Is this the right way to use AI for college application selection in the college entrance examination?
In late June, the college entrance examination scores across the country will be announced one after another. However, this decisive moment does not mean the end of the competition. On the contrary, another competition, initiated by the college entrance examination application process, has just begun.
For the vast majority of examinees, the anxiety about filling out college entrance examination applications will be particularly prominent this year. With the implementation of the new college entrance examination reform nationwide, the college entrance examination application process has also reached an "epic" level of difficulty.
The so - called new college entrance examination reform replaces the original liberal arts and science division with the optional subject models of "3+3" and "3+2+1". This also means that the enrollment policies of colleges and universities and the application policies have become more complex.
This year, not only has the number of parallel applications increased to 45, but within each college - major group application, up to 6 major applications can be filled out. The increase in the number of applications means that in most provinces, the number of applications exceeds 80. For example, in Guizhou, it is 96, and in Liaoning, it even reaches 112. Before the new college entrance examination reform, the maximum number of applications in Liaoning was only 36.
Facing the complex policies, some people choose to mobilize their entire families and study the application guide painstakingly on their own.
However, this means that examinees and their parents need to understand the more complex enrollment policies and the application guide, which is often more than 300 pages thick, within the 96 - hour application period. At the same time, limited by their vision and cognition, examinees are at risk of making wrong choices.
Some people choose to spend a large amount of money and seek help from application lecturers and experts.
Take Zhang Xuefeng, a top figure in the education and training industry, as an example. The two customized college entrance examination application packages he launched in 2024 are priced at an astonishing 11,999 yuan and 17,999 yuan, almost exceeding the monthly income of most people.
Even with such high prices, many people still worship these "famous teachers" to the extreme. The fundamental reason is that filling out college entrance examination applications is essentially a cruel information war: How can one make full use of the college entrance examination scores to apply for the colleges and majors with the best reputation and employment prospects? How can one interpret the enrollment policies of each college and skillfully avoid fierce competition? How can one arrange the order of applications to ensure the examinee's stable progress?
However, when the college entrance examination application process becomes a business, the so - called "famous teachers" and "experts" have spawned a high - premium and chaotic market. Even well - known figures like Zhang Xuefeng have had frequent reputation setbacks. This year, some examinees in Henan found that there were wrong questions in the college entrance examination prediction papers sold by Zhang Xuefeng.
More importantly, for most families and examinees in the past 12 years, scores have been the majority of their lives. When faced with more than 80 choices, confusion is inevitable.
However, a trap in the application process is that, driven by the inertia of East Asian education, many families flock to popular majors collectively, ignoring the need to choose according to the examinee's character and interests.
For a long time, the high proportion of college students changing majors also indirectly confirms the discomfort caused by choosing inappropriate majors. A survey by China Youth Network in 2024 showed that the proportion of students choosing to change majors was as high as 39.2%, second only to those taking the postgraduate entrance examination.
To solve the difficulties of balancing the information gap and quickly integrating consultations, there is an answer that involuntarily comes to everyone's mind: using AI - based college entrance examination application tools.
Since the development of large - model technology in 2023, many AI - based college entrance examination application products have emerged on the market. However, at that time, limited by accuracy and the psychological barrier, few people were willing to entrust the crucial college entrance examination application process to the cold, intangible, and less - reliable AI.
This year, when we searched for the term "college entrance examination" on Baidu, we were surprised to find that the search results had become a special page that comprehensively integrated college entrance examination information and AI - based application tools. More importantly, these tools are all free.
When the AI large - model that has evolved for two years encounters the "epic" - level difficult college entrance examination application season, can it submit a beautiful application plan and break people's psychological barriers against AI? We tested the capabilities of AI in advance for everyone.
01
Multi - model comparison, exclusive big data, intelligent agent Q&A, MBTI test. Today's AI - based college entrance examination application tools are so comprehensive!
In the provinces and cities where the new "3+2+1" college entrance examination model was just implemented this year, we plan to take examinees in Hebei as an example to test the capabilities of AI - based college entrance examination application tools.
Before using AI to fill out the applications, let's first set our own identities: In the "1+2" optional subjects, we choose "Physics" and "Geography, Chemistry" respectively, and the total score of the college entrance examination is 610.
After the scores are announced, the questions that everyone is most concerned about must be: What is the approximate ranking with a score of 610? And which colleges and majors can be applied for?
Enter the "AI Application Assistant" section on the Baidu "College Entrance Examination" search page, and first enter basic information such as the college entrance examination province, optional subjects, and college entrance examination scores.
In less than 3 seconds, the assistant returns a total of 90 results divided into 4 categories: "Reachable", "Safe", "Guaranteed", which are clear at a glance.
More importantly, based on multi - dimensional data such as the lowest admission scores and rankings in the college entrance examination in the past 5 years, the AI Application Assistant also calculates the admission probability of each college and major, which is also an important decision - making basis for the application process.
However, in reality, the considerations for filling out applications are often more complex than just the score ranking. The city where one wants to develop after graduation, the environment of the college, and the employment direction are all key factors that need to be considered.
At this time, you can click on the "AI Chat about Applications" intelligent agent. After expressing your personalized needs through dialogue, the intelligent agent can give customized application suggestions.
It is worth mentioning that the large - models accessed by the "AI Chat about Applications" intelligent agent include not only the default Wenxin large - model but also large - models such as DeepSeek R1. Examinees do not need to repeatedly switch between different manufacturers' apps to compare the results, which improves the efficiency of obtaining information.
Another highlight of Baidu's AI Application Assistant is that it is equipped with Baidu's exclusive big data.
As important as the admission score line, the employment prospects of different majors are also decisive factors in the application process.
After searching for the keyword "college entrance examination" on Baidu, in the "College Entrance Examination Big Data" section of the page, you can not only search for the employment prospects of your favorite majors but also see what majors others are concerned about. For example, "Artificial Intelligence" was the most popular major in 2023 and 2024.
At the same time, by entering your favorite colleges or majors, you can also see the corresponding information introductions, graduation destinations, salary situations, employment industries, and employment regions.
This function can also well bridge the information gap caused by different resources. For example, many people mistakenly think that "Financial Engineering" is simply related to accounting, auditing, and taxation. In fact, this major has extremely high requirements for mathematical professional abilities.
On the major details page, Baidu provides a major introduction for examinees, pointing out that the "Financial Engineering" major "mainly uses computers to build mathematical models".
Interestingly, when you are faced with multiple favorite colleges and majors and cannot decide the order of applications, you can also use the comparison function in the "Employment Prospects" section to help you make objective decisions.
Although using the score line and past big data to assist in application decision - making is rational and objective, it often ignores the examinee's own character and interests.
Baidu's application section introduces a career assessment based on MBTI. After we finish 90 multiple - choice questions, Baidu can quickly generate an MBTI analysis and career recommendation report, and can also recommend corresponding colleges and majors based on the careers suitable for you.
Of course, if you are still not confident in AI and big data, Baidu's college entrance examination services also provide real - person support.
In the "College Entrance Examination Live - streaming Room" section, you can not only watch the live - streaming of college enrollment offices but also enter the live - streaming rooms of seniors and sisters for real - time consultation.
If we want to keep abreast of the enrollment information of our favorite colleges at any time, the 24/7 official college intelligent agents can also meet our needs for constant consultation. Most importantly, all this latest information, which costs tens of thousands of yuan according to the so - called college entrance examination application "experts", is free on Baidu.
02
Baidu has done a "difficult but right" thing
In the past two years, there have been many manufacturers promoting their "AI - based college entrance examination application systems", but their functions often remain at the shallow level of information organization. For examinees, these systems not only have little effect but also disperse the already precious application time among the numerous application tools on the market.
The fundamental reason is that AI - based college entrance examination application is a difficult task.
Behind "AI - based college entrance examination application" are intricate macro and micro scenarios. The data involved not only includes the frequently updated college entrance examination models, various local policies, and the admission terms of different colleges and majors but also needs to comprehensively consider the examinee's interests and preferences and the changes in the employment environment in recent years. This places extremely high requirements on the manufacturer's technical capabilities, the product's systematic planning capabilities, and humanistic qualities.
After experiencing Baidu's "AI + Big Data + Real - person" college entrance examination application "combination punch" in its entirety, a profound feeling is that Baidu is sincere in helping examinees with their applications.
The most intuitive manifestation is that Baidu has truly made all college - entrance - examination - related functions freely available to the public.
Many manufacturers' AI - based college entrance examination application systems have launched paid models in the past year, with prices ranging from 90 to 600 yuan. Or they use college entrance examination services to ultimately attract users to their membership services.
However, relying on Baidu App, a national - level search entry, whether using the AI Application Assistant and big - data tools for information retrieval and organization or entering the live - streaming room to communicate with real - person experts, college teachers, seniors, and sisters, there is no pay - wall along the way.
Secondly, it is unrealistic to change the perception of examinees and their parents and make them fully accept AI - based college entrance examination application tools at present.
Baidu has also fully considered this psychology. Therefore, in the college - entrance - examination - related services provided by Baidu, rich real - person resources have been introduced, including online Q&A from more than 20,000 Tieba seniors and sisters, online live - streaming from more than 500 college enrollment offices, and more than 2,000 authoritative college intelligent agents. In this way, examinees and their parents can cross - verify information and receive more authoritative and up - to - date news.
It can be said that achieving any of the above is not an easy task. However, Baidu's confidence comes from its technical strength, data resources, and its decades - long concept of inclusiveness.
As a manufacturer with deployments