For fervent believers of the college entrance examination, 200,000 RMB cannot indeed buy the title of 985
For friends from old Chinese families, the college entrance examination is a kind of religion, so for any major decision related to future planning, they will invariably regard this choice as a sacred and inviolable path. This is why their vision is limited to the two abstract choices of [remote second-tier provincial capitals with 985] and [super first-tier cities without a dual degree]. Let’s get straight to the conclusion: I personally believe that the insights of this blogger are mere subjective assumptions based on limited personal understanding.
What are these two options and the underlying settings? It’s the limitation of college entrance examination scores. From the perspective of this engineer friend, in order for his child to have the title of 985, he sacrifices the life experience and social circle of first-tier cities, but still wants a good social circle and connections to broaden his child’s horizons and even gain referral and internship opportunities.
What is this implicit demand? One is employment competitiveness, and the other is social networking and resources. However, upon closer inspection, both premises of his proposition are flawed and logically have too many loopholes.
First, in terms of the college entrance examination choice direction that aligns most with his logical orientation, Shenzhen University is actually the optimal solution. For computer science majors, the core employment direction is mostly in major internet companies, and Shanghai is not the best place for internet employment; Shenzhen is. Therefore, from the perspective of college entrance examination score limitations and budget constraints, Shenzhen University can be considered a better choice.
Second, just from his two options, according to the employment and academic competitiveness of Lanzhou University with major internet companies, it may not be as good as Shanghai’s non-dual degree universities. - In terms of employment, the data from the 2024 employment direction of Lanzhou University shows that 29 undergraduate students signed with companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei; whereas the employment direction of Shanghai University of Technology indicates that more than 20 students enter Tencent, Alibaba, and Huawei each year. Although there are no exact numbers, considering the school-enterprise cooperation between “Huawei - Shanghai University of Technology” and local companies in Shanghai like Bilibili and Pinduoduo, this employment competitiveness in Shanghai is significantly stronger than that of Lanzhou University. - Moreover, with the current academic inflation, it is common for master’s graduates to struggle for employment. Shanghai University of Science and Technology has a robust data showing that 20% of its graduates enter the top 10% of global universities each year. Even if we look at the overall further education rate, Shanghai University of Science and Technology (a relatively new local university considered a non-dual degree university traditionally, but with strong academic and research background) has a rate of 84.3%, while Lanzhou University has only 36%.
Of course, Shanghai University of Science and Technology may belong to a “value gap school” with some information and cognitive disparity. Subjectively unaware, but they would know its strength when looking at the data.
Third, if considering budget issues, spending an additional 200,000 RMB to attend classes? It would be better to choose to study at a QS 100 institution directly... Let’s refer to the data calculated by AI: - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST, QS ranking about 40), tuition + living expenses if managed tightly, a total cost of 200,000 RMB is somewhat tight but manageable, and HKUST has a very high recognition rate in the country. - Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK, QS ranking about 50), tuition + living expenses for a master’s in computer science with a bit of a budget should be around 250,000 RMB to manage. - National University of Singapore (NUS, QS ranking about 10) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU, QS ranking about 15) have tuition fees of about 20,000-30,000 Singapore dollars/year (about 100,000-150,000 RMB), and living expenses of about 15,000 Singapore dollars/year (about 75,000 RMB), with total costs close to 200,000 RMB.
What kind of students do these overseas prestigious schools prefer? You can refer to the data from the second point of Shanghai University of Science and Technology to know...
In summary, based on the original blogger's setting, he hopes his child can attend Lanzhou University to achieve 985 while also gaining connections and local resources in Shanghai through regular travel there to achieve employment and networking goals. This is almost a completely unrealistic fantasy. From the perspective of employment and further education, if this is a child born in the Yangtze River Delta, sending him to study at Lanzhou University does not provide strong benefits for his future life planning; it may even be more of a disadvantage.
If he is the type who excels at exams, considering taking the postgraduate entrance exam to go to Tsinghua or Peking University, why not just repeat a year and work hard? If he is not the exam-oriented type, why not directly choose a QS 100 university if financial conditions permit?...
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Overall, I do not believe that this blogger has a profound understanding of college entrance examination school selection, nor has he undergone rigorous research and long-term planning considerations for his child's future.
The position from which I can make these statements is based on my own personal experiences, my meticulous research during my college entrance examination school selection, and my planning for my own life. Opportunity cost and optimal path thinking are integrated into my entire decision-making system, guiding me to achieve my goals.
Since the end of the college entrance examination, that is, after the age of 18, every major milestone in life should be the responsibility of one’s self, and one can no longer be dragged down by others—that is growth. If limited by the constraints of life experiences, one might as well ask AI for assistance in providing some objective data and cases to aid decision-making; AI is humanity's best friend.
Many times, we find that the vast majority of people’s guidance on others’ lives, even the advice from one’s own parents, is often irresponsible suggestions that lack deep research, thought, and planning.
200,000 RMB may not buy a 985, but it can certainly buy many things more useful than 985.