Admission Policies

Applications to The Beijing Center will be categorized in one of two ways: those considered for Priority Admission and those considered for Standard Admission.

Students who meet at least one of the following criteria will be considered for admission on a rolling basis:

1. Students who enroll at The Beijing Center for one semester (Spring or Fall) and while in Beijing decide to stay for the following semester. Such students need to submit their decision to stay for the following semester in writing by the following semester's application deadline. (Students who originally applied to stay two consecutive semesters do not need to take this step.)

2. Applicants who meet all the standard eligibility criteria and whose applications are received and complete by the application deadline, who are from a partner school of The Beijing Center, and who meet at least one of these additional criteria:

• Applicant commits to a full-year program (Spring 2008/Fall 2008 or Fall 2008/Spring 2009)
• Applicant has prior or current study of mandarin Chinese at the college level.
• At the time of application, applicant has taken/is taking at least one Chinese Studies class at the college level (Chinese History, Chinese Literature, etc.)
• At the time of application, applicant's transcript shows grades earned for at least two full-time college semesters and has a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale for all college-level work

Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who meet the standard eligibility criteria may also be given priority for admission. If you are a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese, please contact The Beijing Center's Admissions Office at 1-800-424-1505.

Non-Partner School Applicants: The first four applicants from non-partner schools of The Beijing Center will also be admitted on a rolling basis, provided they meet all the standard eligibility criteria and their applications are received and complete by the application deadline. After four are admitted, additional applicants will be considered on a space-available basis only after all other qualified applicants for both Priority Admission and Standard Admission have been admitted.

Students from partner schools who do not meet any of the above criteria will be considered for admission, after the application deadline has passed, on a space-available basis, in the order in which their complete applications are received. As a result, we strongly encourage these students to get their complete applications submitted to The Beijing Center's Admissions Office as soon as possible.

Note: There will be a cap of 15 students (including year-long students) from any one school allowed to enroll and study at The Beijing Center each semester. The 15-student cap can be exceeded if all qualified applicants have been admitted and there is still room in the program.

• For applicants who meet the Priority Admission criteria, we will begin to review applications in February for the Fall semester and September for the Spring semester. If there is a specific reason why an applicant may need an earlier decision, we may be able to accommodate such a request.
• Applicants eligible for Standard Admission will be reviewed shortly after the application deadline.
• Partial applications will not be reviewed. Applications are not considered complete until all pieces are in. An application with a piece missing after the application deadline will not be considered to have met the deadline. The Beijing Center's Admissions Office will not contact students who have partially completed applications. Please feel free, however, to call The Beijing Center's Admissions Office to check whether specific pieces of your application have been received: 1-800-424-1505.
• We will notify applicants of their admission status by e-mail and/or regular mail.