Anxious Chinese students are trusting AI to help pick colleges and majors

After completing China's rigorous national college entrance exam, 18-year-old Guo Xinyan faced the crucial task of selecting which universities and programs to apply to within just three weeks. The teenager turned to AI chatbot Qwen for assistance, inputting her gaokao score, rank in Shandong province, desired major (law, accounting, or finance), budget for tuition (moderate), and preferred living location (coastal cities).

Guo's parents, lacking college application experience, sought the help of Alibaba's Doubao to recommend suitable college programs. The bot generated a list of dozens of options, with students categorizing the suggestions as "reach," "safety," or "backup" based on their likelihood of acceptance. Alibaba reported generating 23 million college program recommendation reports for this year's gaokao takers, offering tutorials in rural high schools to aid students and families navigating this high-stakes decision.

Similar AI tools, such as Baidu's Yuanbao and Tencent's Yuanbao, have also been widely used by Chinese students, with over 200 million inquiries about college admission processed by Yuanbao alone. In the United States, students and parents have also begun utilizing AI chatbots as virtual college admission consultants due to limited access to private coaches or family members with college degrees.

Despite the availability of AI assistance, college students in China still face stringent requirements for transferring to a different field of study, making their single opportunity after the gaokao to decide on their future professions particularly crucial. As AI continues to shape various aspects of life, it has become a popular choice for students seeking guidance in an increasingly competitive job market.