Hi everyone, I’m Malena, a Junior here at Scripps, and I recently studied abroad in Beijing, China, in Fall 2024. Studying abroad had been on my bucket list since I got into college, and making it happen last semester felt unreal.
I studied abroad through the , which is a study abroad host approved by Scripps. CET hosts students in 13 different countries besides China. Scripps’ dedication to lightening the administrative load made studying abroad a very easy transition. The CET Beijing program is language-intensive, and there is a language pledge component. For 12 weeks, it was grueling but completely worth it.?
CET in Beijing partnered with a university in the Haidan District. I took most of my classes with the international cohort but also had access to research opportunities and local student clubs. During the semester, I was enrolled in four courses due to the structure of CET Beijing, which aligned perfectly with Scripps’ full-time abroad credit requirements. (A minimum of 3.75 credits is required abroad, and I was taking 4.75.)
Before arriving in Beijing and then during orientation on campus, I took a language placement test to ensure I was taking a course appropriate for my level. CET Beijing welcomes students of all Mandarin proficiency levels. The placement test assigns students to one of five levels, from 100 (beginner) to 500 (fluent). Intermediate students may be placed in levels like 260, which bridges the gap between 200 and 300. After the written and reading components, there was also an oral exam, including a makeshift OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview), before final placements. All the teachers were super encouraging and kind, so it was not a scary process at all (though that didn’t stop me from being nervous beforehand!). I was placed into 周老师/Ms. Zhou’s 400-level class (advanced) with two of my peers, and it was almost instantaneously the best group.
For context, the program had 21 students last fall, and the placement breakdown was:
- 2 in the 500-level course
- 3 in the 400-level course (including me)
- 9 in the 300-level course
- 6 in the 260-level course
- 1 in the 150-level course?
Besides my language class, which met Monday-Thursday from 8:30 to 10:30 AM, I also took Classical Chinese with 吴老师/Ms. Wu, a modern Chinese news reading course with 霍老师/Ms. Huo, and a one-on-one course to refine pronunciation details. (If you’ve taken Mandarin classes, you’ll understand my struggle—ü was my personal enemy during one-on-ones!) The one-on-one sessions allowed me to either expand on topics from my language class or just chat about life in Mandarin.
My days started at 8:30 AM and ended at either 2:00 or 3:00 PM, depending on whether I had my one-on-one session. Every Friday morning, we had a weekly lesson test and oral presentation before heading to class lunch (中文桌子) with the 500-level class and some of the CET administrative staff. Initially, I was nervous about the course structure, but it helped me progress significantly in my language fluency. The oral presentations, in particular, helped me dramatically improve both my pronunciation and confidence in speaking. I also loved our class discussions, which ranged from residence permit processes to comparisons between Chinese and American government policies to Gen Z fashion trends in the U.S. and China.
My favorite part of the week had to be our class lunches on Fridays. Each week, one of us chose a restaurant and set up a reservation over the phone. CET covered the cost, so we got to enjoy delicious meals while chatting about life, class, and adjusting to living in Beijing. I also got to know my teachers better since most of the faculty and staff were around 30 years old. They were such kind, funny, and interesting people, which made the experience all the more rewarding.
If you’re considering studying abroad, I highly recommend it if it aligns with your academic path! It’s rare to be in an environment where everyone shares similar goals, and you can truly focus on a language. The academics are challenging but not overwhelming, and the community I found abroad was a truly lovely aspect of my time in Beijing.
Reach out if you have any questions about CET, scholarships abroad, being in Beijing, visas, or anything: [email protected]!?