According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Education, the number of applicants for the 2024 national master's admission examination is 4.38 million. While this is still a huge number, it is actually down 360,000 from last year, the first decline since 2015 in eight consecutive years. This data is surprising and arouses people's attention to the popularity of postgraduate entrance examinations. Why is the number of applicants for graduate school declining?In addition to the reasons for the fierce competition, the emergence of options such as studying abroad and taking public examinations is also an important factor. Studying abroad has become more and more valued by students and parents, and has become one of the important reasons for the decline in the popularity of postgraduate entrance examinations.
With the arrival of this year's cold winter, the heat of postgraduate entrance examination is really cold. For the number of applicants for this year's postgraduate examination, industry insiders and **general** will hit a new high, because the number of postgraduate applicants has been ** in the past few years. However, the actual situation is surprising, and the number of applicants for graduate school has not increased, but has declined. This may have something to do with the fact that the competition is too high. According to the "Postgraduate Entrance Examination", the admission score line of most colleges and universities has generally increased, and the competition for the re-examination is also very fierce, which is a huge challenge for candidates. The imbalance between supply and demand is also prominent, and the number of admissions has not increased in tandem with the number of applicants. The data shows that between 2016 and 2022, the number of admissions increased by 87% nationwide, while the number of applicants increased by more than 158% during the same period. The pressure of competition is too great, so many students give up the path of graduate school.
In the context of the decline in the popularity of postgraduate entrance examinations, studying abroad has become the choice of more and more students. Compared with the postgraduate entrance examination, studying abroad is much less stressful. In China, you can only apply for one major in one college, and for many students, it is "a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge", and the probability of successfully landing on the shore is not high. There are many opportunities to apply for graduate students in foreign universities, and it is "no matter how bad it is, there is a guarantee", and you can always find a school. And the odds of being accepted into a prestigious school are quite high. With the same academic conditions, students can apply to more overseas world's top 100 universities, and their chances of success are greatly increased. In addition, the time cost of studying for graduate school at an overseas university is also lower. It takes two or three years to study for graduate school in China, while taught master's programs in countries such as the United Kingdom and Singapore often only take one year. As long as they are well prepared, students can apply to good programs. Therefore, studying abroad has become one of the ways for more and more students to accept further study.
Graduate school entrance examination and study abroad have their own advantages. For students who are interested in further study in China, the postgraduate entrance examination is a way to get in touch with more academic research and advanced knowledge. Studying for a master's degree in China will allow you to learn and Xi communicate with excellent professors and research teams, and lay the foundation for future academic research. And for students who are looking for an international perspective and a global background, studying abroad is a better choice. Studying abroad allows you to get in touch with the cultures, ways of thinking and education systems of different countries, broaden your horizons and increase your international competitiveness. At the same time, studying abroad also provides more employment opportunities and a platform for international cooperation, creating better development prospects for students.
This article focuses on the phenomenon of the first decline in the number of graduate students and analyzes the reasons behind it. Through the comparison with studying abroad, we can see that factors such as fierce competition and imbalance between supply and demand have led to a decline in the number of graduate students. At the same time, studying abroad, as a more free and open choice, is favored by more and more students. Whether it is going to graduate school or studying abroad, the ultimate goal is to get more attention in the future workplace and make the life journey more brilliant. When choosing a future development path, we should fully consider our interests, strengths and goals, choose the way that suits us, and make efforts and preparations for it. Studying abroad is undoubtedly a confident and advantageous choice, which can broaden our horizons, improve our competitiveness, and is also a valuable life experience. Whether we choose to go to graduate school or study abroad, we must think clearly about our goals and future development path in order to make the right decision.