[jiaweihli]

Ha, this problem is nowhere near as bad as it is in China, where your admissions are nearly (outside of connections) solely based on your college admission test results.

At least in the US, the most selective universities look at other aspects of your application.

That's not to say there aren't other problems in the States, such as negative discrimination / racial quotas.

[thaumasiotes]

I've been talking to a few chinese college students. I'd heard that the gaokao was everything in college admissions, and I'm prepared to believe it plays a strong role, but I was a little disoriented by the results of asking four students how they got into their particular college:

复旦 student #1: My gaokao score wasn't high enough for 北大, but it was high enough for 复旦, so I came here.

复旦 student #2: My high school recommended me to 复旦, they gave me an interview, and then they offered me a place in the school of social science. Because of the offer, I didn't need a very high gaokao score.

财大 student #1: I took 财大's own entrance exam and qualified for admission, so I didn't put in any effort on the gaokao and got a low score. That meant my gaokao score wouldn't get me in to any other universities, so I came to 财大.

财大 student #2: I took the gaokao and my score was high enough for 财大, but not for 复旦, so now I'm at 财大.

So half of everyone I've asked fits the mold, but that seems like a low figure to me. The sample size here is only four; have I stumbled upon a wildly unrepresentative group?

[jiaweihli]

In the case of the second student, I feel there's some missing context there. My guess is it was an alumni recommendation, which would explain the circumstances.

For student #3 - I'm unaware of how popular the practice of having a test per university is (or how practical it is to take them as a prospective applicant). Maybe this is restricted to certain universities or majors, or works similarly to EA or ED in the US?