Imagine scoring 699 on China’s college entrance exam — one of the highest in Henan province, a region where every point is a battle. Now imagine announcing you’re going to study medicine. The internet erupts: What a waste! You could have been the next AI pioneer. You’re throwing away your potential.
But here’s the truth nobody wants to say out loud: Choosing medicine over math or computer science isn’t cowardice. It’s the most rational decision a top scorer can make.
Let me tell you a story from the trenches of elite education. Every year, top universities admit dozens of students who aced their high school math exams. They walk into freshman year convinced they’re the next Gauss. One year later, half of them are drowning. Math departments, especially in China, aren’t designed to nurture talent — they’re designed to filter it out. Professors throw impossible problems at you, and if you can’t solve them, you’re out. No amount of hard work can fix a lack of raw mathematical intuition. And guess what? The 699 score doesn’t buy you any of that intuition.
Hate to break it to you: math doesn’t care how hard you try. It only cares if you can see the patterns before anyone else. Most people can’t. And the system is ruthless — it will chew you up and spit you out before you even get a chance to apply for a PhD abroad.
Here’s where the plot thickens. Even if you survive the first two years, the game of getting a fully funded PhD overseas is brutal. And it’s not played on a level field. Foreign admissions officers love one thing above all: a clear, unambiguous winner. They want the top 1% from any school, not the middle-of-the-pack from a famous one. Think about that: Being ranked #1 at Fudan is a stronger PhD application than being ranked #10 at Tsinghua. Why? Because the #1 at Fudan still has the halo of untapped potential — the foreign committee can imagine that student being the best. The #10 at Tsinghua has already lost to nine others. You’re competing against the #5 from the same school, and the committee knows it. So your ‘elite’ environment actually works against you. The best school can be your worst enemy.
Now look at medicine. A 699 score is more than enough to get into a top medical program, and here’s the hidden superpower of medicine: it rewards persistence, not genius. If you can study hard and consistently, you will become a competent doctor. You don’t need to be a once-in-a-generation talent. You just need to show up. And at the other end? A stable career with an income that rivals — and often beats — what most PhDs earn in academia. Plus, you can always move abroad later, pass the licensing exam, and make a six-figure salary as a physician. No grant applications. No tenure track. No existential dread about whether your research will ever matter.
The critics who scream ‘wasted talent’ are usually the same people who’ve never wrestled with a real PhD application. Stop listening to people who confuse ‘prestige’ with ‘success.’ The goal isn’t to look impressive at a dinner party. The goal is to build a life where you can work, grow, and sleep at night. A 699 score gives you options — and the option to avoid getting crushed by the pure-science meat grinder is not a betrayal of potential. It’s the smartest use of it.
Han Yaping made a choice that millions of students will face in the coming years: chase the hype or chase the win. She chose the win. And in a world that glorifies risk for its own sake, that’s the bravest thing you can do.
FAQ
Q: But shouldn't the best and brightest pursue the hardest fields to push humanity forward?
A: That's a romantic ideal, not a practical career strategy. Pushing humanity forward requires more than raw intelligence — it requires a system that supports you. The reality is that many top students in pure math or theoretical physics drop out or end up in jobs unrelated to their degrees. Medicine advances humanity too, one patient at a time. A doctor saves lives every day. That's hardly a waste.
Q: What's the practical takeaway for an average student, not a 699 scorer?
A: The principle scales down: don't chase prestige for its own sake. Evaluate the actual odds of success, the environment you'll enter, and the lifestyle you want. A 'weaker' program where you can be top of your class often leads to better outcomes than a cutthroat elite program where you'll be average. Choose the path where your effort can translate into results.
Q: Isn't this just risk aversion dressed up as wisdom? Won't it stifle innovation?
A: Stifling innovation would mean everyone avoided hard things. That's not what's happening — the article argues that many students are being pushed into fields where they don't belong, based on false promises. True innovation comes from people who are genuinely suited to the challenge, not from those who were bullied into it by societal pressure. If you're a math prodigy, do math. If you're just a great test-taker, be honest about what you can sustain. The real waste is forcing a square peg into a round hole.