Confessions of a former gaokao champion

A top student has eschewed his dream of studying journalism in favor of business school. But Bai Ping says he has never regretted pursuing his passion career.

Teenager Wu Chengjie, who achieved one of the highest scores in the national college entrance examination or gaokao, in eastern Jiangsu province, has caused a stir after confessing that he has decided to give up journalism, his passion, to study business, as advised by many journalists who interviewed him. For days, Wu's revelations have become a hot topic among media practitioners who have speculated on what their colleagues may have said about the occupation to trigger his change of heart. Could it be the long hours? Low pay? Or the constant humiliation of having to "act like someone's grandchild", as an anchorwoman lamented on a television news show?

But most seemed to agree: A gaokao champion deserves better than a job in the news business. From a cost-benefit perspective, it will take many years for a journalism graduate to recover their parents' investment in his or her four years of tuition, room and board, besides the tens of thousands of yuan that have been spent grooming a top scorer.