About 95.5 percent of the fresh high school graduates hope to study in colleges and universities away from their home cities, according to a joint survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily and wenjuan.com that was released recently.

The survey shows that male students (96.6 percent) outnumber their female counterparts (93.4 percent) in the choice of studying in other cities.

A total of 2001 students (including examinees for 2020 college entrance examinations and college students) filled in the questionnaires.

Hu Xiaohua, a student from North China, is now studying at a university in South China. Hu said she always wanted to see the outside world away from her home. “I studied in my hometown from kindergarten through high school. I believe studying in other cities helps me live independently and grow up faster,” Hu said.

The survey also shows that 65.3 percent of the surveyed students care about rankings and prestige of universities when make choices, followed by employment prospects (56.2 percent), geographical location (55.9 percent), the economic strength of cities (54.4 percent), quality of faculty (44.3 percent), academic and scientific research capabilities (42.3 percent) and school spirit and reputation (31.4 percent).

College students also give their suggestions. Some 77.1 percent of college students think personal interest and specialty should come first; 61.8 percent suggest doing a research about the top majors and the employment prospects; 46.7 percent suggest high scorers consider universities first and low performers consider majors first.

However, Tang Zhisong, dean of the Institute of Education of Southwest University, does not entirely agree with this idea. Tang said it’s sensible that low performers can choose majors over universities and take their preferences and career plan into account.

Tang added that universities candidates should choose schools based on their scores, emotional preference, pursuit of aspirations, career vision, etc., but the most important consideration should be how much importance the colleges attach to undergraduate education.

(Yang Mei)