The University of Hong Kong.. Zerooin in

Many people asked me in past one year about how and why I selected "University of Hong Kong"as my next destination.
During my tenure at TCS (Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.) the work had become somewhat monotonous after 3 long years in the same project. And what better than a Master degree would be a perfect remedy for that? :) So, one fine day I just thought ..OK Boss!!! thats done for me. I have done the best what I could with the job. May be no more challenges left for me in that particular project (and then changed personnel at project did not go well with my style of working.. Read my previous blogposts to get more inside on that). You can say the feeling of saturation was mainly forced me to just check on other options available.
Then I started researching on Internet. US was never an option because I never wanted to get a 2-Year degree because 2-Years is a too lengthy break in the career. May be if I was going for Masters directly after my Undergrad then I would have given a thought about it. And then fact of the matter is getting into Big Names like Harvard, Standford, MIT with the profile and background that I have is very difficult if not impossible. I am quite practical about that and know where I stand with my CV and academics. But the 2 years duration was the major turn off.
Then Next options were either UK, Australia, Singapore or Hong Kong. UK Universities were not offering any financial aid due to global turmoil and then without an aid UK is quite a costly proposition. So among Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. I had applied to 2 Australian Universities and then HKU (Because it was ranked no.1 Asian University and also world rank was No.25 by THS-QS rankings in 2009). I got an admit from Australian Universities but then situation in Australia was not quite good for Indian Students that year (With attacks on Indian Students making headlines and breaking news almost every day). So more than me, my family was too reluctant to let me go for Australian University (UNSW, Melbourne Univ). So I decided to go for HKU (University of Hong Kong). Anyways I had already confirmed it as it was the highest ranked university from which I got an admit.

# On Ranking: I read on the internet during the time I was preparing a list of probable universities. And even now you can read at many places that Ranking is not that important in the selection process. But I think Ranking certainly playes a big role in selection. As Humans we select even a smallest thing by looking at its merit and brand value then why universities should be exception to that.
Though I agree that Ranking should not be the only criteria but it should be one of the criteria for sure. You dont want to land up in some Tier 3 or Tier 2 US University just for the sake of saving some money or say a compromise. If you don't select a reputed one it may actually spoil your CV.
And if you dont think Ranking is that important to you then you are free to do it in any shady deemed university in India. Why to waste so much of money and then go to US for post-grad with some unheard university which boasts that it has ranked in top 10 university of that particular state ? Obviously any university wants to put up a good image in front of prospective students and no one will say that we are worst so please dont come to us. So you need some benchmarking to filter out those shady ones.


Over the past one year or so, My experience with HKU has been nothing less the spectacular !!Truely a world class university. Good infrastructure and nice faculty. Also given me value for money I spent. Perfect blend of University that I was looking for, Economizing my adventure yet retaining the value associated with it!
The care, the quality of education what I got here was truely amazing (And much above my expectation). I would like to say only one thing about the whole experience "If you do not have a pre-occupied mindset about something you can always get more out of the opportunity, Just try to grab it with both hands without any second thoughts."

Before I came here people told me various things about Hong Kong and life at HK.
Some positives and almost 80% Negative. But now after 1 year I dont have any negative thing to share with you about Hong Kong. Splendid atmosphere, Friendly people and well managed city .. thats my impression of Hong Kong. The people around me at the university always took care of me and made me realize time and again that I am a part of big HKU family.
Actually for Negative talks I would just like to point it simple thing " You get what you deserve". So if you are kind, polite and respectful most of the time you get the same treatment from the other side and it applies anywhere in planet earth.

Now after some days, when I will return back to India.. I have a whole lot of Nice Memories about HKU and Hong Kong to share with my friends and family.

# About Course Cost: Most Important part.. All of you must be waiting fot this part..
Monney is honey :) If you try to control your budget well within the limit. and if you are not a late night party buff and have no addiction of Sutta n Bottle..
You can wind it up nicely with pretty good living standards for about 800,000 - 900,000 INR per year. That includes some small recreational activities like roaming around, visiting disney and ocean park etc., some parties.. But then it depends totally upon the person how he controls his budget..

# About counsellors : I have a very little experience with them. Basically if you have ample of money and lack of brain you can certainly hire one. I dont know if student going to some top universities cannot take their decisions on their own then whats the use of their wisdom ? Even the counsellors never visit the university they list in front of you. They just are smart enough to take out all related data from Internet and put it in a very polished format to impress their client. So be smart , search yourself, Ask your seniors who are already there.. that is the way to go.. No need of splashing out money on Middlemen !!!

So if you planning to look for HKU.. You can certainly look forward to have a nice , exciting experience for next one year.
(P.S: I am not endorsing any one here nor I have been paid to write this. Just sharing my honest view point with you. So the people who are willing to join HKU may get some Idea about the environment and education @ HKU)

## New Addition ##
About University Health Services... University provide very well maintained and efficient health services which are covered under your student insurance. And for some more expensive treatments very minimal amount is charges ( Around 10-20% of the standard rate in private clinic in the city). Doctors and medical staff is friendly and really took care of me when I had some dental and allergy issues last time :)

Take care.. Love you all..
I found many of you visit the blog for information about HKU. If you have any querries or want some more information, please leave me a comment. I will be more than happy to help you out.