Chinese Universities: Applying pressure

The other day, my Beijing translator, Hang, and I were trying to track down some sociology professors for my story. While we waited outside offices, we got into a discussion about the competition for students applying to Chinese Universities. Hang told me about the entrance exam which is similar to the SAT/ACT but with an additional English language/fluency portion. If we thought the competition in the US was intense, from what I learned from Hang, it doesn’t even compare to what Chinese students have to deal with. One of the best universities in the country (second best actually) is Peking University, where Hang attends. From Hang’s province, over 300,000 students sat for the university entrance exam and only 26 were accepted to Peking. Many students at Peking go to class most days of the week—Hang has classes on Saturday AND Sunday. After admittance, the pressure doesn’t let up, particularly considering I haven’t met one student who has stopped their education with a bachelor’s degree. Almost all students have said they are going for a masters and/or PhD. Hang also told me that last year, 5 students from her school committed suicide from the pressure.

On another interesting note… Hang told me that China has its own version of affirmative action. On the entrance exams, minority students receive 5-10 extra points added to their scores.