What should college life be like? – Easy, joyful and funny.

Unfortunately, facing heavy pressure from a flagging job market, many students are apprehensive about facing an ever more uncertain future and consequently begin to feel lost, according to a survey released on August 15.

The research, conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China, covers more than 2000 college students from big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and so forth.

Tapping into this vast network of students, the report revealed about 75 percent enjoy their lives on campus, free of restraints and filled with enthusiasm. Nevertheless, there still exist 16.7 percent "lost ones" who refer to life as boring and aimless while 8.3 percent complain about the heavier study load they must now bear.

Undoubtedly, pressure exists, and 75 percent of students feel it from the future job market, although they do not face it now.

Around half of all participants had no clear career plan after graduation and a high 41.7 percent admit they have not thought about it. Only 8.3 percent have a clear blueprint lined up and are confident of achieving their hopes and dreams.

The question "Are you a popular guy" seemed to strike a chord with participants with 58.3 percent answering positively, leaving 41.7 percent as unsure. 91.7 percent of students thought they could get along very well with others, the final 8.3 percent finding it difficult to choose a particular answer.

Independent answers such as "doing things your own way" and "forget other people's opinions" seemed to be popular among modern college students with 75 percent conforming more or less to this attitude. 25 percent alone admitted to worrying about comments from other people.

The survey also discovered a strong feeling of confidence among students when dealing with interpersonal relationships and that personalities were slightly malleable by the surrounding environment.

Opposing the feeling in "Suicide is Painless" – lyrics to the song from the famous 1970 film MASH, most students criticize the phenomenon of suicide on campus. 58.3 percent urged authorities to discover hidden social reasons behind suicide, thus helping to prevent it. 33.3 percent think students who commit suicide cannot face life's bigger challenges in the future even if they survive. Surprisingly, 8.3 percent confessed that they once wanted to kill themselves, but ultimately decided against it.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, August 19, 2006)