The college entrance examination aspiration almost condenses all the coordinates of the dream. Many years later, when they recalled the moment when they applied for the college entrance examination, they could quickly identify that critical fork in the road.

college entrance examination aspiration, almost condenses all the coordinates of the dream.

You may be admitted to one of your choices, or you may be adjusted. Through a series of accidental combinations such as luck and opportunity, the pointer of fate settles somewhere on the application form.

Many years later, when they recalled the moment when they applied for the college entrance examination, they could quickly identify that critical fork in the road.

Chen Shuo, who comes from Dali, Yunnan, has almost the same test scores as his brothers and they all like the same school. Through mutual humility, they each chose their future path. He was not admitted to the major of his first choice and studied Food Science and Engineering . At the age of 32, he chose to change tracks and start over. At the age of 34, he entered a state-owned enterprise and became a fire safety engineer.

Yan Jing, a candidate from Jiangxi Province, was bent on studying economics, but by some strange combination of circumstances, she was admitted in advance by . She majored in preschool education, which was not favored, and she will usher in the early childhood education industry in the next ten years. tuyere. "In the past ten years, everyone said that the major you chose was too good. How could you choose such a popular major?"

Hebei candidate Tian Jiawei was unable to apply for a foreign language major because she missed the English speaking test. She once thought she would Miss the whole life, "But the longer the road ahead, the things you felt you couldn't forgive yourself for before will become very small in your entire long life."

Huang Shuling, a candidate from Guangdong, dreams of going to She planted a tree in the desert and enrolled in a niche forestry major. Now she is the sustainability manager of a listed company. "For me, volunteering for the college entrance examination opened the door to fewer choices, because it allowed me to gradually narrow down the direction I really wanted to focus on in the end."

Lin Yuheng, a candidate from Shandong Province, did not perform well in the college entrance examination because of his abnormal performance in the ideal college. I missed my ideal major. "My dad said you love watching TV so much, so you should major in TV." film and television art helped her understand the existence of beauty and the meaning of aesthetics, and professionalism can also be integrated into daily life. Although she is not currently engaged in work related to radio and television editing and directing, she said: "No matter what major you study, the experience will leave traces, and it will always leave some imprints on your body and soul."

At the end of June, college entrance examinations were opened across the country. When filling out the volunteer application form, we found five classmates and talked about their past experiences in filling out the application form. In these past events, there are glimmers of idealism, and there are also twists and turns based on reality. Some people hold the concept of lifelong learning and move toward openness at the next crossroads.

"Children from rural areas can only rely on themselves"

Narrator: Yunnan candidate Chen Shuo

I am from Dali, Yunnan, and took the college entrance examination in 2005, 17 years ago.

I am a science student, and my score is nearly 60 points higher than the first-tier exam. My ideal choice is to go to West China University of Medical Sciences, , but the final score was not enough. My father is from Sichuan and suggested that I apply for and at Sichuan University. Our family is in a rural area of ​​ Dali , and the elders don’t understand that you can apply for whatever you like.

It still took a long time to apply on the day of application, because at that time we were four brothers who were relatively good at playing, and our scores were very close, and everyone wanted to apply for Sichuan University , but Sichuan University seemed to only recruit more than 100 people in Yunnan. If we all apply, some of us will definitely not be admitted.

The final result is that the person with the highest score will definitely apply to Sichuan University. The other two classmates told me that since you applied for it, I would not apply for it. They applied for Southwest Jiaotong University and Electronic Science and Technology University . I still chose Sichuan University. I can definitely achieve this score in previous years, but I have to obey professional adjustments.

I didn’t know the importance of professionalism at that time. I applied for four majors, and my first choice was water conservancy and hydropower engineering. I think this has better prospects, and I also like it. My last choice is food science and engineering. The final admission result obtained by

was Food Science and Engineering. To be honest, I was a bit repelled, but I thought I'd forget it. At least I could get a diploma from Sichuan University.

After I went to school, I was also one of the last.Seniors and classmates all said that the salary in this major will be relatively low in the future, and it is indeed uninspiring. After all, I am a child from a rural area, and I can only rely on myself for employment, so professional employment prospects are the most important to me.

just graduated and signed a contract with a company in Nanjing. After I went there, I felt uncomfortable. The weather was too hot. After the training, I did not choose to join the company.

Later, I went back to Yunnan’s job market for a day, and there was a state-owned enterprise in the food industry that was recruiting people. People asked me which school I was from, and I said I was from Sichuan University. The person in charge of recruitment told me, just come to work directly. That was in 2010, and I could get more than 3,000 yuan in Kunming, which was considered relatively good.

However, the salary increase in this company was very slow. After I started a family, I felt a lot of pressure, especially when I had a child, I thought about changing jobs.

In 2017, I went on a business trip to Xinjiang with an old senior. He was reading a book on security and said he wanted to take the registered security engineer exam. Then he said you should also take the exam. So I took the registered safety engineer exam in 2017, and the registered fire engineer exam in 2018. The fire engineer exam is very difficult, and the passing rate may be 1%. The certificate was very valuable at the time. You can get eight years with this certificate in a year. With an income of 90,000 yuan, of course the country is also cracking down on affiliates now.

I worked in my first job from 2010 to 2018, and finally became the workshop director.

After resigning in May 2018, I moved to a private company engaged in fire protection business. I have done fire protection testing, maintenance of fire protection facilities, and fire protection construction. I still spent a lot of energy and time to learn this aspect. Skills, hands-on operation, asking masters for advice, and suffered a lot.

I made a plan when I resigned. First, I would learn technology, and then transfer to a state-owned enterprise after I learned the technology well.

After working in a private company for two years, I successfully entered a relatively large state-owned enterprise at the age of 34. Now my income can be said to have doubled compared to before, and my life pressure has been relatively relieved.

So looking back now, the college entrance examination application is very important. If the major is not filled out, it may affect the future. I am not denying food-related majors, but from the years I worked, there is really no one that is very important. Good soil. There are definitely people who can develop well in this industry, and everyone's path is unique. I can only speak for myself.

I just took a few detours, but as long as you have the motivation and are willing to work hard, you will have something to eat no matter where you go. Even if we study a major that we are not satisfied with, we can still correct it through some efforts.

In July 2020, Chen Shuo was conducting fire inspection work in a cigarette factory. Picture provided by the interviewee

"The times are changing too fast, find what you really like"

Narrator: Yan Jing, a candidate in Jiangxi

I took the college entrance examination in 2007. Jiangxi evaluated my scores and filled out my application after the college entrance examination. Under the general environment at that time, my father felt that studying finance and economics was particularly good and would make it easier to find a job in the future, so he chose Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan.

My mother actually didn’t particularly want me to study economics. She thought it would be good for a girl to be a teacher. In addition, my family is full of teachers, so I filled out a pre-approved application, in Shanghai and in East China Normal University.

I wasn’t sure that my score would be enough for , which is a particularly good major at China Normal University, and , so I filled out the pre-school education program and my score was relatively low.

I didn’t really want to choose this major. I grew up in a teaching environment, so I felt rebellious and didn’t want to be a teacher anymore. And in preschool education, I might be a kindergarten teacher, but I always felt like it was too much. You may not necessarily make a lot of money.

's class teacher also said that the possibility of me being admitted in advance is not very high. He thinks I should still be admitted to Economics. I didn't expect that I got a score in the end. After being approved in advance, I was directly transferred to East China Normal University .

I felt in my heart that after completing the normal education major, my future seemed to be in sight.

When I actually entered school, I was particularly impressed by the first class in college. It was the first time I took the children's literature class. The teacher taught some classic picture books. That was the first time I knew that children's books can be If it is done so well, it will be good for the next generation if it continues to develop.

It was in that class that I discovered that this major is much broader than I imagined. And we have a lot of practical classes. I personally like children, and I gradually accepted this major. Although being a teacher is a very common profession, you can still get extra happiness from working in this industry in the future.

After four years in college, I also discovered that I am actually suitable for this major. When I go out, many people see me and guess my major.

Later, the education industry suddenly became a gold industry in ten years. It turns out that if you study in preschool education, you are not limited to being a kindergarten teacher. In the past ten years, all the capital has been directed towards the education industry, especially early childhood education.

So I am not actually a teacher. My first job was in a state-owned publishing house, in the preschool education editorial department, but it became a bit boring after a long time, so I changed jobs after one year.

In my second job, I went to a foreign company to work on children's programs. Later, I basically worked for foreign companies, doing video planning and review of parenting content, as well as some paid courses. In my current job, I am the product leader and I have to lead the team myself.

In October 2016, Yan Jing worked on a charity project in a kindergarten in a poor village in Gansu, and sent the programs she produced to some kindergartens in the northwest. Photo courtesy of interviewee

After I started working, my family didn’t interfere with me very much. They didn’t know exactly what I was doing now, but they knew that I was making cartoons for children. Because of the life we ​​are experiencing now, our world is more They are bigger and beyond their experience, so they can't give much advice.

I am currently satisfied with my status. After so many years of graduation, my love for this major has not diminished. I am financially well off in this industry, and I feel that I am doing something meaningful.

Although my college entrance examination application was approved in advance by some mistake, I think it is quite good to follow this path.

I think college entrance examination is a stepping stone for life planning, but it is really just a stepping stone. It does not mean that your life is finalized. You still have many opportunities to change. For example, some of our classmates will obviously find that they don’t like children very much. Some students’ current jobs actually have nothing to do with our majors.

When I applied for the exam, preschool education was not a good major. But in the past ten years, everyone said that the major you chose at that time was too good. How could you choose such a popular major. Of course, this industry will also shrink after the double reduction of from last year, so I don’t think it is necessary to pursue a particularly popular major, because the road ahead is too long and the times are changing too fast. It is more important to find what you really like.

"Your choice basically determines your annual salary ceiling"

Narrator: Hebei candidate Tian Jiawei

I was a college entrance examination candidate in Hebei in 2011. My English is relatively good, so I just wanted to study a foreign language major and do International and foreign affairs work.

Generally, those who intend to apply for foreign language majors will register for an oral exam in advance. In our year, the oral exam was held within a few days after the main subject exam.

But I forgot to take the exam. My classmate came to ask me, why didn’t you come to the exam? I just woke up from a dream. I felt like it was finished at that time. I felt like I had finished the college entrance examination.

If I don’t have a speaking score, I won’t be able to apply for the foreign language class. I didn’t study any of the subsequent applications, but my dad did. He chose schools based on scores. I ended up enrolling in my third application, Department of Journalism, Hunan Normal University. When

got the admission result, I seemed quite happy, because I felt that my life was ruined, and it would be good if I could go to school.

After I went to college, there was a period of time in which I didn’t really like courses such as journalism theory. When I was learning those theories, I was a little skeptical about life. But when I was running around doing news, I thought it was pretty fun. I had a lot of internships. I started interning at a newspaper during the summer vacation of my freshman year.

But I have never forgotten the path of internationalization. I still feel that I will do related work in the future. I communicate with foreign students in school, and read " Chronicles of Nations ", and I am very interested in the history of various countries. When I graduated from

, my professional scores and overall scores ranked first in the college, and I was recommended to Sun Yat-sen University as a graduate student in the Department of Journalism. During this period, I watched a lot of documentaries, African history, major events in the changing world structure, etc. in the library, and I initially formulated the direction of international news.

When I was in my second year of graduate school, I started interning at a media company in Beijing, specializing in international news. Every day was a different topic. Today is the US election, tomorrow is Snowden , and the day after tomorrow is China’s Belt and Road Initiative. For learning things quickly, The ability to clarify ideas, write quickly, and make breakthroughs in interviews is a great exercise.

In September 2018, Tian Jiawei (left in the picture) was invited by the local government as a media person to visit Turkey . Pictured here is a boat sailing in the Sea of ​​Marmara, Türkiye. Picture provided by the interviewee

During my internship, I developed many interview resources by myself. When I interviewed the former president of Afghanistan , I waited for a day downstairs in the hotel where he held a meeting. He originally did not accept any interviews. Media interview, and then he gave me the interview opportunity.

I successfully stayed after the internship. During my work, I went to Africa to report on China's aid to Africa, Syria, , Southeast Asia and other places to interview related topics such as diseases and refugees.

I resigned from the media after three years. Works as a content editor at China Europe International Business School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In the future, if I gain some experience, I should try it in an international organization.

To be honest, I once thought, if I had chosen a major like finance during the college entrance examination, what would my life be like now? I see many students who are doing different things and earning very high salaries, but there are some gaps. I feel that when you choose this major, your overall direction in the future has been determined, and your aspirations are basically determined. Your annual salary ceiling.

But it would be hard to study a major that you don’t like, so you still have to balance your ideals with reality. Faced with golden pennies, I still choose the moon.

missed that oral exam. I regretted it when I missed it. I thought I had really missed the whole life. But the longer the road goes, the things you felt you couldn't forgive yourself for before will remain in your entire long life. In it, it will also become very small.

"The college entrance examination opened the door to fewer choices for me"

Narrator: Huang Shuling, a candidate from Guangdong

I took the college entrance examination in 2008. The exam in Guangdong that year was 3 plus X, and my X was biology. I really like books about nature science or national forest parks. I may have read all the related contents in the library a long time ago.

At that time, I had an ideal, which was to do something for the Three-North Shelterbelt, so I chose Forestry at South China Agricultural University . I had a vague idea, hoping to go to the desert and plant a tree.

My family and even some relatives, they will ask, are you sure you want to choose this one? They feel that if they can read , Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and , they will be able to travel around the world, but there is no biology. They feel that reading biology is a very unpopular choice. I listened to some of their suggestions, but in the end, I still chose what I like. .

When I got the admission result of Lin Xue, I felt very happy, as if I saw that my little dream could come true.

There are more than 20 people in our class, most of whom are transferred here. Everyone seems to be a little bit reluctant to study. One of them feels that field work is very hard, and the other feels that there is no future. We would follow the teacher up the mountain and go into the wild. Every time, the teacher and I would walk in front. When we encountered plants we didn’t recognize, we would ask about them and then record them.Other students may feel tired from being exposed to the sun, so they walk slowly.

I have always maintained a strong interest in college for four years. So later when I applied for the postgraduate entrance examination at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I also chose the ecology major. There are many students in our major who take the postgraduate entrance examination, but they will not return to their major. They will hope to use the opportunity of the postgraduate entrance examination to change their major. There are more people who take the postgraduate entrance examination in law, psychology, and economics.

At that time, I was the only girl who took the postgraduate entrance examination and returned to my major. After

graduated, his first job was in an environmental protection charity organization, his second job was in a consulting company, and now his third job is in sustainable development. It sounds a bit cross-border, but it actually has a certain logic. When

was working in a consulting company, I discovered that enterprises can make a difference in the sustainable development of the entire society. So how to make enterprises more sustainable and promote business for good is my new interest.

So I chose to further my studies in 2020 and went to the UK to study with a full scholarship. The major I chose also centered on sustainable environment and business management.

In October 2021, Huang Shuling visited Bath, England. Photo provided by interviewee

After graduation, I became the sustainability manager of a company in Guangzhou. Many people may not know that such a position exists. It actually organically integrates three aspects: environment, society and corporate governance.

Looking back on my college entrance examination application, it seemed like it opened the door to reducing my choices, because it allowed me to gradually narrow down the direction I really wanted to focus on.

Lin Xue's path is very niche. But even a niche major can broaden the path. China is relatively new to sustainable development, and there are few specialized positions available. But my current work can influence many upstream and downstream suppliers. Many companies are now practicing some green behaviors, and the sense of accomplishment is quite high.

I have no regrets. At that time, I only looked at my interest and came here by accident. Rationally speaking, I still hope that everyone will conduct a comprehensive analysis of their college entrance examination aspirations. I will still give advice based on SWOT, S is strengths, W is weaknesses, O is opportunities, and T is threats. Everyone can make a trade-off based on his or her own situation. Of course, other people's suggestions are just suggestions. It is you who ultimately makes the decision, and you are always responsible for your own choices.

"Passing by will leave traces"

Narrator: Shandong candidate Lin Yuheng

In high school, I have always been number one in my class and among the top ten in my grade. The college entrance examination in 2005 may have been too stressful, and I did not perform very well. I missed out on Shandong University , and finally chose Shandong Normal University .

My father is a science student who likes liberal arts. In terms of literature, I have been influenced by it since I was a child, so I tend to go in a direction related to newspaper literature, but I am worried that I will not get enough marks. My dad said that if you love watching TV so much, you should sign up for a major in watching TV, and you can combine your hobby with study. So I applied for a job as a radio and television director.

This is an interdisciplinary subject. The study subjects we covered include literature; art (learned sketching , sketching and gouache); music, basic musical notation and theoretical knowledge; we also learned Mandarin , which is about broadcasting Hosting related courses; lighting, directing, etc., it felt like a particularly eye-opening experience.

At that time, I felt very happy and lucky to have chosen this major. In the process of liking, discovering, exploring, and then deepening, I felt that I had grown a lot, and it made me understand the existence of beauty and the meaning of aesthetics, and even the ability of professionalism to Going deep into our daily lives, sometimes sitting in a movie theater or watching a certain program, I always have some appreciation based on my professional judgment.

After graduation, the classmates around me also worked in film and television distribution companies, or publishing, etc. Looking at their work and life conditions, it seemed that they were not what I really wanted. I chose to take the civil service exam, and finally settled in the university where I am now, working in administrative work.

In fact, I think it is difficult to distinguish between right and wrong when it comes to life choices. My father once said with emotion, saying that you liked literature so much at that time. It would be great if you could just apply for a literature major. As a bystander, he might have some thoughts in his heart. regret.

We often say that we live elsewhere, or that our hobbies are in irrelevant things, so I don’t regret it.

On June 20, 2018, undergraduate class teacher Lin Yuheng received flowers from graduates. Picture provided by the interviewee

Regarding college entrance examination aspirations, I would say listen to your inner voice and boldly study whatever major you want to study, because only what we like can persist to the end. Sometimes life is still inseparable from idealism. Although I am not currently engaged in work related to the major I studied, I will watch it from a distance and appreciate it.

No matter what major you study, the experience will leave traces. It will always leave some imprints on your body and mind. You can still have some small hobbies or gains outside of your career.

When we are working, we complete our duties and cannot see the difference between people. However, in some other details, I feel that these inner persistence will still give us some guidance and guidance, even if my power is Tiny, but I can still have my own voice.

(Chen Shuo is a pseudonym in the article)

Beijing News reporter Zhu Qinghua editor Chen Xiaoshu proofreader Zhao Lin