CUSPEA
Encyclopedia
CUSPEA was an examination and admission system used by the physics
departments of some American and Canadian
universities for graduate school
admission from People's Republic of China
between 1979 and 1989.
It was created by the Chinese-American physicist Tsung-Dao Lee
and Chinese physics community as an alternative graduate school admission procedure. At that time in China, higher education
was still recovering from the Cultural Revolution
; school transcripts
and recommendation letter
s were difficult to evaluate. Furthermore, standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Examination
were unavailable in China.
where Lee worked, and eventually expanded to 97 universities. Committees of physicists in China administer and grade the exams. The examinees are usually senior physics majors from top-ranking Chinese universities. Those who passed the exam are followed up by an interview by a small American delegation. The final admission depends on mutual agreement between the applicant and participating physics departments.
About 100 Chinese students went to the US every year through the CUSPEA exams, and the total number is 915. Over the years, the three universities with the most students passed the exam are (numbers in the parenthses indicate the numbers of students) University of Science and Technology of China
(218), Peking University
(206) and Fudan University
(127).
and "Shiing-Shen Chern
Project" (陈省身项目) for mathematics
. All were stopped in the late 80s in favor of more standard exams.
Every year, about 6-10 students are selected through the written exams and the interviews similar to the ones used in the time of CUSPEA, and they are admitted by the above three U.S. universities. Once admitted, the usual requirements for TOEFL and GRE for Chinese students are waived for the Mini-CUSPEA participants.
Since 2007, the Mini-CUSPEA has started to expand. The Chinese universities involved are not only Fudan, but also including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and some other top universities. In the US side, the expansion is also planned.
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
departments of some American and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
universities for graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
admission from People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
between 1979 and 1989.
It was created by the Chinese-American physicist Tsung-Dao Lee
Tsung-Dao Lee
Tsung-Dao Lee is a Chinese born-American physicist, well known for his work on parity violation, the Lee Model, particle physics, relativistic heavy ion physics, nontopological solitons and soliton stars....
and Chinese physics community as an alternative graduate school admission procedure. At that time in China, higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
was still recovering from the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
; school transcripts
Transcript (education)
In education, a transcript is an inventory of the courses taken and grades earned of a student throughout a course.- United States :In United States education, a transcript is a copy of a student's permanent academic record which usually means all courses taken, all grades received, all...
and recommendation letter
Recommendation letter
A letter of recommendation is a letter in which the writer assesses the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being recommended in terms of that individual’s ability to perform a particular task or function. Recommendation letters are almost always specifically requested to be...
s were difficult to evaluate. Furthermore, standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Examination
Graduate Record Examination
The Graduate Record Examinations is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States, in other English-speaking countries and for English-taught graduate and business programs world-wide...
were unavailable in China.
Details
The CUSPEA exam is in English and has a similar scope to that of Ph.D. written qualifying exams in major American universities. The questions were prepared by physics professors from participating North American universities -- starting with Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
where Lee worked, and eventually expanded to 97 universities. Committees of physicists in China administer and grade the exams. The examinees are usually senior physics majors from top-ranking Chinese universities. Those who passed the exam are followed up by an interview by a small American delegation. The final admission depends on mutual agreement between the applicant and participating physics departments.
About 100 Chinese students went to the US every year through the CUSPEA exams, and the total number is 915. Over the years, the three universities with the most students passed the exam are (numbers in the parenthses indicate the numbers of students) University of Science and Technology of China
University of Science and Technology of China
The University of Science and Technology of China is a national research university in Hefei, People's Republic of China. It is a member of the C9 League formed by nine top universities in China...
(218), Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
(206) and Fudan University
Fudan University
Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...
(127).
Similar Exams
CUSPEA was so successful that other similar exams soon were created, such as CUSBEA for biochemistryBiochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
and "Shiing-Shen Chern
Shiing-Shen Chern
Shiing-Shen Chern was a Chinese American mathematician, one of the leaders in differential geometry of the twentieth century.-Early years in China:...
Project" (陈省身项目) for mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. All were stopped in the late 80s in favor of more standard exams.
Continuation as Mini-CUSPEA and Re-Expansion
In the early years in 1990s, after several years of suspension of the CUSPEA exam, a new program called Mini-CUSPEA is created. It is called "mini" in the sense that the Chinese university involved is shrunk to one -- Fudan University, and on the side of the U.S., the target is shrunk to three universities: Columbia University, New York University, and the City College of New York.Every year, about 6-10 students are selected through the written exams and the interviews similar to the ones used in the time of CUSPEA, and they are admitted by the above three U.S. universities. Once admitted, the usual requirements for TOEFL and GRE for Chinese students are waived for the Mini-CUSPEA participants.
Since 2007, the Mini-CUSPEA has started to expand. The Chinese universities involved are not only Fudan, but also including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and some other top universities. In the US side, the expansion is also planned.