985 Project Weeds Out Job Applicants from 2nd-Tier Universities

Mengping Li, originally from a small town in Sichuan Province, was prepping for her college entrance exam when the disastrous earthquake of 2008 occurred. Although surrounded by misery, the testing went forward.  Mengping ended up being accepted at Chengdu University of Traditional Medicine. (See post one.) She soon discovered that this second-tier university did not have all she needed, and went about finding ways to make the experience better. (See post two.) The realization that she held the reins regarding her future lit a fire in her soul, and she began exploring as she never had before. (See post three.)

Initially –after a trip to Shanghai Jiaotung University the fall of her junior year--she was not impressed with the prospect of continuing on to do graduate studies.

“After I observed them (the students), I realized that the Chinese graduate education is not the cake for me.  In China the graduate school-- it’s not purely research--it has to do with your relationship with your mentor. You need to solicit funds from the government to do the research. It’s not just pure do-the-research."

So instead of applying for grad school, she began looking for a job. “I had no confidence to apply to a Fortune Five-hundred company.”

She explained that these companies required online applications/tests, and one way they filtered people was by university.  The government has ranked the universities in a project code-named 985. (“China has a tendency to name national projects by numbers.”)

“If you are ranked in the 985 project, those are the best universities in China." And you have the best chance of getting a job. “If you’re not from this list, it’s difficult."

(To be continued.  Next: Discovering a Needle of Possibility in a Haystack of Pessimism.)