Neo Nie is a typical school boy from Tianjin city: tall, slim and wearing glasses. He looks quiet and kind, but actually quite straightforward. Nie was longed for studying in North America and came to QEA last November, wished to be enrolled in a good university.

Nie has been taking many Elite Courses, including fencing, painting and golfing. Fencing was his favorite for he had learned it before in China for a year and a half, and also took part in municipal competition. “I enjoy competing,” said Nie.

Nie missed the first semester when he first came to QEA. He thought it is impossible to meet all requirements of college in such a short time, and reluctant to apply for universities.

QEA teachers had many conversations with Nie and his parents. Two days before deadline, he finally agreed to apply for several famous universities. Nie thus be clearer about his goal and work harder to finish all high school courses.

Then he joined in the university visits three times and learned a lot about most tertiary institutions in Ontario. He really liked University of Toronto (U of T) for its beautiful campus and advanced facilities.

What impressed Nie most is the difference between university students in North America and in China. “I spent my childhood in Beijing and lived in the neighborhood of Peiking University and Tsinghua University, so I used to play basketball on those campuses.” Nie recalled, “I found that college students in China were quiet enjoy themselves after classes. I believe the students here are more hard working.”

Nie often evaluate a university from the following three perspectives.

1. The environment
Campus environment is critical. University of Waterloo was on my bucket list before. However, I found its campus not very clean. The campus environment reflects things directly like the students’ civilization, their happiness index and academic environment as a whole. U of T is better in comparison. I like its beautiful buildings and neat campus.
2. The library
I like staying in library since I was little, thus I would like to attend a university with a good library. The library of McMaster University and University of Waterloo are not big enough for me. Nowadays, many college libraries introduced high technologies and I really fancy those.
3. General behavior of students
I always observed student’s appearance during visits, like their outfit, haircut and behaviors. I believe details mirrors personalities. I have to learn in advance what kind of people I’m going to study and live with for the next four years. Moreover students’ behaviors also show the quality of a university.

Understanding Nie’s situation and his favorite university, QEA teachers arranged extra-curricular for him to gain enough credits and graduate on time.

Luckily, Nie received the offer of Physics and Mathematics Science of U of T this May and he decided to take it.

Looking into the future, Nie wishes he can apply what he have learned in college in practice and become a successful businessman.

At the QEA 2019 Commencement, Nie delivered a speech as student representative. He said “I have to talk to people through translation software when I first came to QEA, but now I am here speaking as valedictorian. I am profoundly grateful to QEA for helping me. I will miss life in QEA.”