r/HKUST

hii i am intl student who pursues economics and finance bachelor degree

my stats:

gpa: 97.2

IELTS : 7.0 overall

AP Calculus BC 5

AP Microeconomics 5

AP Macroeconomics 5

SAT 1540

ECs:

N2 Japanese
MUN club president
(i know its weak)

Major: BEng in Computer Science (COMP)

GPA/Test Scores:

• SAT: 1600
• Class 10 (Cambridge/IGCSE-level): Mostly C grades, B in Physics
• Class 12: 75% through NIOS (India’s National Institute of Open Schooling, a government-recognized alternative/open schooling board)

I know my grades are uneven

• Head Boy
• Sports Captain and Vice Captain
• India finalist in COMPUDON Junior in 9th grade, a national computer and digital literacy competition inspired by Microsoft Digital Literacy standards
• Built an AI-based lung cancer detection project using machine learning/computer vision for medical image analysis
• My family and I have distributed ~1,000 blankets yearly since 2011 in villages during winter

. Costs: Maximum budget is about $4,500 USD per year total, so I would need extremely high aid/full funding.

Hello, so to be short, I will start uni next year and was thinking of applying to HKUST (after recommendations from my friend) next year for 2 major engineering and economics.

I graduated last year with a 37/45 (physics HL and math SL), and I have decents extracurricular, but nothing mind-blowing like olympiads (i was in the training team but didn't participate ) or published research paper

Can i realistically get accepted for any of the two major, and if yes, how likely would it be to get a scholarship (at least half tuition)?)

My initial predicted grade was 36. I was rejected from HKUST and waitlisted for HKU for engineering courses. Hypothetically if I get an ib grade of 40 or above. Is it still possible for me to get into HKUST to join them in 2026. I think that I would prefer HKUST over HKU due to the course being better. If someone knows the process for HKUST because I have heard that you can appeal for only one course for which you applied for so I am just wondering the process and if anyone has any experience with the due process.

We are a decent sized global tech startup (Series C, major funds etc). We decided to use HK as our base for Asian expansion. Got a 25 seat office in Central TEC. On one hand GenZ complains there are no good jobs, the govt. wants more startups etc.

And yet all GenZ wants is easy jobs. We actually pay better than PWC etc and very close to entry level banking jobs. And we had so many openings mostly for Asia sales, BD, Ops etc.

But almost every interview we conducted, the response we sort of got from GenZ candidates was we want a large team, big setup, better hours..I mean we were offering great pay, opportunity to build an entire ops yourself and just move quickly.

This is opposite to my hiring experiences in SF, NY & London. Have others felt the same? Or we are doing something wrong?

so just finished ib and im probably not getting into the big three

and i think my options are either shue yan, hang seng, or hkbu uni.

which among the three would fit these criteria: good air, good access to quality food from wet markets and restaurants, good oppurtunity to join sports team or numerous runnung trails or gyms of high quality, a dorm that offers single room. would much appreciate opinions to stop me from scratching my head at 2am.

Also how would living in shueyan- hongkong island. hkbu- kowloon tong, and hsuhsk- shatin area affect my quality of life

I received a conditional offer from hkust from department of electronic and computer engineering in January and I just received the result of my final examinations yesterday. I'm meeting the overall aggregate and mathematics condition but I'm falling short by a margin of 10 marks for the physics condition. I'm going to submit my marksheet anyway but is there a chance that despite my poor performance in physics they still admit me in? I'm thinking of writing a mail explaining my situation and how my performance in other subjects and co-curriculars can make up for it.

I'm looking for a group of international students, Master's or Bachelor's students who are in Hong Kong during the summer, so that we can have a better summer together.

Does such a group exist? Or is there any group for international undergraduate and master students?

I was offered a PhD scholarship at HKUST; at the same time, I was accepted at Kennesaw State University (KSU). I wanted to continue with KSU and decided to decline the HKUST offer of a (~2.1 USD) per month stipend.

Now my visa has been refused, and I am in a panic. Can I contact the school? is there anyone with similar experience?

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to apply to HKUST for undergraduate admission for the 2027 intake as an international A-Level student.

If I submit my application around December 2026, when would be the deadline to accept the offer if I get admitted?

Also:

• How much time does HKUST usually give to accept the offer?
• Does the acceptance deadline differ for scholarship offers or competitive majors like CS?

Would really appreciate hearing from current students or past applicants. Thanks!

Applied main round for mechanical, aerospace and computer engineering. Haven't heard back from them yet. Should I move on?

Did you guys join the server for class of 2030

Hi all. Applying as an international student from a vocational technical high school affiliated with one of my country's top engineering universities. Submitted late round, so I know the odds are tighter — just looking for an honest read.

Academics: 92% GPA, highest informatics grade in school. Top of class in mathematics in preparatory year.

Competitions (international):

• World Winner — international math & CS competition organized by a European university (2025)
• 1st in country, 44th worldwide — international ML competition, self-driving cars track (2024)
• Gold level — computational sciences & engineering (2026)
• One of 5 students worldwide to receive a selective certificate in mathematical foundations of CS
• National science olympiad (computer) — top 200 among 1,230+ participants, 1st among vocational high schools; 4 consecutive years

Competitions (national):

• Country's largest technology competition, autonomous vehicle category — only high school team to reach the final, top 7 among university teams; 3-year team captain and software lead
• Same competition, NLP category — inter-university finalist (10th grade)
• Same competition, Healthcare AI — finalist (two separate projects)
• University-level algorithmic programming competition — 37th out of 173 teams, competed solo as a high school student

Projects:

• AI-driven pollination optimization platform using MARL, satellite imagery, and PPO algorithm; international collaboration; entered a major national tech competition
• 3-year autonomous vehicle project using pure RL, sensor fusion, YOLOv8, SegFormer; built hardware from scratch
• Turkish NLP research collaboration with a researcher admitted to top US universities
• Volunteer developer in a national defense company's Turkish NLP open-source initiative

Coding:

• Codewars: 3 kyu, top 0.472%, 963 kata across 15 languages
• Codeforces: 456 problems solved

Research / academic:

• RL summer internship at a top national university's computer faculty
• Direct undergraduate/graduate coursework at the same university's informatics institute (grades 10–11)
• National HPC access — special approval from senior government and university officials
• Master-level Data Science Bootcamp at a US university — youngest participant to complete ($27k value)
• Quantum computing diploma (Qiskit)
• $2,000 GPU cloud credit allocation for AI project (AMD Developer Cloud)
• Upcoming internship at a manufacturing company abroad (summer 2026, accepted with highest score)

International:

• EU Erasmus+ — country representative and team leader in a 4-country IoT project
• Erasmus+ host — led a 6-country multinational team on a smart ticketing system (face recognition + pneumatic control)
• Oral presenter at an international humanities and social sciences congress

Leadership / community:

• Founded an AI student community — grew a mandatory 9-person group into 60+ volunteer members, 10+ interdisciplinary projects; still running after my graduation
• Part of the founding teacher team of a peer-teaching platform (students teach students and teachers)
• Built and presided over a digital jury evaluation system for international events
• Youngest person in school history to reach the top title in a traditional mentorship system (grade 10)
• Teaching assistant in a paid public AI bootcamp alongside a university professor

Work / income:

• Freelance AI projects on an open market platform
• Built full web infrastructure for a client
• Covered own expenses throughout high school independently

First choice is Aerospace Engineering — that's where my technical direction points. Business & Management is second, not because I'm indifferent to it, but as a genuine alternative if the engineering seat doesn't come through.

The late round is the real weakness I'm aware of. Everything else I've tried to build honestly over four years. Would appreciate a realistic read — what do you think my chances are, and is there anything specific about HKUST international admissions for engineering I should know?

Hey I am from delhi how many of you guys from India have got your offer let's connect will talk and plan together.....

Feel free to dm me or reply here ..

🙏✨

I know hkust is a dream school for some ppl, but because i am an international student, im kinda worried.

Hkust has easier entry for international students than Chinese mainland students, so obviously I will fall way behind them when the uni starts. I heard the avg gpa is super low, international students get cooked, and I have a friend who went to hku with scholarships but bros mental health is not good. He got top scores in highschool but apparently hes like failing cuz the students from mainland are too good.

Also hows life in hongkong? Would I have to learn cantonese to get employed? Also tbh I do not really like the city personally, I feel like its super crowded like a chicken coop. Im scared i will regret my uni life there although it is indeed prestigious

my qualifications:

A*A*AA, pearson international a levels (math, chemistry, physics and IT). B in english langauge (as level). igcse : 999887 (math, science double award, computer science, english second language and business studies). ecs are mid. strong lors and maybe a really good personal statement. should i apply to hkust for finance and econ or maths and econ for the 2026 rolling round? any input is much appreciated

Im an upcoming freshman at hkust interested in hall life , but i cant find enough info on the internet about the new halls which is 10-13,is there anyone can talk about its pros and cons?or the life there. Is it far from those main buildings?