# Anxious Chinese students are trusting AI to help pick colleges and majors > Source: > Published: 2026-07-29 10:00:00+00:00 After taking part in China’s grueling national college entrance exam, Guo Xinyan has three weeks to make what could be the most important decision of her life: which universities and programs she should apply to. The 18-year-old turned to an AI chatbot for help. On [Alibaba](https://restofworld.org/tag/alibaba)[Alibaba](https://restofworld.org/tag/alibaba)Alibaba, founded in 1999 by Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, is one of the most prominent global e-commerce companies that operates platforms like AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall.[READ MORE](https://restofworld.org/tag/alibaba)’s chatbot Qwen, Guo entered her score, where she ranked in her home province of Shandong, her desired major (law, accounting, or finance), her budget for tuition (moderate), and where she wants to live (coastal cities). The bot generated a report with dozens of choices. “My family and I have no experience with college applications, so we had to rely on social media and AI,” Guo told *Rest of World*, adding that her parents had asked [ByteDance](https://restofworld.org/tag/bytedance)[ByteDance](https://restofworld.org/tag/bytedance)ByteDance is a Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok with a successful e-commerce arm.[READ MORE](https://restofworld.org/tag/bytedance)’s Doubao to suggest college programs for her. “There’s nothing in particular I want to study. We are just looking for good career prospects.” Every year, around 10 million Chinese students take the college entrance exam known as the *gaokao*. Students wait for the exam results and then have just a few weeks to factor the scores into their application decisions — some majors and programs are more competitive than others. The grades determine whether a student has a chance at landing in the prestigious universities and pursuing popular majors like business and engineering. Filling out the preferences is a high-stakes decision. There are thousands of schools and hundreds of majors to choose from. While college students in the U.S. commonly switch majors early in their studies, Chinese universities have stringent requirements for transferring to a different field of study. Most students have this one opportunity after the gaokao to decide on their future professions, and whether they will thrive in the increasingly competitive job market. **China’s biggest AI players** Many families pay private coaches to guide them through the decision. AI companies are now offering the service for free, as they try to get more consumers to use chatbots in everyday life. Since 2025, tech companies including Alibaba, ByteDance, [Tencent](https://restofworld.org/tag/tencent)[Tencent](https://restofworld.org/tag/tencent)Best known for its super-app WeChat, Tencent is a Chinese technology conglomerate and a major player in the video gaming industry.[READ MORE](https://restofworld.org/tag/tencent), and [Baidu](https://restofworld.org/tag/baidu)[Baidu](https://restofworld.org/tag/baidu)Baidu is a Chinese technology company that operates the country’s biggest search engine and video-streaming service iQiyi.[READ MORE](https://restofworld.org/tag/baidu) have all launched AI tools that specialize in researching and recommending college programs. These bots are typically agentic AI systems that conduct analysis based on universities’ historical admission cutoff scores. They ask for students’ gaokao scores, career interests, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality assessments, and other preferences such as tuition fees and local climate. Eventually, the bots produce a list of suggested programs, divided into “reach,” “safety,” and “backup” categories, depending on how likely the students are to get in. Alibaba’s Qwen [said](https://www.tmtpost.com/8023423.html) it had recruited 300 college search specialists to improve how the AI system thinks through various options. Baidu has promised to have human experts review the AI-generated recommendations. By July 8, Alibaba’s Qwen said it had [produced](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/l-ToDk9oGv2xgcbJOT2gQg) 23 million college program recommendation reports to this year’s gaokao takers. The company has hosted tutorials in a number of rural high schools. Tencent’s Yuanbao bot [said](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/RQPJTIYncLGxXHg39SRDXw) on July 10 that it had answered 200 million inquiries related to college admission. Baidu [said](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/QVu7dmGienTrSxzWBtBgMA) in late June that 15 million people had used its AI college advisory feature. American students and parents are also [using AI chatbots](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/style/chatgpt-college-admissions-advice.html) as their virtual college admission consultants, with some educators praising the tools for benefiting those who cannot access help from private coaches or family members with college degrees. Chinese high schools rarely provide career counseling to students. Before AI, families relied on guidance books, social media influencers, and independent college selection tutors, who profit by selling online tutorials or personal coaching sessions that could cost up to thousands of dollars. Consultancy iiMedia [estimated](https://www.iimedia.cn/c400/106344.html) college admission advisory services made up a $160 million industry. To many students and parents, getting into the right university and major program has become especially important at a time of high youth unemployment and rising fear that many jobs will soon be taken over by artificial intelligence. AI itself has become a popular choice as Chinese universities [add majors](https://restofworld.org/2026/chinese-universities-drop-humanities-ai/) such as “embodied intelligence” and “brain-computer science.” **“Don’t talk about dreams”** The best-known college admission adviser was a man called Zhang Xuefeng. With more than 27 million followers on TikTok-like Douyin, Zhang was known for bluntly telling working class families which majors (math and engineering) led to a bright future and which did not (journalism and philosophy). His company charged up to $2,700 for helping students fill out their college preferences. After Zhang [passed away suddenly](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/world/asia/chinese-influencer-zhang-death.html) from a cardiac arrest in March this year, engineers built AI versions of him. One developer created a “[Zhang Xuefeng skill](https://github.com/alchaincyf/zhangxuefeng-skill)” on GitHub, with Zhang’s books and remarks. “Skills” are bundles of instructions and scripts that improve how AI agents perform particular tasks. Anyone can download the “Zhang Xuefeng skill” and make an AI agent speak in Zhang’s signature utilitarian manner. “If your family has no money, don’t talk about dreams,” the bot would tell someone who wanted to study the arts. “Pick a major that puts food on the table, like computer science, education, or getting a government job.” To help her younger sister find the best college programs, Xindy Lin, a user experience designer in Fujian province, built her own chatbot on OpenAI’s agentic AI tool, Codex. She combined the “Zhang Xuefeng skill,” a book introducing all of the college programs offered that year, and admission data from the past three years. Lin entered her sister’s gaokao score and her preferences: She was looking for majors that led to good jobs but did not require too much math study. The AI agent came up with programs like supply-chain management and e-commerce marketing. “They were facing so many choices after the gaokao,” Lin told *Rest of World*. “There’s no way individuals can digest so much information in such a short time.” **The life consequences of an AI error** The industry of college application coaching has for years been criticized for profiting from students’ anxieties. Many coaches are themselves unfamiliar with the large number of college programs, and some now secretly use AI to generate recommendations, according to Chinese media [reports](https://www.news.cn/20260708/d52badc9017d4fa9aa5d8c05b799f54d/c.html). Still, parents are willing to pay high prices for the peace of mind that someone more informed is looking out for their children’s future. Ye Xiaoyang, a Seattle-based economist and visiting professor at East China Normal University, has been advising rural students on their college search. He told *Rest of World* that although chatbots were free to use, many rural students lacked basic computer skills and didn’t know how to prompt a chatbot so they could better understand their options. Although AI was excellent at sorting through tens of thousands of university programs, it couldn’t help students figure out what to do with their lives, Ye said. This year, he launched his own free AI college coaching [platform](https://gaokao.yusoong.com/) that teaches students basic admission rules and helps them explore career directions. “Everyone can open a chat box, but it doesn’t mean everyone has the same ability to make choices,” he said. “A good AI system should be able to guide students to think for themselves.” AI tools could make mistakes such as citing outdated data or omitting strong options, according to [tests](http://fashion.ce.cn/yw/202607/t20260703_3065509.shtml) conducted by Chinese media. By giving similar recommendations, AI may also steer students of similar scores toward the same programs, Ye said. Such tendencies can carry serious consequences. If a student fails to get a match, they will miss an entire round of schools and potentially end up in a much lower-ranked place. Guo, the Shandong graduate, said some of her classmates had paid for human coaches. She opted to cross-check the chatbot’s suggestions with official guidance books and what college students were sharing on social network RedNote. She wanted to know if the school dormitories were in good condition. “I still find real people’s experiences more trustworthy.”