China's Gaokao Season: More Chinese students gain entry into world's top universities

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It is again the time for China's nationwide annual university entrance exam - the Gaokao. While millions of students will be rushing to exam venues for the next three days, there is a growing number of students choosing to skip the Gaokao and instead, study abroad. Xu Xinchen has more.

Piles of study materials. That is how most students spend their last days in high school. But, for Xu Wenxi and Zhao Yixin, they can enjoy their summer break just a bit early, being admitted into the University of Pennsylvania and Yale.

XU WENXI STUDENT "That made going abroad for college the right choice for me because it is hard for me to follow just what simply others tell me to do."

ZHAO YIXIN STUDENT "I really believe that going abroad can be a good opportunity for me just to try new things and just talk to more people and see things from their perspective."

While it sounds fun enough, these students went through rounds of tests and interviews just to get into a world top university, which students going through the Gaokao might have never experienced.

ZHAO YIXIN STUDENT "Like we have to deal with, like we go to summer camps in the United States and talk to people, not in our native language and have to go through interviews."

XU WENXI STUDENT "It's a holistic review. They examine a lot of different aspects, like activities and your essays and your depths basically as a person. So it requires a lot of work to just figure out where you belong and who you are basically."

Xu and Zhao are just two of the nearly 200 high school graduates from an international department of a Beijing school. These students spent their three years in high school quite differently from others - with courses designed to be just like what students in other countries would have. And the trend of Chinese students going abroad for higher education continues to grow.

XU XINCHEN BEIJING "According to the US embassy, over 350,000 Chinese students are pursuing higher education in the US. It's the eighth consecutive year that the highest number of international students going to the US are from China. And worldwide, one in four international students is Chinese - with the number of students being admitted into world top universities also on the rise."

LI BING, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR THE INT'L DEPT. THE EXPERIMENTAL HIGH SCHOOL ATTACHED TO BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY "In 2009, we had fewer than 10 students who got into Ivy League universities, and now we have about 20."

Li Bing is the assistant director for the international department at the Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, and he said in addition to being exposed to advanced education in some other countries, Chinese students studying abroad could help the world better understand China.

LI BING, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR THE INT'L DEPT. THE EXPERIMENTAL HIGH SCHOOL ATTACHED TO BEIJING NORMAL UNIVERSITY "These students can understand both our own and western cultures. So when they are trying to solve a problem, they can think from two different perspectives - making their approach more objective. They may also represent a better voice from China."

For Xu and Zhao, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale have been their dream schools, and their parents have been supportive - paving the way forward - such as paying a relatively larger sum for high school tuition fees. Nevertheless, these two young students say hard work is needed for either going abroad or studying in China if anyone wants to succeed. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Beijing.