To Take Gaokao or Not To Take Gaokao

Chinese high school supplementary workbooks. Source. 

In late June of 2025, the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao, 高考) scores were released. This marks the day when Chinese students’ dreams are realized and shattered. For people with desired scores, the door to top colleges opens, and a future ticket to the elite class is reserved. For those with subpar scores, they can do nothing except accept a lower-tier education or re-enter Gaokao the following year. Since Gaokao was restored in 1977 following the Cultural Revolution, the number of test takers has grown from 5.7 million to 13.35 million in 2025. However, as Gaokao continues to exist, the dynamics around Chinese education have been slowly changing, opening up more options to youth in China.

Once considered a destiny-changing opportunity, Gaokao is no longer considered the only path for Chinese students. As the country opened up, more college-age students began to go abroad for college. In 2022, the number of Chinese students studying for a bachelor’s degree or higher in foreign countries was over one million, with around 300,000 in the United States. This growing number, despite tensions between the United States and China, led many to wonder why more Chinese students were choosing a college education in America. In this case study, I interviewed 3 students who attended the same public middle school in the same year but went on 3 separate paths in their education. I will introduce the students’ backgrounds and the reasons behind the choices they made for college. The students’ decisions to study in the United States are tied to 3 main factors: achieving their full potential in academics, searching for good jobs, and the difference in American and Chinese learning atmospheres.

Interviewee Profiles

All 3 students interviewed for this study attended a public middle school in Suzhou, a city with rich education resources and an annual GDP that consistently ranks top 10 among all Chinese cities. All three lived within a 10-minute drive to their middle school, a requirement for K9 education in China. For privacy reasons, the students’ names will be changed to Andy, Bella, and Charles in this article.

The first student, Andy, was proficient with blocks in Minecraft, but could never figure out the right time block for classes. Like many young boys, he struggled in all subjects and received underwhelming grades growing up. The only thing his teacher could praise him for was a 10^th-place finish in a 40-person track and field competition. As many around him expected, Andy never caught a break with his test scores in middle school, often ranking in the bottom 20% in a grade of 700 students. As the High School Entrance Exam (Zhongkao, 中考) approached, he decided to transfer to an international school to have a chance at college outside of China. His family was fully on board with his decision, and was happy that he decided to pull himself out of the “suffering” of public education. Entering high school, everyone in Andy’s class shared the same goal: attending college in the United States or Canada. The change of scenery and system worked. Andy began to mature as a teenager, scored better on semester-end exams, and found the study of his passion in AP macroeconomics. He eventually scored 5 out of 5 on 7 out of 10 AP classes he took, and went to a U.S. college ranked top 50 in U.S. News rankings. Andy is currently an Economics major with a 3.75+ GPA, with his eyes on graduate school this fall. Andy is in his second banking internship in Suzhou, his hometown, and plans to use his graduate studies to bolster his resume and secure a full-time role at a local bank. A bottom-feeder in middle school, Andy avoided Gaokao and found his path to his dream career.

The second student, Bella, was dubbed by many parents as “someone else’s child” in every dimension. She was the president of her student council in elementary school and excelled in all subjects. She kept shining when the exams became more competitive in high school, consistently scoring in the top 6 – 8% in her grade. She had a cool temperament, played piano, and always helped her teachers with class chores. Bella’s high marks prompted her to one of the best high schools in Suzhou, where she consistently ranked in the top tier of her class. When given an opportunity to apply for American colleges, Bella grew hesitant as Trump blamed the Chinese people for bringing COVID-19 to the United States. She became interested in studying in America in middle school because her older cousin enjoyed her time abroad. However, with unfriendly policies and her success in public education, Bella chose Gaokao. A vivid example of Gaokao as a one-time test, Bella scored the lowest score compared to all her mock exams, and was left with few choices for college. She chose to pursue her old dream, enrolling in a joint-venture university established by a Chinese college and another in the United States, where she can exercise an option to transfer to an American college in her junior year. She used her downtime in her sophomore year to study for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and write her application essay, and was admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Math and Statistics double major. Bella hopes to attend graduate school in America and work in the finance sector in China. Her parents were always supportive of her decisions and would have supported her if she had stayed in China. Bella said she knew she wanted to study in the United States at some point because she wanted to broaden her horizons and experience more academic freedom.

Charles was on a similar path to Bella but had his eyes on a bigger prize in the ivory tower overseas. Like Bella, Charles was a top student all the way through middle school. He was a black belt in taekwondo, class president, and someone his teachers asked his classmates to look up to. He attended a top public high school with a strong score in Zhongkao, and set his eyes on getting a PhD in Biology. When he learned about American universities’ advantages in neuroscience research, he knew he had higher mountains to climb. With his grade comfortably above the water, Charles didn’t have to start the climb immediately. With a Gaokao score within his expectations, he attended a tier one (985) college in China. For the first time in his academic career, he faced challenges as a researcher in neuroscience, his field of passion. He had trouble finding labs to take him on, as he was told he did not have enough experience. When he finally joined a lab in his junior year, his boss refused to put his name on the research he worked 20 hours a week on. He became frustrated with STEM research in China and chose to continue chasing his dream in the United States. He transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and found a mentor who was willing to bet on his talent. He has a research paper waiting in the pipeline and is planning to apply to PhD programs in the fall. That was the goal Charles set for himself in middle school, and his family supported all his decisions as long as they motivated him to continue striving for excellence. Charles worked for research opportunities and found his network in the United States.

Reasons For Studying Abroad

Andy, Bella, and Charles grew up in the same environment, and studied the same textbooks from grade one through nine. Their academic strengths initially led them to different schools, but they eventually chose to advance their education in America. Based on their testimonies, the 3 students steered away from Gaokao to score higher grades, recruit for better jobs, and pursue an open-ended learning environment.

The pressure of reaching the next level with high grades has driven students across the academic spectrum out of the Gaokao system. Even though the academic strengths of the 3 interviewees varied, they all experienced stress in the Gaokao pressure cooker. For Andy, he was scoffed at by his teachers as an “unserious kid without a future”. He remembered reiterating his teachers’ words to his parents, and them spending the entire night admonishing him for committing such acts. While he did not think much of it at the time, he made the decision to transfer to an international school one month after the incident. The fact that Andy thrived on American exams showed the necessity of the switch. While the teachers often referred to students like Bella and Charles when scolding Andy, both top students struggled with pressure. Bella excelled in humanitarian subjects like history and political science, but had below-average math scores. Her math teacher became mad at her skewed grades, and made her stand in front of the class after she could not answer a question. When Bella cried in humiliation, her teacher did not let her sit down, instead, she lectured her classmates on the importance of class preparation. Although Charles did not encounter similar incidents, he mentioned that 90%, if not all, of his quarrels with his parents in the last ten years were about his grades and Gaokao preparation. While Gaokao limited inequalities by limiting college admissions to one single grade, it does contribute to many stressful moments in the first 18 years of students’ lives. The students with low grades are always chasing the better students, while the better students are always chasing higher grades. With the number of Gaokao test takers increasing, more pressure is applied to students regardless of their school performance. Naturally, it pushed students like Andy into the international track, and did the same for Bella when she had the option to optimize her education. Even for Charles, a beneficiary of the zero-sum grade competition, the marathon for Gaokao took its toll, and he wanted something different, even a different challenge in a different country. While many in America compete on their GPA, they can invest in it in the long-term, and do not have to quell the dreams of many others for every grade point they move up.

The intensifying competition for decent jobs has prompted young students to study in the United States to build their resumes. In 1977, an undergraduate degree from a Chinese college would almost guarantee a public sector job for life. However, the surge in college graduates over the years significantly lifted the bar, first to a master’s degree, then a doctorate. Given the hurdles students need to jump through in Chinese education, many students saw American degrees as a more convenient and convincing final degree. Both Andy and Bella chose their respective schools for their name recognition in China. Both of them emphasized the importance of a school’s fame in China in their graduate program search. For Charles, his hopes of securing a lab job at a biotech company hinge on the quality of his PhD program. A top school would go a long way in widening the options for him, both in the United States and China. Whether a student wants to work in America or back in China, an American degree is valued more by companies on both sides than a matching degree from China. The academic programs in the United States have been widely recognized as the highest standard in the world. Thus, it is not surprising to find many Chinese students wanting to get a share of the pie, just like top students from countries around the world. The weight Chinese employers place on degrees from abroad indirectly reduced the status of Gaokao. Many talented students may never touch the floor of top colleges in China, but they have a much better chance at top universities in the United States with the same level of hard work and intelligence. Gaokao’s long-term yield is simply overshadowed by the reputation of premier U.S. colleges.

Students who grew up in China also craved experience in foreign schools to hear a different narrative and find the best learning environment for themselves. No education system is perfect, including Gaokao. It gives the lone advantage to students who excel on tests, but ignores all other virtues a teenager may possess. Students who do not excel in a test-oriented system may realize their potential in America. Even those sitting at the top of the food chain in China want to broaden their horizons. All 3 interviewees attributed their decisions to study abroad to “simply trying something new”. Andy discussed his struggles with standardized tests and wanted to use his creativity to explore project-based classes. Charles needed to go to a place where STEM research labs operate differently and treat research assistants better. Bella had the most life-changing experience. She said that she focused on advancing her grades in China, but pivoted to character-building in the United States. She used to work for better grades, but is now shifting the focus to personal growth. If the 3 students stayed in China, their current goals would be taunted as empty, since people are always targeting grades and other tangible results. However, U.S. education brought Andy confidence and allowed him to prove himself as a competent scholar instead of a child who did not care about his future. Bella was a model student in the Chinese system. In America, she was empowered to build up her life instead of merely advancing her grade. That made her a more complete person who still retains academic prowess. In Charles’ Chinese lab, students are pushed into competition with each other for the boss’s recognition. In the United States, Charles is encouraged to provide creativity and obtain his creativity from serving his creative co-workers. Gaokao’s competitiveness teaches students the importance of hard work and gives them an advantage in basic subjects. In 2025, many Chinese students are practicing independent thinking overseas to complement their hard skills from China.

Conclusion

While the interviews may expose Gaokao’s deficiencies, they do not tell a complete story about standardized tests in China or the life decisions made by these students. It is worth noting that all 3 students come from Suzhou, a city with some of the best schools in China. The depth of student talent in Suzhou inevitably makes it harder for students to compete for good colleges, a side proof for many students attempting to get educated in Suzhou and transfer their Gaokao registration to a less competitive province. While many families in Suzhou are able to send their children abroad, many families in underdeveloped regions have no such options, and can only count on Gaokao to see promise in their children’s future. Also, none of the 3 students stressed their parents’ support without mentioning financial restraints. This would be a defining factor in many Chinese families’ decisions. Only a small fraction of families in China can afford an international degree for one child.

In my interviews with 3 students from Suzhou, we discussed topics including past academic performances, career choices, and dynamics around their decisions to study in the United States. Their stories displayed the cruelty of Gaokao for students of all backgrounds. Chinese students may choose to study in the United States to obtain a better GPA, elevate their job search, and experience more freedom in their academic activities. While Gaokao remains the last hope for many Chinese families of low socioeconomic status, the new generation is keeping their options open for different paths to prepare for a stronger future.

Edison Chen is an intern for China Focus at The Carter Center and studies Public Policy at Duke University.

The views expressed in this article represent those of the author(s) and not those of The Carter Center.