actually i have lots of friends who completed high school in HK before coming to US to study for college. most of them got into the top colleges. a lot of them graduated from UC Berkeley, some of them from Stanford, Cornell, etc. however, for the high school grads in California, it's more difficult to get into UC Berkeley as they usually only takes the top 5% or so from each high school.
i think if your kid is in a good high school in HK, he shouldn't have any problems getting into a good college in US.
also, there's budget cut for the public schools in California. lots of teachers got laid off or forced to get a pay-cut.
Your kid should finish highschool in HK first. He doesn't need to study university first, he can study in community college then transfer to university. This way is easier to target the right university as different university has different strength which depend on your kid's abily and interest.
Yes, school in california has pay cut,so it's difficult to get a class since there are not enough teachers. Some of my friend took longer time in order to graduate. But if you are rich enough, he can go to private university but the tuition may be more....around $40000usd per year.
Thanks SY_Mom and minna304. Those are good advice that you have given.
SY_Mom, if I understand you message correctly, you are saying my son would have a better chance of getting into, say, UC Berkeley, if he finishes high school in HK than in California? Isn't UC Berkeley a state U and needs to give priority to residents of California? How does this work? Are your friends' kids who got into top universities also top students in HK? What I am trying to understand is, if there are 2 students with the same top grade but one is in HK and one is in California, which student would UC Berkeley take in first?
u're right ... if 2 students who have about the same qualifications (1 is foreign student and 1 is CA resident), i think the foreign student might be easier to get in. becoz there are certain percentage of seats will be reserved to foreign students and the school can have higher revenue from the higher foreign student tuition. do u know how many CA students would like to get into UC Berkeley every year? i know some people who graduated from the top high schools in CA but couldn't get into UC Berkeley. however, i have lots of friends who came here after graduated from high school in HK got into UC Berkeley. some of them didn't get in directly but they studied at the 2-year community college first and got good grades, and they transferred into UC Berkeley. but i think most of them are from the above average high schools in HK and they're above average students. i know some of them are from St. Paul, Sacred Heart, etc. in HK. and some of them are from good high schools in Macau.
oh whoa SY_Mom, this is really good information. Thanks a lot for that.
I never thought things have evolved to this stage. My brother and my sister both went to universities in US, except my brother attended high school in UK and my sister attended high school in US. They were both top students with very impressive qualifications but my brother ended up in a very average state U while my sister got into ivy league. What happened to them gave me the impression that attending high school in US provides better chance of getting into good universities than being a foreign student. Maybe it isn't the case anymore... or is it just UC?