good.....and he complains quite often about other issues.

3)As for what I want to do with this PhD: I would like to stay in the realm of academia, possibly with a post-doc somewhere and so on.

 

Does any of you have any good advice on what to do now? Which university should I choose? The most prestigious, or the most "confortable" (with my friend, with the nice supervisor etc.)? 

What other issues should I take into account in order to decide?

Thanks everyone! Have a nice day

[pete-mc]

Do you mean with PolyU the CityU? It is correct that CUHK is prestigious but has a far less personal environment. Plus the campus is far away from the city center.

[KineticAlfven]

Hi Francesca,

 

I studied at CUHK. I am not at a position to judge the academic levels of two schools that gave you offers. But in terms of the location, I believe that you will appreciate the fact that CUHK lies in a "suburban" area.

 

Hong Kong is a metropolis, but it is small in terms of its area. The "suburban" or even "rural" areas in Hong Kong is not that far from the "city center"(i.e., Hong Kong island or Kowloon). Plus, Hong Kong has one of the best public transport system in the world, making the city seems even smaller.

 

The second point is, unless you like to live in literally old and tiny room in highrise buildings and walk on crowded streets everyday, you will not enjoy the life at Poly U, which is connected directly with a subway station and a few mega-shopping malls. In contrast, CUHK has a quiet campus, which is also the largest among a dozen of universities in Hong Kong. In fact, quite a number of local residents visit the CUHK campus on weekends to escape from the noise and crowdedness of the city to enjoy a moment of peace and harmony.

[whatshername]

Hi, I think it depends. It is true that CUHK as a whole is much more well-recognized than Poly U. But since you are pursuing a PhD degree and wish to stay in the realm of academia, it is better for you to take the professional reputation within your field of both unversities into consideration. You may check their websites or email them about the placements of their PhD alumni in order to get a better idea of your chances of getting into the academia world. As for the fact that you still don't even know who your supervisor will be at CUHK, you can actively interact with the department or even email the professor(s) with whom you share interests and communicate with them about possible opportunities to work with them. I hope it helps