Night guard at Tsinghua gets into school after 8 years of trying, aims for Harvard next
A man who spent two years working night shifts as a security guard at Tsinghua University was admitted to the school as a postgraduate student on his eighth attempt at China's national postgraduate entrance exam.
31-year-old Yang Xiao, hailing from Shenyang in Liaoning Province, managed to secure admission into Tsinghua University after an 8-year struggle to gain entry into the prestigious institution. He achieved the score of 388 in the entrance exam last December, which was 34 points above the required threshold. Yang will be pursuing his studies in intangible cultural heritage and digital innovation at Tsinghua's Academy of Arts and Design, as reported by Chinese news outlet Jiupai News.
Currently, Yang is self-studying for the GRE and TOEFL exams in order to apply for a fully-funded doctoral program at Harvard University. He has been preparing for this endeavor since his final attempt at the Tsinghua entrance exam. Yang had always harbored aspirations to attend Tsinghua University since he was in secondary school. However, his academic performance was mediocre, and his parents were apprehensive that he would never get into a university.
His parents enrolled him in a private vocational art school, which offered only a single college-prep class, in order to increase his chances of gaining admission. Yang excelled in studio subjects and even topped the school academically. However, he eventually enrolled in the art history program at Tsinghua's Academy of Arts and Design, after a failed attempt at a different program. He returned to Shenyang upon graduation, opened an art school, and continued his pursuit of gaining entry into Tsinghua University.
During his first attempt, Yang scored 298, falling short of the required cutoff of 390. In his second attempt, the syllabus was expanded with six new books, which proved to be challenging for Yang, who was coming from a different discipline. Consequently, he failed the exam again. His third attempt was marred by financial difficulties as he was swindled out of over CNY1 million (US$148,000) by a woman he met online.
This led to the collapse of his art school, as his parents, who had paid course fees in advance, demanded their money back.
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