Liu was tired but excited. He said that he was eager to ask an upperclassman if it was possible to finish his courses in three years and graduate a year ahead of time.

It is the start of college life. But some freshmen, instead of getting lost in the mysteries and curiosity of that new life, are already mapping out their future, obsessed with their studies even before they have finished registration.

Liu plans to take the TOEFL in the first year, the GRE the second year, and finish the full four-year course load in the third year.

After that, he will get down to the serious business of applying for a master's degree program at Princeton University.

When he was a senior in high school, Liu took part in an international science exchange program at Sydney University.

It was there that he got interested in artificial intelligence and quantitative computing.

The lecture was given by a professor from Princeton. From that time on, he had the idea of studying at Princeton.

"It won't be easy to achieve my goal, I have to get ready now," Liu explained simply.

Gao Liang is from Beijing. He was admitted to Peking University's law department and he too has a detailed, concrete plan for future action.

Fast Track

He said he intends to take a course in economics in addition to law the second year, and the graduate school admission exam his fourth year.

"I heard that college study is sort of self-directed learning. There is no one telling you what to do or how to do it. You must plan your study with clear aims, now," he said quickly.

Wu Minsheng, the dean of studies at Tsinghua University has his own ideas about this phenomenon: "Freshmen who can take the initiative to arrange their four years of college study now look far ahead and aim high.

But some students, without a basic plan for college work, may waste precious time. Students who have a sense of planning at the beginning have the opportunity to get a leg up in their careers."

However, there are still a lot of students who do not have any plan and, in fact, may not have a clue as to what they want to do.

Cao Bei, a freshman at the University of International Business and Economics who is majoring in finance, believes that it is unnecessary for newcomers to be concerned about the future right now.

"Things are constantly changing. What I need to do now is just get involved in the color of college life, attend classes, and listen carefully. Things will eventually sort themselves out," she concluded.

Gao's opinion was seconded by Mei Guoqing, a third-year Beida student in physiology.

"It's too early for freshmen to plan college life now. They should first just get familiar with study. After a semester's experience, they may get a clear idea for the next year," Mei said.

(China Daily, HK Edition, September 5, 2002)