r/cuhk

Please dm me or comment. Will love to connect!

Just want to know so that i can book the flight at the right time as an international student

Hey everyone,

I’m an international applicant from India, and I am losing my mind here. I applied to CUHK for Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) all the way back on October 24, 2025, during the early round. It has been more than 8 months of absolute, deafening silence. No interview invitation, no offer, no rejection. Just nothing.

I even called the admissions office recently. The person who picked up just gave me the standard generic script: "Your application is still under consideration," "I understand your frustration," "I am sorry."

Meanwhile, I’ve seen other students from India on Reddit getting their offers for the exact same CSE program. Why is my application just sitting in limbo?

For context, here are my stats and profile: 10th Grade (ICSE): 94.6% 12th Grade (ISC): 94.4% SAT: 1410 IELTS: 7.0 Extracurriculars: Published 3 research papers, won some robotics competitions, and have a solid set of other ECs.

Because of my profile, I actually managed to get offers from the other top HK universities, but the financial situation didn't work out:

HKU: Got an offer for Computing & Data Science (CDS), but missed out on the full scholarship because my 12th score wasn't 97%+.

HKUST: Got an offer for CSE, but with zero scholarship.

Because I was holding out hope for CUHK and expecting a timely response from an early round application, I didn’t apply to any colleges back home in India. Now, regular admissions here are closed, and I feel like an entire year of my life has been completely wasted because CUHK refuses to give me a straight answer.

Is anyone else from the early round still waiting, or is this basically a silent rejection at this point? What should I even do now?

CUHK obviously is one of the best unis in the world(ranked 18 this year). But how is it for international students, especially indians? Any discrimination? I heard professors also teach in a way that favours people who know Chinese. Is that true? Someone also said TAs favour Chinese. Would it be a good decision to take it? I am likely to also get a 75%/50% scholarship from HKU too. (HKUST didn't offer any)

My another fear is the word Chinese in the uni name may affect me internationally. Like applying for job/master in the USA?
How would the job scene in hk be if one is ready to work hard and even learn Chinese?

Additionally, I have taken CSE for now because I haven't decided if I want to pursue something in finance or AI. So, going with a general widespread degree. Is that a good decision?

I have some good indian (tier1s) options too, but to scale them, I would need a master's abroad anyway. So that's why I feel HK would be a good choice.

Added to my fears, my cousin with 6 yrs bond, who graduated with CS honours from NUS, wasn't able to get a job. Is the job scene equally bad in HK?

If one is willing to work hard, would taking it be a good decision?

(If it matters, yes, I can easily pay the additional cost not covered in the scholarship. So money is not the issue, just how risky it is for my future)

edit:
Btw if anyone knows what CBSE percentage i got, it is 96%.(got ripped by CBSE, difference between my lowest and second lowest score is 8 marks..)

So I received my offer letter pretty late and was wondering how much time it takes as some says it take around 6-8 weeks. And they want me by the end of aug.. please let me know how much time it took you guys and which country u are from.

can you guys please rate my college preferences ? anything I should be worried abt ?

1. Morningside
2. Sh ho
3. Cw chu
4. Wu yee sun
5. New asia
6. Lee woo sing
7. Chung chi
8. United
9. Shaw

just got invitation to select colleges, is there any college that serves halal food ? I saw morningside claim in their dining menu that chicken and beef meals are halal, any other college ?

Basically gng, I recently heard about CUHK - BBA in Global Business Studies and I was mainly locked in for ivies preparations but my parents want me to have few options in india and south asia so I came across HKUST.

I would need at least 50% scholarship to attend but if I get this bba then, willing to take a loan too for the degree + are the salary after this bba GBS actually that crazy or just hyped up ?

Desired Major: Business/finance/sociology + AI
Demographics: Indian male, middle class, IBDP School
Hooks: None
Rigor: Maths AI HL, Business Management HL and Chemistry HL
SL Subjects - English Language and Literature, French B and Physics

GPA (biggest problem) -
9th grade - 4/4 - 4 A stars, rest all A's (FLE) - IGCSE
10th grade - 3.92/4 - 2 A stars, 4 A's and 1 B (FLE) - IGCSE
11th grade - 3.2/4 (32/45) - Ik gng i messed up again
12th grade - I expect to score 40+/45 predicted (got tutors and all) and the teachers understood why my grades were so low and am scoring accordingly in 12th grade.

Extracurricular Activities

1. Independent Researcher

Sole-author of 4+ studies on AI, labor markets, and institutional decision-making; developed original governance frameworks and quantitative indices, open-sourced research code, presented findings publicly, and earned acceptance to Krea University's RSFE Finance Track.

I hope to get at least one published in a journal since my prof directly helped me out.

2. Research Assistant – Oxford Saïd Business School

Conducted a qualitative literature review on public vs private markets and corporate delisting; analysed 30+ academic papers, developed a structured delisting table constituting of 400+ companies, and synthesised findings for regulatory application. The report was submitted to the Financial Reporting Council; worked directly under faculty guidance.

3. AI Recruiting Intern

First high-school intern at a U.S. recruiting firm; sourced and screened 75+ candidates, advanced 5 finalists to leadership, introduced AI-powered recruiting workflows, and helped expand sourcing capacity through automation, process design, and talent intelligence research.

4. CFO – MUN Logistics Business

Directed operations for a conference supply venture serving 16 MUNs; managed end-to-end procurement, budgeting, and client acquisition, generating ₹7,00,000 revenue at ~24% margins; built scalable vendor and fulfilment systems; implemented advance payment protocols after contract failure as a means to improve financial risk control.

5. MUN Secretariat Leadership

Led operations across 9 MUN conferences (1100+ delegates), serving in senior secretariat roles including Deputy Secretary General (3x), Head of Outreach, and Financial Advisor; managed 80+ member secretariats, built SOP-driven hiring systems reducing recruitment time by 33%, secured partnerships (UNHCR, G20, NITI Aayog), and generated ₹10.9L revenue with ₹3.16L profit; resolved high team attrition through structural engagement systems.

6. MUN Integrity Verification Organization

International Affairs Coordinator for a global initiative verifying chair/vice-chair credentials across 50 conferences; led 6 country heads, built verification workflows using centralized databases and network validation, and supported organizing committees in detecting fraudulent applications.

7. HR Intern – (Mental Health NGO)

Conducted 35+ structured interviews and redesigned the recruitment pipeline using AI transcription and parallel processing; reduced time-per-hire by 50% and recruited 26+ interns, significantly increasing organisational capacity.

8. MUN Delegating & Chairing

Participated in 33 conferences (19 delegate, 13 chair/vice-chair roles) including prestigious conferences such as Oxford and Harvard MUN; secured awards in 15/19 conferences as a delegate; engaged in high-level committees alongside university participants in 7 MUN’s, strengthening negotiation, policy analysis, and public speaking.

9. Paid Independent Adjudicator – IPDC 2026

Selected adjudicator for the 7th International Parliamentary Debate Competition; evaluated competitive debate rounds and research motions; compensated per round(15$)

10. XXXXX (NGO Co-founder) (Can't name it)

Founded a small-scale nutrition initiative addressing protein deficiency in government school students; funded through MUN profits and distributed supplements to 30+ students; developed a replicable low-cost intervention model.

Awards/Honours

1. Ascend Berkeley Stock Pitch Competition – Grand Finalist & India Champion

Level: International

Grand Finalist (Top 5/55+, 8.93%); Champion – India Team; led team in fintech stock analysis using Monte Carlo simulation and financial modelling

2.Grand Delegate & Best Delegate (DMUN USA)

Level: International

Grand Delegate (1/1200+, 0.08%) and Best Delegate (1/140, 0.71%) in WTO Committee; highest overall distinction at international conference; represented South Sudan

3. National Economics Olympiad – Finalist (SRCC)

Level: National

Finalist (127/2600+, 4.88%); self-studied economics using only competition resources with no prior background

4. Singapore & Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO) – Gold Award

Level: International

Global Rank 25; National Rank 10 (Grade 11); Gold Award (Top 8%); School Rank 1 in rigorous international mathematics competition.

More deets

Submitted my delisting paper, which was an extension of my work as a Research Assistant under the Oxford professor to Research Symposium on Finance and Economics 2026 (Accepted) and the 18th Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking Conference (Accepted here too)

Delisting Paper accepted to International Conference on Applied Economics and Business 2026.

Acceptance into non-trivial partner programmes - Leaf’s summer cohort - 10% acceptance rate from thousands of applicants with full tuition fee waiver.

I am currently a recent drop from India. I wanna get into primarily the BBA IBGM in HKU or so BBA in HKU. I also intend to apply to HKUST for BBA GLOBAL and BBA Finance and to CUHK for BBA GLOBAL or BBA (IMMA?something dont remember name sorry)
All big 3 in the early rounds for 2027 intake

My stats:
CBSE CLASS 12 98% comm+ maths
(but only 93 in maths)

Co curricular:

E-Cell IIT Bombay: EUREKA! JUNIOR 2025; Top 100 Finalist among 80,000+ teams to present BMC before jury

KIIT Ideathon 2025; Secured 1st position among 490+ teams & received ₹30,000 grant for innovation

IRJET Research Publication; Published a Research Paper titled, 'Ed-Tech For Special Needs'

Student Council Leadership; Selected as Vice Head Boy & Prefect (2 years)
Merit-Based Scholarship; Dual Scholarship (₹24,000) for both 10th Boards (95%+) & Stream topper

Organizing Committee (Spardha, BSAI, Sunfest & others); Head of Guest Relations, coordinated logistics for 20-35 participating schools

Add info: I applied to hku in may 2026 and got accepted into bachelors of eco and finance but no scholarships. Appealed but to no yield

Now
•Thinking to give SAT in oct to cover up the maths deficit should I?
•What are my chances of getting into
Cuhk With scholarship, almost gfull ride (cryin in broke:’) this year round. I have hope that the early rounds would do me justice (else i gotta grind for indian ug papers)

Any non Iocals managed to get an interview for CUHK? I applied in the early round last October with perfect grades but no interview news so far. Wondering if its because they do not recognise my academic qualification thus I didnt get an interview.

Applied in Nov 2025, 2 interviewed, submitted final documents in April, and I’m still under consideration in late June 😭😭😭

Any international applicants still waiting? Or am I cooked?

I was told by CUHK to wait but id really like to collect it asap PLS HELP

Hi! I recieved an (undergrad) offer in broad-based Science in CUHK. But I now want to study CS. I looked up the process for changing majors (note to students for change of major/minor/study year).

How probable is it that my application will be accepted, and what stats do successful applications to Computer Science (or Computer Engineering) usually possess?

I also noted you could appeal to change your program before getting admitted. What's the success rate for that? Any current CUHK students, please share your experiences.

Hi guys! I’m an international students from southeast Asia and just got accepted to CUHK (The Chinese University of Hong Kong). I’m currently trying to decide between 2 majors:
Data science and policy studies
Global economics and finance

I need some advice from you guys😭😭😭

Here are some of my worries, about data science and policy studies, it is a relatively new program and, as far as I know, it’s unique to CUHK. I find the combination of data science and public policy very interesting, but I’m worried that the curriculum may be too interdisciplinary and not specialized enough in data science compared to a traditional Data Science degree.

And about global economics and finance, I’m only concerned about how challenging this major might be as I’m not too good at maths.

For those who have studied either program:
- How difficult are the courses?
- What are the internship and job prospects?
- Which major offers better career flexibility?

Thank you so much for your help! 🙏

Don't I have a chance with 1480 SAT (690RW, 790 Math)? Do they accept or value AP exams?

Hi! I am a prospective exchange students in CUHK next year Jan - May 27. I am possibly coming with a group of friends that are from different universities. We wanted to book an accomodation outside of the school's dedicated hostel. We had an idea of booking an accomodation in shenzhen and commuting to school but I am not sure if this is possible as we are on Hong Kong's student visa? And not sure how viable this is. Any advice is much appreciated. Sorry if the question is stupid.