[Answer] My gaokao score is only enough for Peking University Health Science Center, but I’ve adored Tsinghua since childhood—even the wall by my desk is covered with Tsinghua posters. Should I retake the exam?

[Answer] My gaokao score is only enough for Peking University Health Science Center, but I’ve adored Tsinghua since childhood—even the wall by my desk is covered with Tsinghua posters. Should I retake the exam?

Personally, I really do not recommend retaking the exam. Sometimes it is better for a feeling or attachment to remain just that—a feeling. If you spend too much time and energy chasing it, you may only end up more disappointed. As Oscar Wilde said, there are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

Coming back to the practical question of majors and schools, Peking University’s medical school is already extremely good. In the past, it seemed that Peking University, Tsinghua, and Peking Union Medical College had some kind of joint arrangement in medical education. I have a friend from medical school who actually spent essentially their entire student years at PUMC. But the exact form of that cooperation is something you would need to look into further.

If this is only a blind emotional fixation, then that attachment has no real foundation. Objectively speaking, although Tsinghua may be somewhat stronger than the university next door—or perhaps much stronger in some areas while weaker in others—as the two premier universities in China, the gap between them is nowhere near as significant as people often imagine. For the vast majority of students, either one would be more than enough. Besides, undergraduate study is only the beginning. If this attachment still matters to you, there is always the possibility of fulfilling it at the master’s or doctoral stage.

Moreover, a lot of what we do is an attempt to overcome uncertainty, but time itself creates uncertainty, and that makes the future full of variables. A year from now, could something unexpected happen? Could it affect your performance? Factors unrelated to your own effort will always exist, and your mindset may also be different by then. So from a decision-making perspective, this moment is very likely your best opportunity to choose.

And beyond all that, high school—especially senior year—is, compared with the rest of life, extremely dull and monotonous. Going through the gaokao is the kind of experience that, in my view, once in a lifetime is enough. We do not actually have that much time to spare. If the price of retaking the exam is repeating an entire year of that tedious life, I personally think it would be better to save that year for the future, and use it to experience a fuller and more varied life.