Chinese gaokao grads turn to AI chatbots for college advice - Rest of World

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Students leave the gaokao exam in Nanjing in June under a banner that reads “Win top marks.”<br>Su Yang/Xinhua via Getty Images

By Viola Zhou

29 July 2026

Chinese high school graduates are turning to free AI chatbots to navigate the college admission process.<br>The automated tools are disrupting a costly private counseling market by offering highly utilitarian, job-focused major recommendations.<br>Despite the convenience, students must cross-check AI suggestions to avoid database errors that could ruin their matching chances.

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 AlibabaiAlibabaAlibaba, 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’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 ByteDanceiByteDanceByteDance is a Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok with a successful e-commerce arm.READ MORE’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.

Teachers grade gaokao exam papers at Nanjing Normal University last month.<br>Yang Suping/VCG via Getty Images

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, TencentiTencentBest known for its super-app WeChat, Tencent is a Chinese technology conglomerate and a major player in the video gaming industry.READ MORE, and BaiduiBaiduBaidu is a Chinese technology company that operates the country’s biggest search engine and video-streaming service iQiyi.READ MORE 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 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 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 on July 10 that it had answered 200 million inquiries related to college admission. Baidu said in late June that 15 million people had used its AI college advisory feature.

A good AI system should be able to guide students to think for themselves.”Ye Xiaoyang, a Seattle-based economist and visiting professor at East China Normal University

American students and parents are also using AI chatbots as their virtual college admission consultants, with some educators praising the tools for benefiting those who cannot access help from private coaches or family...