Countdown to the postgraduate entrance examination: The postgraduate entrance examination and studying abroad have never been single-choice questions!

Date：2021-12-01   Author：admin

There are less than 30 days left until the 2022 postgraduate entrance examination. If the previous years' postgraduate entrance examination was in a hellish mode, then this year's postgraduate entrance examination has entered a "death" mode. Based on the data from previous years, the number of applicants has been increasing year by year since 2015. According to statistics, the number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination in 2022 reached 4.62 million, an increase of 850,000 compared with 3.77 million in 2021, with a growth rate of 22.55%, making it the highest growth rate since the start of the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination in China.
At present, some schools have announced the number of applicants for the 2022 postgraduate entrance examination.


Compared with the ever-increasing number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance examination, the number of admissions each year has not changed significantly. Although there has been a trend of expanding enrollment in major domestic postgraduate institutions in recent years, compared with the breakthrough growth in the number of applicants, the number of newly admitted students is negligible, and the application-to-admission ratio remains unbalanced.

When the number of postgraduate entrance examination candidates in China has increased dramatically and the competition is fierce, studying abroad has become a choice for more people, and the number of this group has been growing year by year. According to the website of the Ministry of Education, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad was 662,100 in 2018 and exceeded 800,000 in 2021.


The domestic postgraduate entrance examination is highly competitive, while abroad there are uncertainties such as the pandemic. At this crossroads of life, making the right choice becomes particularly important. First of all, Xiao E will make a comprehensive comparison between postgraduate entrance examination and studying abroad for everyone.


01 Difficulty

➤ Postgraduate Entrance Examination
Similar to the college entrance examination, the postgraduate entrance examination is still a matter of "one exam determines the outcome". In China, the postgraduate entrance examination is often decided by the results of one round after another of written tests and interviews. The difficulty of admission is directly proportional to the number of applicants. The overall admission rate is less than 30%, and the competition for popular majors is even more intense.
To be recommended for postgraduate studies, one needs to maintain an excellent GPA from the first year of college and strive for the qualification with a very high ranking.

➤ Studying Abroad
Studying abroad, whether in terms of application methods or options, is much more flexible. Foreign universities adopt an application system. Hard grades are only one aspect of the assessment. Schools also value the comprehensive abilities of applicants. Students need to provide relevant application materials, such as GPA, language test scores, resumes, and application essays, etc. Finally, the school will make a comprehensive decision on whether to admit them. In addition, when studying abroad, one can apply to multiple countries, universities and majors simultaneously. As long as the application plan is proper, the admission result will naturally be guaranteed, and thus the probability of success will be relatively higher.


02 Academic System

➤ Postgraduate Entrance Examination
It is divided into academic master's degrees and professional master's degrees. An academic master's degree usually lasts for three years and is suitable for cultivating talents in teaching and research fields. For students who wish to pursue a doctoral degree in China, it is a very good path. Professional master's degrees usually last for 2 to 3 years and mainly focus on cultivating employment-oriented talents. School supervisors will lead students to participate in internships to master professional skills.

➤ Studying Abroad
The duration of a postgraduate program abroad is usually 1 to 2 years, among which the academic system in countries like the UK generally lasts for 1 year. Graduate programs in the United States follow a credit system, typically ranging from 30 to 60 credits, with most lasting 1.5 to 2 years.

Overall, studying abroad for a master's degree takes less time than pursuing a master's degree in China, which means one can enter the next stage of life 1-2 years earlier.

03 Expenses

➤ Postgraduate Entrance Examination
The tuition fees for domestic postgraduate students are generally within the range of 4,000 to 20,000 yuan. The better the school, the cheaper the master's degree tuition. Moreover, most domestic postgraduate students are covered by scholarships (except for part-time postgraduate students), and the tuition cost is very low. In terms of living expenses, most domestic postgraduate students can live in the school dormitories. In recent years, a few schools have begun to stop providing dormitories for professional master's students. Overall, however, the living expenses are not high and vary by region, ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.

➤ Studying Abroad
The cost of studying abroad varies depending on different countries, regions and majors. In popular study-abroad destinations such as the UK, the US, and Australia, tuition fees and living expenses may cost around 300,000 to 400,000 yuan per year. If one wants to study popular majors like business, computer science, or engineering, they will have to face even higher tuition fees. Of course, there are also regions with relatively high cost performance, such as Macao, Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe and other regions, where tuition fees and living expenses are relatively low.


Overall, the cost of studying abroad far exceeds that of pursuing a postgraduate degree in China. For the average working-class family, it will be a considerable financial burden. However, since postgraduate students in foreign countries graduate earlier than those in China, they can earn one to two years' salary first, which to some extent can also offset part of the expenses for studying abroad.



"04 Teaching

➤ Postgraduate Entrance Examination
In China, a mentorship system is implemented. However, with the annual expansion of enrollment, a situation has gradually emerged where there are more students than teachers, and more courses have been adjusted to large-class formats. A large part of postgraduate studies in China mainly rely on textbooks, with a greater emphasis on theoretical knowledge. Studying for a postgraduate degree in China helps students better understand the domestic research environment and thus produce more research outputs.

➤ Studying Abroad
Lectures, tutorials and seminars are interspersed, and students have a high degree of interaction with teachers and classmates. Foreign postgraduate students mainly focus on independent research and their own in-depth studies, paying more attention to thinking and innovation training, and improving themselves through activities. This model can help students accumulate relevant work experience by taking advantage of the school's superior resources before they officially start working.



05 Employment


➤ Postgraduate Entrance Examination

Taking the postgraduate entrance examination in China is quite helpful for entering state-owned or public institutions. In addition, by taking the postgraduate entrance examination to gain the support of a strong university background, one will be given an edge in the job competition and have a higher starting salary compared to undergraduate graduates.

➤ Studying Abroad
From the perspective of employment, in the highly competitive workplace with intense background competition, domestic well-known enterprises and foreign companies still highly recognize diplomas from overseas prestigious universities. Especially for students whose goal is to enter Fortune 500 companies, the Big Four investment banks or other well-known Internet giants, it is of great help: Many well-known Fortune 500 companies have very clear requirements for school rankings in their recruitment, such as requiring universities ranked within the top 200 in the QS Ranking. However, investment banks and the Big Four have their own separate Target School lists. If a school is not on the List, it is very difficult to pass the resume screening.


Overall, the economic cost of taking the postgraduate entrance examination in China is relatively low, but the competition pressure and the pressure of preparation are extremely high. Compared with the postgraduate entrance examination in China, perhaps the path of studying abroad is slightly less difficult. At the same time, the application form is more flexible, the space for choosing schools is broader, and the chance of getting into a prestigious university is greater. Most importantly, it can be prepared in parallel with the domestic postgraduate entrance examination without conflict.
Thanks to the flexible mechanism of the study abroad application, students only need to prepare the materials required by the school before the application deadline and then submit them. The postgraduate entrance examination is scheduled for December this year, but the application for studying abroad can last until March or April next year. Some programs even don't close until May or June next year. Moreover, all British universities accept applications without language test scores. After the initial examination of the postgraduate entrance examination, you can take the language test again to submit your scores. Some schools in Hong Kong offer courses taught in Chinese or accept applications based on CET-4 and CET-6 scores. Students who have already achieved a CET-6 score of 450 or above can also give it a try.


However, everyone should also pay attention

If you are now quite confident about the postgraduate entrance examination in China and just hope to get an offer from studying abroad to add an extra layer of security, it is recommended that you focus your main energy on postgraduate entrance examination preparation. While you have spare capacity for study, prepare the application materials for studying abroad and submit them before the application deadline. If one receives an offer from an overseas university, it won't affect their domestic exams and admissions. It can also be used as an alternative option for oneself, and one will have more confidence to face the competition of the postgraduate entrance examination.

If you yourself have little confidence in the postgraduate entrance examination or want to enter a better school, then you can focus your main energy on studying abroad. The 2022fall application season is currently in full swing, and many students have already received offers. However, some popular programs are likely to close their application channels earlier. In addition, most schools in the UK operate on a Rolling basis on a first-come, first-served basis until the quota is filled. So if you truly want studying abroad to be a safety net for the postgraduate entrance examination, or if you want to pursue both options simultaneously and choose the better one later on, then you should act quickly. Your time is running out.

Those students who have no understanding or goals about studying abroad at all, or are worried about not having enough energy to handle it all, should find a reliable professional agency as soon as possible to seek help. After choosing the school and positioning, start preparing the materials. The application can be submitted as early as December. If everything goes smoothly, they may even get the desired offer before the initial test results are announced.

Finally, I wish everyone could achieve excellent results on their own tracks!