Night talk around the fireplace: It is too early for everyone to evaluate the insurance research at this moment | Around the Furnace · FDU

September 28, 2021, is the start date of the annual push and exemption system filing. Several families are happy and some are sad.

Friends who have passed the postgraduate entrance examination, are you still sure? Or regret the choice?

Friends who have just experienced the exemption of insurance research, have you ever had a tortuous mentality? What impact have the policy and process changes under the epidemic brought to you?

Friends who gave up the "shortcut" of postgraduate entrance examination and stepped into the "dangerous road" of postgraduate entrance examination, what kind of life do you live?

And those friends who have just entered the university, have you heard the story about Baoyan? How do you look forward to your future?

In the circle of friends, there are neat and uniform screenshots of the system interface, full screens of 🎉 and 🎇; in Zhihu’s search for “Baoyan”, any topic is crowded with thousands of comments; even if you open the academic engine, you will find Scholars have long been arguing over the policy of protecting research. Under the hustle and bustle, Baoyan may be a specific experience, a vivid story, or a bizarre rumor.

In this evening talk, more than a dozen Fudan students gathered around. They either guaranteed the department, or crossed the school, or chose to study directly, or were forced to take the postgraduate entrance examination, or they had not yet made a decision. The following is a description of their chatting process, including what they saw, heard, felt and thought about, but it does not represent the voice of any group of people.

1

Take it one step at a time, or think about it earlier?

How do we make choices?

Xiaoy (Grade 17 undergraduates in this department) | When I first entered the freshman year, my vague judgment about the future was to go to graduate school. No matter which path I took, "taking academics as my career" was very important to me at that time. Attractive. But whether I want to stay in China and stay in Fudan, I didn't have the answer at the time, and I wasn't in a hurry to find the answer, but I needed a good grade point no matter what. I was quite naive at the time, I felt that as long as I study hard, it is natural to protect the research. What was particularly impressive was that in the last quarter of my freshman year, I had a chat with a senior who was a graduate student. He told me painstakingly that people cannot rely on the path, and many people choose to protect the graduate school out of a kind of "inertia". I felt the same at that time, and I still had a very open imagination and expectation for the future.

Sophomore year was a turning point. My grade point slipped in the last semester of my sophomore year, and I suddenly realized that it is not an easy task to apply for postgraduate studies in this school. My confusion about the way out was transformed into a very concrete anxiety about my grade point. Looking back now, how much room do I leave for those flying imaginations in my day-to-day busy with essays and exams? In addition, when I was a sophomore, I also began to consider the research direction. With the in-depth understanding of the subject, I gradually felt that it was a very good choice to continue to study in my current major in Fudan, so postgraduate research has become my priority. order.

I finally succeeded in the postgraduate study, and it seemed that every step of the transition from major to postgraduate study was "achieved." But from the establishment of the vision to the realization, my mental journey is not linear, but has many swings and fluctuations. After the dust settled, these wobbles and fluctuations resurfaced, constantly triggering my review, reflection, and doubt—how did I “find it right” so quickly? Why not consider some other possibilities? Is this a "choice", or a kind of "inertia", or even "inertia"? These doubts permeated almost my entire senior year. It was only recently that I finally found some strength to settle my mind and body in a specific academic situation and regained my inner stability. But I still feel that the previous doubts are meaningful, and it may be only after I get out of the goal-oriented context of Baoyan that I finally have the opportunity to face my true self.

Shu Yang (Grade 21 college student) | I have just entered school now, and my thoughts are not very clear. I tend to take a step by step and want to hear everyone's choices.

Shanchang (Grade 17 straight to our school) | I think "taking one step at a time" may lead to more anxiety. If you figure out your own path early, you will be less affected by the surrounding environment. But if you keep walking around, you may not be able to figure it out in the end.

Wei Yi (20th grade college student) | If you keep using the so-called "long-term thinking", you don't actually think outside the framework of the outside world, you just think you have mastered this logic of further education, but you are actually mastered by this logic, and you are only forming part of a logical closed loop. I think if you want to jump out of logic, you should either lie down or take a step by step. Some people just need to listen more and read more, and draw energy from different people.

Xiaoy | Follow Weiyi's words and continue. Some of my postgraduate students are very clear that they will not engage in academics in the future, but want to use short-term certainty to fight against greater uncertainty - anyway, they have not thought about it, then stay in school for another three years. You can say that they are all part of a closed logical loop, and they have chosen the mainstream and correct path in the secular sense. We have to admit that in the face of this powerful logic, the power of the individual is too weak. Not to mention that you just happen to be able to maintain research and become a "beneficiary" in a sense.

Weiyi|This is why this logic works.

Shanchang | I will also briefly talk about my experience. Similar to Xiaoy, I have also experienced a change in choice. Before I decided to do academia, I always felt that graduate school was a process of exploration. Teacher Zhu Gang once talked about the images of Feihong and grinding cattle in Su Shi's poems. At that time, I was very touched, so I sent a message to Xiaoy, "From Feihong to grinding cattle, it is very similar to our four years in college. It seems to have a lot of possibilities, and then it was gradually restricted by various realistic factors, and finally the road slowly narrowed and was trapped in a tedious daily life." I think only babies can always be in a state of having all possibilities, which sounds very Pessimistic, but I just accept it as a premise.

I am sure that the research direction is later than the small y. During my freshman and sophomore years, I was interested in all aspects, and I was still considering film studies in my junior year. A good friend of mine decided very early on that he wanted to focus on Song Dynasty literature. He later said to me, "Do you remember when we chatted in the second year of sophomore year, I remember that you were interested in comparative literature and modern and contemporary literature at that time. , and said that you wouldn't read ancient literature even if you were killed. I told you at the time, don't say it so early, maybe one day we will become colleagues. "

There are many practical factors involved in my choice. In my third year of college, I went to Singapore for exchange. I originally planned to chat with the teachers there, take some foreign literature classes, and prepare for the application for studying abroad. But it was that semester that I realized how difficult comparative literature is and how demanding a foreign language is. Originally, I planned to read only English and only speak English that semester, but in the end I would read "A Dream of Red Mansions" every day, and people would also speak Chinese to you when I went shopping. After returning to China, I basically stopped thinking about studying abroad. My vague judgment was to go to graduate school first and explore other possibilities in the process.

The end result is a coincidence. Doing academia was originally one of my ideal careers, and it was also the expectation of my family and friends. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to get a direct postgraduate degree.

Weiyi|So do you think you made the right choice?

Goodness | It's hard to describe right or wrong, I can only say that I have no regrets.

Guan Lin (Grade 19 college student) | Senior Shanchang just mentioned the choice of majors. In fact, I also really want to read comparative literature, but I don’t seem to be so sure. Recently, my circle of friends has also been swiped by various information about insurance research, and I am also considering whether to guarantee my school or a foreign school next year. In short, I seem to be very uncertain, so I want to hear everyone's stories, hoping to help me understand myself.

Huiying (Grade 19 college student) | Unlike Guanlin, I have made it clear that I will not consider postgraduate studies. This is mainly because of personal interest orientation, not because I think this path is not good. So I also really want to hear what this path means to the students who have already secured graduate studies.

Wan Yi (Grade 21 college student) | Although I am still a freshman, postgraduate research has become a common topic among counselors and classmates around me. However I don't know much about it, so would love to hear more specific experiences.

Douji (Grade 18, Department of Insurance and Research) | As Jibit Junior said, we are not here to introduce the experience of insurance research, but to share and discuss our respective stories. For me, Baoyan was initially the "worst option", and my friends and relatives who haven't had much contact with me lately probably don't know and probably don't believe me anymore. I still remember joking with my classmates when I was a freshman: "Do you think there will be people who go to Fudan Kindergarten at the age of 3, Fudan Primary School at the age of 6, then go to the Second Affiliated Middle School, the Affiliated Middle School, and then to Fudan University, and finally read the undergraduate, master and doctoral degree all the way for a lifetime. They all work here too?" I suggested that such a life was "boring", as if seeking some illusory sense of superiority for myself, I'm not a very stable and accomplished person - and this kind of self-feeling good Lasted more than a year.

However, I was quickly "taught to be a man" by reality. The setbacks, big and small, sometimes even made me wonder--is it suitable for me to go to college? At first, I didn't get too introverted on this issue, which has a lot to do with the outbreak of the epidemic. In the semester when I took online classes at home, the expectation of "always going back to campus" gave me a little more hope for the future, and the unprecedented time spent with my family also dispersed my worries about my studies and future, and it seemed that I had achieved some kind of learning. and life balance. Unexpectedly, I got the best grade point in the first three years in that semester, and I also felt the purest joy of seeking knowledge.

My enthusiasm for academics was aroused, but after "returning" to campus in my junior year, I experienced the longest and most unbearable anxiety of my life. On the one hand, I made a false attribution for the GPA breakthrough achieved in the "epidemic semester", suggesting that I should be less involved in unnecessary social activities, which made me more isolated; on the other hand, I always endured I can't help but miss the "epidemic semester". It seems to describe the time a little better, and I can feel a little better in the depression and anxiety. Soon, my family noticed that my condition seemed abnormal, and they made a special trip to Shanghai to see me. In order to end the anxiety as soon as possible, we have reached a consensus - change majors and apply for overseas graduate students. The subtext of this decision is that the involution environment of the domestic humanities must have "harmed" me.

So, similar to Shanchang, when I went to Singapore for an exchange in the second semester of my junior year, I seemed to have a goal in mind, but it gradually became blurred. The difference is that I've come to realize that my consensus with my parents is quite fragile - they want me to study a practical subject, and I still have an obsession with the humanities. The debate between me and them on this point has not ended, and in the process, I signed up for the summer camp in a daze, and finally chose Baoyan.

Wei Jie (Grade 21 college student)|So for you, do you have the strength to protect research first, or the idea of protecting research first?

Douji|I was actually very anxious until two days before filling in the reporting system, because my push-out ranking was very thrilling. In the process of waiting for the exemption procedure, I experienced the initial attempt to interpret the files by myself, to find a certain sense of stability from the policy discourse, to the panic and chasing after the number changes after the quota of the department was announced, and finally to the Knowing the specific places for each major, I felt a little more relieved when I found that I was safe, but I was worried that some classmates could squeeze me out of the special extra points.

Wei Jie|So there are still many practical considerations?

Beans | I would feel like there was a lot of uncertainty and at that moment I would really feel like it could happen. If I were to label myself, it would be a "marginal person in the research institute", I never felt that I would definitely be able to guarantee the research.

Junjie (Fudan University's 18th grade student insurance graduate school) | Douji When it comes to disputes with family, I also feel that I have maintained some kind of "subtle reconciliation" with my family during college. It seems that I have become more and more reluctant to convince my family, rarely discuss important matters with them, and of course I will not accept their rhetoric. On the day when the pre-admission results came out, I called my family and told them that I was guaranteed graduate school. They asked me what I wanted to do in the future and I just said "probably a lot of things".

Luoluo (Grade 21 Master Student at Fudan University) | My experience is very different from the two of you. In fact, the concept of insurance research, I have since the beginning of freshman. My mother works in the college system, so she may be more concerned about further studies and understand the relevant procedures. So looking back at my experience, it seems that from the very beginning, I followed the requirements of various schools to complete various "plus points", and my family would continue to urge me to tell me that postgraduate study was a relatively easy path to further study. Of course, there were a lot of frictions with myself and my family in this process, but I felt that in the end, the reason of "relative ease" was included in me, which symbolized a certain and intuitive upward path. After the epidemic, the number of places for the major I finally admitted through postgraduate research has doubled compared to the previous year, so in a sense, I am also a beneficiary of this change.

2

"Is it possible for us to get rid of this logic?"

Did we choose Baoyan, or did Baoyan limit us?

Oda (Grade 19 student) | After listening to the seniors and sisters saying a lot, one of the questions I am curious about is, is graduate school a delay for you to delay making your final choice in life?

Shanchang | It seems to me that I have made a choice "passively". If I hadn't followed the path of "Zhuo Bo", I might have to consider whether to do academics or not when I signed up for the "Master-PhD Consecutive Program". I think my change is from envisioning more possibilities and embracing the unknown to choosing a relatively stable path that conforms to the consistent growth path. The choice of ancient literature is like this, in a broad sense, the choice of Baoyan is also. This reminds me of the "prestigious student's dilemma" that sparked a heated discussion some time ago. It seems that many of us are already familiar with learning as something that we rely on, and it is difficult to step out of the safe zone.

Douji|I think it is a delay in a sense, but I personally resist this interpretation. If we look at its opposite, it seems to presuppose that a student should have a clear life choice after four years of undergraduate study. On the contrary I would argue that it is normal to have no clear choice. It does not mean that how many books a person has read, and when he reaches a certain so-called stage of life, he must have a fixed place to go. But why do we always have such mental inertia? In my opinion, it may be given by the outside world. For example, the family wants you to take responsibility as soon as possible, and the country wants you to be a useful person to society. In the communication with many older people, I will find that at many important points in their lives, they have not figured out what to do, but are pushed away in a daze.

As I said earlier, the choice of Baoyan was very unexpected to me. Interestingly enough, I started looking for firm reasons for this unexpected path. I relate my disputes with my parents over major choices to the wider phenomenon, and I feel like a wave of what scholars call "new familism" is beating me. However, it is a choice not to spend too much money and not rely too much on family. I seem to have a new sense of tragic and mission: this is my last chance to become self-reliant and practice individualism! On the other hand, I would persuade myself: Shanghai is a city that is inclusive and diverse enough, and if I stay here for another three years, I should be able to explore many possibilities. So, I built a "confrontation narrative" that "rebels" parental expectations, I believe in it, and I'm practicing it, but I don't know what it will look like one day.

Guan Lin | Dou Ji said something that touched me a lot. I also found that the elders around me, and even some people who have achieved so-called "success", usually do not have a very clear plan at the important nodes in their life when they need to make choices. Or even if there is a plan, in fact, due to various reasons, it ends up being completely different. Personally, I really want to control my own life path, but I am also very confused. If I let it go, it seems that I will spend my whole life in confusion in the end.

Douji | Also from the experience of elders, I think many life choices are based on simple survival strategies or path dependence. For example, since the late 1970s, a large number of people have migrated from rural areas to urban areas, from inland areas to coastal areas, and this trend continues to this day. When some people find new opportunities and achieve worldly success through mobility, they will go back to their own experiences and build a narrative, even a myth, for themselves according to the prevailing correct discourse. Like many formatted biographies, it seems that people have a certain set of routines for success, but what we don't see are more people who work hard but fail to succeed and are obliterated by the times. So I think it's important to be extra vigilant about the life narrative, it's an afterthought, and it's not what it is. We can listen to stories, but we can't be trapped in other people's stories!

Shanchang | You mentioned earlier that you took Baoyan as the worst plan in freshman year. Xiaoy and I have also undergone considerable changes. It seems that we have all rationalized this choice with our own channels in the end. I'm curious how freshman friends think about Baoyan?

Shu Yang | Now everyone seems to know about this, but the specifics are still vague. As far as I am concerned, I would think that it is relatively safe to apply for postgraduate studies. If it is not guaranteed, I will consider postgraduate entrance examinations. Going abroad is a last resort.

Xiaoy | You have just entered your freshman year, it is normal to be vague. In most cases, clear goals and clear plans are just an idealized narrative. Our ideas are often fluid, especially when we are just entering school. Maybe keep an open mind. Guaranteeing postgraduate studies, postgraduate entrance examinations, employment, and going abroad are only a kind of rough division, and many possibilities will be obscured by it. The real situation faced by a specific person cannot be simplified into a single-choice question of "choose 1 from N".

Weiyi|How do you think your idea was formed? Did someone tell you, or was it affected by the environment?

Shanchang|Aren't you considering employment?

Shu Yang | Maybe because my sister failed the postgraduate entrance examination twice in a row and chose to go abroad, so many of our family's recent discussions are about the topics of postgraduate study or postgraduate entrance examination. In terms of employment, I feel that the proportion of our majors is very small.

Weiyi|If you look at the published employment data, there are still many people who choose to work in the social sciences every year.

Douji|In fact, the proportion of direct employment of college students in the whole school is not low, but it is usually confusing to me. We seldom know from the media what the situation of students who work directly is. This brings me to another topic that has been discussed before - no one told me where my classmates in the 50th percentile went.

Oda | I'd like to ask a more pointed question, and one that bothers me a lot. Haven't you thought about working directly after graduation? It seems that many people do not take academics as their ultimate value, so why go to graduate school? Even though we all know that "taking academia as a career" is unattainable, it is undeniable that the sense of value brought by engaging in this work is very important, but if we do not clearly recognize that our own endowments are compatible with academic work , then why occupy a position?

Guan Lin | I think for many students from prestigious universities, the feeling of "taking academics as a career" is difficult to abandon from the very beginning. Even though we all know it's hard, the fascination will continue to be wiped out, and with increasing sunk costs, of all career choices, academics may be relatively more valuable.

Douji|In fact, I also thought about this question three months before Baoyan. I asked myself at the time: Do you really have to go to graduate school? It doesn't seem necessary either. From my personal experience, the most valuable experience is not within the academic system, but to do more practical things in society. But I soon had a so-called rational consideration: what if I really want to do it? Is there a need for more social accumulation? Should I go to graduate school? This seems to be very conflicting, from the fact that I can not go to graduate school, to deduce that I need to go to graduate school, it seems to go back to the original point.

Huiying|Why does it feel rational? Is it because of external denial?

Shanchang | From my point of view, rationality is to rationalize it, and the unspoken side is that fear, inertia, and more factors make Baoyan a choice. For example, you don't really want to do things in society right away, not because you don't have enough accumulation, but just because you're afraid of new challenges.

Douji|I agree with your opinion.

Oda | I think of a class I took in my freshman year. The teacher asked everyone how many people were considering graduate school. Almost the whole class stood up. He would persuade us, saying that our postgraduate studies in this era are no longer the same as his. After the devaluation of academic qualifications, everyone wants to use their academic qualifications to build themselves higher, so as not to be overwhelmed. The water is getting higher and higher, you have to go up, and when you want to jump out of this tower, you find that it is impossible. So he encourages us to jump out as soon as possible if we have other ideas about life. I also remembered reading Yang Ning's literary theory on station B. When talking about identity, he talked about why college students are afraid of the future - because you are used to having an identity, you will be very afraid of losing it.

Douji|Is it possible for us to get rid of this logic? Or, will the "confrontation" come to an end?

Weiyi| As far as I am concerned, it is not to think about what the outside world has prescribed for you, you should put everything aside, and your state is free, not to resist it, otherwise you will easily return to that kind of narrative .

Little y | What matters is not the resistance itself.

Oda | I remembered that the teacher talked about misty poetry in a class. This trend is to counter the mainstream narrative during the Cultural Revolution, but when the Cultural Revolution ended, it lost the object of criticism, and the result was worse and worse. When a subject must be confronted with external forces to obtain value, it is actually fragile.

Junjie | As far as I am concerned, some abstract pursuits can help me escape the logic of confrontation with external forces. After experiencing the initial nihilistic feeling after the Baoyan, I realized that reading and contemplation, as a lifelong career, will not change its value because of the success of the Baoyan, the school of the Baoyan, and the channels for further studies. Alas, I may not devote myself fully to academics. On the one hand, I realize that I will not have academic achievements in the short term, which makes me somewhat frustrated; but more importantly, I do not want to attribute my value to a specific Business, while reading and contemplation are relatively abstract, and its objects are diverse. The formation of a modern academic system is a rationalized process, and although it may be quite tedious to engage in it, it is still valuable for the production of knowledge. However, rationality cannot cover the whole of life, especially the most important part.

Today's academics are closer to the academic style, different from when the modern academic system was just born in the 18th and 19th centuries, intellectuals generally have dual identities of society and academics. For example, I mentioned Tocqueville in the petition for rejection. As an academician of the French Academy of Sciences, he has a very active political participation. Dual identities have their advantages, but also corresponding disadvantages. For example, there is a political indoctrination in the work, which seems to affect the purity of academics, which seems very conflicting.

Whether staying in the study room or going out of the academy, there seems to be something unsatisfactory. So at the same time as academic research, I hope to find some more specific channels to realize the value of reading and contemplation. Perhaps for a long time, academics were my number one duty, but I hoped to be remembered as a non-academic identity last.

Julian | So for you, reading and contemplation is not the end, but the desire to express the content of reading and contemplation?

Junjie | Yes. I think any writer always has the desire to create before his works. When reading and contemplation reach a certain depth, they will try to present them in some kind of channel, not just in their own minds.

3

"I would have felt that my media literacy was not even as good as my mother's"

Under the epidemic, how did the changes in the insurance research policy affect us?

Douji|In our previous discussions, the frequency of "epidemics" was very high, especially when it came to key turning points. In fact, I also wrote in the convening speech of this night talk that the changes in the insurance research policy under the epidemic have brought us a lot of influence. What are the specific feelings of the friends who participated in the insurance research in the past two years?

Luoluo | What I feel is more obvious is the change in the access to information. Because it is common to interview multiple schools and get multiple offers (intentions for admission to colleges and universities), at that time someone added me on WeChat from the school interview group and asked about my intention. Through this very traditional channel, they determined that they had successfully obtained the postgraduate study. probability of this school. At that time, I would feel that my media literacy was not even as good as my mother's. She read almost every school's admission list for related majors to determine who had applied to multiple schools and who would go to the top. of two schools. In contrast, I seem to be very latent, and I have a lot of closed and path-dependent characteristics in the access to information and even the final choice. If you don't actively search for information, not only will you miss a lot of time points, you may even lose. As someone said, Baoyan is actually an information war.

Douji|This statement is indeed very common, especially now that insurance research has become an industry, and these platforms will even more render the importance of information.

Luoluo|Is there already such a platform?

Shanchang|There is a public account specializing in insurance research consulting. They provide planning, courses, and interview experience. It is already a very mature industry.

Douji|Luoluo The situation just mentioned is that because the post-pandemic insurance research interviews are generally arranged online, the cost of information management will rise sharply for students who have participated in the selection of multiple schools. Even students like me who only interviewed in this department can intuitively feel the impact of information closure and asymmetry. From the release of the first push-off file at the beginning of September to the end of the month before the pre-admission notice is received, every time there is a new news, there will be rumors that catch the wind. The most impressive thing is that when our department announced the number of exemptions this year, some students found that there was one less than last year. So soon there were rumors that because a classmate in the previous class of our major "broken the contract", so the next class will be "punished" together, which made a few of our classmates on the edge very anxious. But after a few days of the announcement of the quotas for each major, it was discovered that other majors had been reduced, but we had one more major, and the rumors were self-defeating. I later asked someone to verify it, and it was indeed nonsense. But the funny thing is that every speculation we hear at every node feels like it might actually be the case at the time.

Junjie|In addition to the problems mentioned by Douji, what I personally feel is more obvious is the delay caused by the "alternate". I participated in the interviews of three schools, but my school got the "waiting", and I called the admissions office to find out that it was "the first on the waiting list". Although the classmates around me have advised me that this ranking is definitely not a problem, my mood is still very bad. What is even more worrying is that our department has not announced the waiting list, which makes me feel that my ranking is not guaranteed by any formality, so that I later showed a great sense of distrust and "meaning" to the admissions department— —I was reluctant to tell them when they asked me where I was going. Of course, I know that the feeling of facing the "alternate" varies from person to person, because everyone's expectations are different, just like I didn't expect that the summer camp of this department could not get "excellent campers", so it would be difficult to restrain It was very sad, and I was very careful when preparing for Nankai University and Peking University’s insurance research.

Douji|The situation of "not publishing the list" as Junjie said, in my opinion, may also be a strategy of the admissions department to deal with uncertainty: since candidates have the right to give up after receiving the pre-admission notice, since the list does not need to be forced to be disclosed , why should I reveal more information to the outside world? What we can understand is that for administrative teachers in charge of enrollment, the number of official duties to be dealt with after the epidemic has doubled, and the establishment and support facilities have not been improved accordingly, so there will also be a need to pursue stability. However, relatively speaking, the candidates are still weak in the relationship and have less information. They originally hoped to enjoy other people's resources after being admitted. Therefore, implicit and even moral pressures are often passed on to the candidates themselves. coming.

Luoluo|When it comes to moral pressure, I think of my one-bit classmate. At that time, he obtained the exemption qualification, and he only wanted to go to a certain department in a foreign school, but he was brushed down during the re-examination, and he did not want to go to other schools, so he gave up the exemption qualification. In the opinion of the administrative teacher, this is a waste of a quota, and it is also told to the next class of junior students. However, in fact, the choice of this classmate did not violate any rules, but it carried a great burden.

Douji|I think the first thing that will be affected is the work performance of the relevant faculty, and they will naturally put pressure on this classmate.

Weiyi|This is like blaming all the problems of the insurance research system on one person. What does he have to do with other people who are not eligible for deductions? Even if he is admitted, he has the qualification to give up admission, not to mention that he was eliminated.

4

"Is it important to post a circle of friends?"

How do we speak to people after the postgraduate study?

Oda | I want to go back to the "confrontation narrative" that Douji just painted for herself. If in the eyes of the outside world, your choice is still in accordance with the established track and in line with mainstream values, but you think it is a kind of rebellion? Why is this?

Douji|I said just now that we need to be wary of any kind of life narrative, and it's mine too. What I keep repeating to people is some kind of confrontation that just illustrates my skepticism and sway. I haven't posted a circle of friends about Baoyan until now, because I don't know how to tell all kinds of people around me. After learning the results of the Baoyan, my family would quickly pull me back to their way, saying that I had always been excellent, and told me to repay the good news and gratitude to the teachers of primary school and high school. Of course I am grateful to the people who have taken care of me since I was a child, but when they congratulate me, I will emphasize luck and chance factors, especially when the environment is so difficult, I will resist using their words to express myself. Joy, in fact I don't feel joy either. It seems that I grew up in an atmosphere of "achievementism", but I began to worry that I would be spoiled by this rhetoric, and what I want to pursue now is that self-sufficient independent self, this road has just begun!

Junjie|Speaking of making friends, I am very different from you. I posted it on the same day, but first, there was no gratitude or celebration, and second, I was mostly joking and sarcastic. At that time, I received the confirmation letter from the Admissions Office of Peking University. When I saw the first sentence of the letter, the word "North" of "Peking University" was omitted. There is a big prejudice about which school, just a language habit. Looking back on my undergraduate studies, the feeling when I was about to leave was really different from when I first arrived. I also understand why philosophers say that enlightenment is a lifelong career, and what will happen and what will happen in graduate school next year will all be the same. It's hard to predict. So the joy that Baoyan brought me only lasted that afternoon. I lay in bed at night thinking about what to do the next day, what class to take, and I felt a great sense of emptiness. Study hard and study hard. Once I take a break, I will fall into some kind of existential meditation again, but there seems to be no good way. For example, these days, I also slowly read some philosophy texts, because the second-degree course still has to be completed.

Little y | Do you think it is important to post a circle of friends?

Douji|We also talked frequently before, and we would think that this is not only a personal ritual, but also contains a kind of group consciousness, and it would be interesting to observe ourselves through this behavior.

Shanchang | I posted a circle of friends, but only the circle in my hometown can be seen, which means to report the current situation. It may not be said that I have completely reconciled with them, but catered to their expectations of me. As everyone will feel, you may have wanted to go abroad, be a reporter, or other messy thoughts before, and now you have finally returned to a more stable, more normal person's choice. On the other hand, these expectations are also a burden to me, and the expectations of my family, friends and teachers have influenced my choices to some extent.

Julian (Grade 17, Graduate Entrance Examination Department) | As Shan Chang said, sometimes we only show a circle of friends to certain groups of people. It's as if we're also constructing a false environment, a false self, trying to make them understand the other me, not the real me. For example, when I had dinner with my high school classmates a few days ago, I found that everyone was talking about boring topics. Maybe it was because our understanding of each other was still in high school, and everyone became very different, so it was difficult to communicate in depth. . So lately I've been reflecting on how we communicate with people who only partially know ourselves.

Douji|So the difference between me and Shanzhang may be that I don't want to meet their expectations for the time being, and at the same time I want to present my true self. I know better than anyone else how much luck and panic behind the results. In addition, it may also be some time ago that I have learned more specifically about the current situation of many of my classmates. They are currently unstable and even helpless, which makes me wonder how much "personal ability" is behind the so-called "personal achievement".

Looking back at my undergraduate degree, it was a coincidence that I went to Fudan University. Signing up for the "Boya Cup" is a temporary initiative, and the final round of the re-examination is also passed by the line. It seems that I am not fully sure of any part, but I was finally admitted. I still remember that in July three years ago, when I received the admission result, I felt relieved, but not so happy. This is very similar to when I received the pre-admission results of the postgraduate research a few days ago, but I gradually realized that it is a little different - or, why did I feel a little arrogant when I first entered Fudan? From a short-term perspective, because of the experience of "transferring literature", in my three years of high school values, the sense of tragic and self-realization of the last battle and the sense of mission of self-realization have been continuously strengthened, and finally it seems to be confirmed and repeated by my admission results. strengthen. From a medium to long-term perspective, admission marks my farewell to a period of "hard study". I have gained a lot of leisure time, but at the same time, I have been integrated into many social relationships and social discourses that I once "stayed out of". For example, when my grandfather was throwing a banquet for my hometown, I intuitively felt that a little of my achievement was related to so many people.

And these external factors that I rely on, they don't always play a positive role. Once I am admitted, the short-term self-narrative is over; and when I come from a small town to study in the most prosperous commercial port in China, how much power can those social connections I have provide? How much burden will those societal expectations put on me?

Justin (Grade 17 student of Xi'an Jiaotong University, inter-professional insurance research Fudan)|Since I talk about the circle of friends, let me start here. I haven't posted about Baoyan to Fudan's Department of Philosophy. It should only be known to about a dozen classmates and friends who are familiar with me. I actually don't know how to explain it to more people, especially the undergraduate students are all science students. In fact, the result of Baoyan didn't give me much feeling, that is, I asked the admissions teacher "Can I come on the waiting list?" He said that he could come, so I submitted the application.

5

"After choosing the postgraduate entrance examination, the uncertainty faced every day is too exaggerated"

How do the different paths to higher education affect us?

Julian | I came to participate in this topic today, which may be a little out of place, because I came up for the postgraduate entrance examination. Looking at my current state, you may think that I am more talkative and more lively and cheerful, but in fact, I was quite autistic when I was an undergraduate, and the reason is very simple - physics is more difficult to learn. Applying for this major is also because there has been a blind conquest of natural science since high school. After I got to university, I felt more and more powerless in the classroom, especially in the core courses of majors. And I feel that my situation should not be an exception in Fudan, especially in science and engineering departments, it is quite common.

So at that time, I felt very firmly that I would definitely not be able to do physics, and I would want to turn to other areas. Speaking of which, I will feel the commonality of Fudan, or Shanghai, or fast-paced cities - I feel that it will always push you on the same road (push you forward). Just like the Department of Physics, at the beginning of the freshman year, we will push us to enter the laboratory early, or try theoretical research topics; like the School of Economics and Management School, we will find an internship in finance earlier. It seems that every college has a vibe that will “catch up” freshmen to an established path, but it’s a little overwhelming when you find you’re not a good fit for that path. So I was a little confused at the time and didn't know what I wanted to do in the future.

The turning point is the epidemic. At that time, I listened to many different podcasts (podcasts), and I seemed to build a completely different world there, and learned a lot of things that I never wanted to know before, such as the financial industry, entrepreneurship, journalists... these The input prompted me to think about personal value. After a long time, I gradually realized that a major like biomedicine may not only be more in line with my values, but also give me a good income in the future. I lived a decent life, so I ended up applying for a graduate degree in biomedicine.

When it comes to postgraduate entrance exams, if you only have two options: guaranteed postgraduate study and postgraduate postgraduate examination, I would definitely recommend postgraduate postgraduate study. From my personal point of view, the various uncertainties that I face every day after choosing the postgraduate entrance examination is too exaggerated. I was very anxious at the time, and I was often worried that I would not finish my studies. But in fact, my rationality tells me that I can finish the review, and as long as I study according to the plan I made, I will definitely get a better score in the end. However, I was still very anxious, and I often went to the hospital and prescribed some anti-anxiety drugs during the preparation for the exam. In the last period before the exam, I felt that the dormitory was completely unbearable, and every day I lay down, I felt that it was impossible for me to fall asleep. In the last week or two, I went to a restaurant, and frankly speaking, the effect was not that good, and I would often suffer from insomnia. But overall, it's still holding up.

Justin | Is it because of the postgraduate entrance examination that you have become very anxious?

Julian |Maybe I have some long-term mental state issues. It's fine during the day, but the symptoms are very noticeable at night. What is the cause of chronic insomnia? Later, when I wake up in the morning, my state will be very off-line, either feeling dizzy or having a headache, and the whole person is quite bursting. Although I am just an example, what I want to express may be that in the process of postgraduate entrance examination, you may face various problems caused by uncertainty.

Douji|It seems that for those of us who have never experienced and are immersed in another path, the difficulty of postgraduate entrance examination is unimaginable?

Julian | Actually, the results are really good. There were about 10 students in our major who were not guaranteed to apply for the Department of Physics, and they all had good places in the end.

Junjie|Is the state of the postgraduate entrance examination close to excluding other things and focusing only on this one thing? In the past, when I was preparing for the language test, I was particularly prone to feeling irritated by the failure of a small goal.

Julian | For me, the irritability may not come from the frustration of preparing for the test, but from doing the same thing all the time. In this case where the efficiency is not particularly high, I feel that I mainly look at two points. The first point is the foundation laid by your undergraduate study, and the second point is the ability to self-regulate. Like me, I belong to the poor. I had some neurasthenia when I was in junior high and high school, but I never paid much attention to it, but by the time of the postgraduate entrance examination, it had developed into an anxiety disorder, to the point where I had to face it.

Douji|How to recognize and face heart disease may be worthy of our eternal concern and face.

Guan Lin | I think it is very common for people around us to have varying degrees of anxiety or mental illness.

Julian | I think whether neurasthenia or anxiety, to a large extent, comes from the invasion of uncertainty, and I may be the part of people who are relatively sensitive to uncertainty. So in the last year, I will read a lot, touch different things, make the world a little more visual for me, perceive them more concretely, and finally find a certain state of my own.

Douji|I feel that this "specific" is important, and any rough comparison of people's ability to cope with uncertainty is misguided. It seems that a quota has been established, and its scientific nature has been tested, and it can be generally applied. But behind the so-called strength and weakness, each person's specific experience and the strength to rely on are fluid and unstable, and continue to produce complex effects.

Julian | My solution is to try to find certainty in uncertainty, to establish a set of discourse systems of my own, and to form a certain logic. Of course, in this logic, there are actually uncertainties, such as which industries I will go to in the future and which city I will work in. But I will try to use a set of logic to convince myself that all kinds of uncertainties are included in a certain set of frameworks.

Douji|From my observation, for the major of literature, history and philosophy, one of the important differences between postgraduate study and postgraduate postgraduate examination is that postgraduate postgraduate examination requires you to focus on the memory and consolidation of knowledge within a certain period of time, while postgraduate postgraduate students will be earlier Enter the academic system, read more literature, participate in more academic conferences, and accumulate knowledge or network resources.

6

"University students from other provinces" and "the only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai"

Identity, dependence and self-awareness on the way to school

Guan Lin | I want to go back to the life planning and choices we talked about at the beginning. It seems that what I have heard from my family is that planning is of little use in their lives, and it is more accidental factors and the trends of the times that determine the trajectory of life. What confuses me is, is there a fundamental difference in our age compared to them? It seems that many times they are more ignorant, and our generation thinks they can choose, but is there really a difference? Are our plans for life really useful? Many times we are anxious because we think we can decide what to do; at the same time, the external environment seems to be telling us that if we don’t plan, fight and fight, we can’t go to the next stage smoothly. Is it really so? Is this just an illusion?

Julian | I have an initial idea. From a historical perspective, before the Industrial Revolution, because the entire society was not significantly improved in terms of productivity, generations lived a similar life, and there was a corresponding lack of class mobility. And technological breakthroughs have changed all of this, allowing people from the bottom to have the opportunity to share development dividends and achieve class transition. However, in the current environment, technological progress has been expected to slow down, and liquidity is also weakening, which reflects that everyone needs to "roll", and the worst case is a zero-sum game.

Douji | Julian responded to Guan Lin's confusion from a macro perspective, and I also wanted to provide a new perspective with the specific case of the family. As mentioned earlier, after coming to Shanghai to study, I will strongly feel the generational changes in my life experience. My grandparents migrated from rural areas to small cities based on survival motives, which solved the problem of "enough to eat"; my parents were able to rely on the social accumulation of the previous generation to a large extent in their early years, creating a "good life" situation , but will soon find the successor powerless. They will realize that the "fish pond" they are in is too small, so the next generation must go to a bigger city and continue to pursue a better life through mobility. This seems to be the concrete manifestation of what Xiang Biao calls "super liquidity" and "gyroscope economy".

But when I came to a big city, I would find that I hardly had any strong social ties, and the experience and knowledge of the previous two generations were mostly ineffective for me. I think this is also an important reason why many people can't get out of the "dilemma of famous students", because education has become the only capital we can rely on. Of course, this description is derived from my personal experience and may not apply to every wanderer who goes to study in a big city.

Shanchang | I totally agree with the state you describe, although we may have differences in our ideas and concepts. During the four years of undergraduate study, I will tell others with more and more pride that I am a "Northwester", "Central Plains" or "Small Towner". When I first came to Shanghai, I could see some qualities that I had never experienced in the locals, but I would not emphasize the difference between myself and them, but maintained a state of "loneliness". Later, I came to realize that there was something else behind those traits that was causing their dilemma. So I also look back at my upbringing and think about what did those educations and identities bring to me? Which ones can I rely on? Saying that you are a "Northwester" is actually establishing a different identity from "Shanghainese" or "Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai". Generally speaking, "Shanghainese" seems to be an enviable identity, while "small town youth" has some natural shortcomings. What I'm thinking about is, is there a positive aspect that can be discovered behind the identity of "small town youth" or "Northwester"?

In the petty and modern metropolis of Shanghai, I stress that I am a Northwesterner—the loess and mountains in my bones—and I gain strength from this narrative. This reminds me of the phenomenological discussion I had with my Shanghai roommate Xuanxu the other day. When we were talking about a state described in Blumenberg's "Mythology" - anxiety is a vague horizon in the distance - he said "this is exactly the same experience I grew up with". And I come from a mountain city and a triangular river valley. From small to large, as long as I raise my head in any direction, I can see the green mountains. There is only one end of the mountain and the other. There is no vague and disturbing horizon. The attitude of life is "crossing" rather than "roaming". Although such an analysis is very mysterious, it may also have its meaning as a personal experience.

Douji|On this point, my feelings are completely the same as yours. Not only did I grow up in the river valley, but in a sense, I can tell where I am from—Jingdezhen more confidently than you can, because everyone has a beautiful imagination of this place. After I had more and more opportunities to walk out of my hometown and out of the hills by myself in middle school, I gradually realized that the farther I was from home, the more I needed this kind of identification. Especially in the earliest days, I would fully show outsiders what I knew about my hometown, but of course there were some changes gradually. For example, recently I always said: "You know that the status of Jingdezhen today is also a myth formed in the process of building a nation-state. ?" As if I was trying to deconstruct a narrative, but it also meant I wanted to draw new strengths from my hometown.

Good Growth | If you are in a wilderness with a tree in front of you, your anxiety will be reduced.

Huiying | I agree with this description very much. So Guanlin, aren't you from Shanghai? What do you think about this issue?

Guan Lin | I'm not from Shanghai, I don't have a hometown (all laughs). I feel that I am actually very dependent on my own home, not my hometown (Oda: But the so-called "hometown" was originally constructed, as Shanchang and Douji said). I am very dependent on my family at a practical level. For example, I have the urge to go home after talking for a while, including when I encounter some difficulties in my life, the support of my family is great and very real. Although I don't have a hometown that can provide spiritual strength, I have a family that can provide my spiritual strength and even real help, and I can go back anytime.

Shanchang|This is the strong connection that Douji just mentioned.

Guan Lin | But I also feel that, as Shanchang just said, it will bring a lot of problems. Because when you are dependent, you don't want to go to that cruel world, and it will make you unable to have the courage to face many things alone like others, which I am very lacking. A lot of times when I come across something I should be worrying about, especially a major life choice, I might put it aside for now and divert my attention with more everyday things.

But sometimes I also hate some identification signs, such as "the only child of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai", which has a great concealment. It may be true that some people are well arranged by their families and live a very stable life, but in fact, there are many counterexamples around me. They have their own plans and are very aggressive, which is very different from the image that many people construct in the discussion. I myself would doubt, does the so-called "only daughter of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai" really exist? Or, can it really describe all aspects of a bit girl?

Julian | We have been talking about "hometown" just now, but Junjie is going to go to another "hometown" for further study, I wonder what is the reason?

Junjie | I don't think it's to say that I hate Fudan and Shanghai, nor for a specific person. In my own narrative, it may be to leave an old environment and feel in a different academic, campus and intellectual atmosphere. Unexpectedly, my undergraduate advisor agreed with this, probably because of his own academic background.

Julian | I have a friend who went from Fudan Law School to Jiaotong University Law School. I asked him why he didn't stay in Fudan. He said that it was not because Fudan Law was bad, nor because he did not want to stay in Fudan, but because he felt that after staying in one place for a long time, he might be a little slack.

Douji|This is also what I am quite afraid of, and why I initially regarded the school's insurance research as the worst choice. However, since I still have to stay for three years, I also began to try to convince myself that even within the same campus, there are still great individual differences between individuals, and my understanding of the undergraduate level is still very limited. If I have more time , I will have more opportunities to get close to this school and the hidden corners of this city.

3747, which is the total number of students enrolled in the 2018 class of Fudan University.

1242, which is the total number of exempted students in the 2022 class of Fudan University's colleges.

33.15%, this ratio is a rough calculation that does not take into account the differences in the number of non-four-year students. It is enough to rank among the top in the country, but it also reveals another fact - generally regarded as a safe and easy insurance research, it has never been Not the way out for the majority.

According to previous reports by The Paper, the rate of postgraduate research in 36 world-class universities across the country in the past three years has been as low as 12.7% and as high as 58.3%. If the comparison object is expanded to all 366 qualified colleges and universities, the gap between the guarantee rates of different colleges and universities will be even greater. And these 366 colleges and universities only account for 28.9% of the 1,265 colleges and universities in the country.

What does the "shortcut" of Baoyan mean to these students who are "selecting the best among the best"? We often hear various judgments and conclusions about macro policies, but for every student who has undergone postgraduate research, their life has just begun. To paraphrase what Julian said in the discussion - it is too early for everyone to evaluate Baoyan at this time.

Looking forward to a few years later, they will encounter this memory again in a different situation.

Readers, please tell us your story too.

(Part of the talk in this article is a pseudonym)

 Reference 1. Surging Thought Market. Interview丨Yan Yunxiang: From New Familyism to Chinese Individualization Version 2.0. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/tCJqJO-usJ29qG5JhVqbVg, 2021-08-03.
2. Selected by Finance and Economics Magazine. Insurance Research Economy in the Era of Involution: Qualifications are a fine line, and some "teacher" students are part-timers. https://new.qq.com/omn/20210529/20210529A0762B00.html, 2021-05-29.
3. Xiang Biao. Hypotheses of "Liquidity Aggregation" and "Gyroscopic Economy": Looking at the Changes of Chinese Society through "SARS" and the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic. Opening Times, No. 3, 2020.
4. Beijing News Book Review Weekly. In Chinese society, more than 80% of jobs are found through relationships? . https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/opj_9A7cnoRa1P72Ud6QBw, 2019-06-13.
5. Fudan Qing Yunge. Fudan, here I come! 2018 Undergraduate Freshman Data Revealed! . https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_0whE53i9_XgSJ3DG-QXrA, 2018-09-02.
6. The Paper. I am envious when I see other people's insurance research, but is it really so easy to guarantee research. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/IiX4BCZInAKzum XiaoyAa62 Xiaoy2Q, 2021-10-16.
Explanation of terms Exemption: The full name is "recommended outstanding fresh undergraduate graduates to be exempted from examinations for postgraduate studies". From September to October every year, the academic affairs departments of college students in various colleges and universities formulate the recommendation rules, select the recommendation list and report it to the Ministry of Education. Students who have obtained this qualification can directly obtain the admission qualification through the independent selection of the postgraduate admissions organization, and do not need to take the unified admissions examination for postgraduates in December of that year.
Guaranteed research: Borrowing the concept of "recommended delivery", in the actual process, meeting the two necessary conditions of "obtaining the qualification for exemption from the graduate school" and "getting the offer from the graduate school" is considered a successful guarantee for research.
Summer camp: The early selection system of some postgraduate admissions organizations is similar to the independent admissions in high school. Usually held in July-August every year, the candidates who participate are divided into three situations: obtaining an offer, obtaining an alternate qualification, and being eliminated.
Offer: Borrowing the concept of overseas "application-assessment system", it is the "pre-admission intention" issued by the admissions organization to the candidates.
Zhibo: The full name is "direct doctoral study", which belongs to one of the enrollment channels for doctoral students.
Consecutive Master’s and Doctoral Programs: This is a doctoral enrollment channel for master’s students who have basically completed the coursework in the second year and above. Those who pass the program will no longer apply for master’s graduation and degree, and will be directly transferred to the doctoral study stage in the next academic year.
Zhuobo Plan: Fudan University has launched a comprehensive enrollment plan for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in 2020. According to the temporary implementation measures, the shortest schooling period is 4 years.

Draft | Xu Wenkai, Chen Wei, Yi Tian Yun, Zhu Kai

Thanks to Shanchang, Douji and Julian for providing pictures for this article

WeChat editor | Yao Yinan

matters Editor | Marks

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