After the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam, 18‑year‑old Guo Xinyan faced a three‑week window to choose universities and majors, a decision that will shape her career. She turned to an AI chatbot for guidance.
How AI tools are being used for college selection
Guo entered her gaokao score, provincial ranking, preferred fields—law, accounting or finance—her tuition budget and desire to live in a coastal city into Alibaba’s chatbot, Qwen. The system produced a report listing dozens of programs, sorted into “reach,” “safety” and “backup” categories based on historical admission cutoffs.
Guo said, “My family and I have no experience with college applications, so we had to rely on social media and AI.” Her parents also consulted ByteDance’s Doubao for suggestions.
Since 2025, major Chinese tech companies—including Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent and Baidu—have launched AI tools that gather scores, career interests, personality assessments and preferences such as tuition fees and climate. These agents then generate ranked lists of programs, aiming to help students explore the thousands of schools and hundreds of majors available.
Scale of adoption and the role of human specialists
Alibaba reported that by July 8 its Qwen system had produced 23 million recommendation reports for this year’s gaokao takers. The company says it recruited 300 college‑search specialists to refine the AI’s reasoning. Baidu promised that experts would review AI‑generated suggestions, while Tencent’s Yuanbao bot logged 200 million inquiries on July 10.
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The bots typically analyze past admission data, then match a student’s profile to programs that fit their score range and stated preferences.
Potential pitfalls and the future of AI‑driven counseling
Critics argue that while AI excels at sorting massive datasets, it cannot replace human judgment about life goals or personal fit.
AI advice is still evolving.
As the gaokao results cascade each summer, the pressure to make a swift, informed choice will persist. Whether AI chatbots can truly democratize college guidance or simply add another layer to the decision‑making process remains an open question.