Until this spring, Weng Yujia was studying management because of its supposed job prospects. At the same university in Shanghai, Lin Yuanhao studied international relations and public affairs, presented as the best option based on her college entrance exam score. 

Today, both now study Chinese language and literature.

Within weeks of starting university, Weng had soured on management and its math- and science-heavy coursework. “I just plain disliked” many required classes, she said, adding that she struggled to see some of their educational value.

Lin had wanted to study Chinese language and literature from the start, but her college entrance exam score fell short of the cutoff. By the time she switched majors, a sixth of the roughly 120 students enrolled in her international relations course had moved to other fields, mostly economics, management, or law.

“Changing majors is like giving students a second chance to choose,” she told Sixth Tone.

Across China, more students are making that choice as universities give them greater freedom to reconsider majors they picked under pressure from college entrance exams, parental expectations, or worries about future employment.

For years, changing majors was difficult, with universities limiting transfers or requiring students to meet strict grade and class-rank thresholds. It wasn’t until 2005 that, for the first time at the national level, the Ministry of Education issued a new regulation allowing students to change majors if their universities agreed. 

National rules were further loosened in 2017, when students with an “interest or particular strength in another field” were explicitly allowed to apply for transfers.

This June, several schools nationwide eased transfer caps and academic requirements, while Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, in the southwestern Sichuan province, has allowed 2026 entrants to earn a degree in a different major by taking its required courses. At Wuhan University, in central China’s Hubei province, more than 600 undergraduates switched majors in 2025 and over 70% of cross-college applications were approved, a record high.

As transfers become more common, more students will have to decide whether starting over is worth the trade-offs. Changing course can still mean entrance exams, lost credits, extra years of study, and difficult conversations with parents, all before they know whether the new major will prove a better fit.

Take two 

On her college applications, Weng initially ranked management as her top major — a factor universities consider alongside cutoff scores when granting admission — because of its solid job prospects. In contrast, Lin listed Chinese language and literature as her top choice, but her score on China’s national college entrance exam, the gaokao, did not meet the cutoff.

At Weng and Lin’s university, transfer requirements differ by department. The Chinese department, which both transferred into, weighs GPA at a relatively high 70%, alongside an admissions interview, partially in English, with department faculty at 30%. To prepare for the transfer, Lin also self-studied traditional Chinese characters and took courses in the Chinese department. 

After the two were notified of their own transfer acceptances this spring, they watched as others in their circles followed the trend. Several of Weng’s friends at other Chinese schools changed majors: one switched from French to chemistry, while another went from civil engineering to biological sciences. 

Chen, a 22-year-old tourism management major at Jiaying University, in the southern Guangdong province, initially majored in English education because her parents told her to.

But by the end of her first semester, she felt the major was a bad fit. “I don’t like teaching, and I’m not interested in psychology or education either,” she said.

She decided to transfer to tourism management after a friend in the department told her about it. Chen felt the major would fit her personality: describing herself as “outgoing” and “drawn to challenges,” she said her dream is to travel the world. 

She consulted others who had transferred to tourism management about the GPA requirement and the pressure to catch up on the curriculum. Some told her the major was a bad choice, while others were incredulous as to why she’d want to transfer. Chen’s parents were also initially opposed, but later came around after she explained her rationale.

To transfer majors, Chen had to take an entrance exam and undergo an interview with department faculty — both of which she passed. Now a senior in the tourism management department, she has no regrets and is preparing to take the entrance exam to pursue a master’s in the same field. 

A philosophy faculty member involved in major transfers at a top Shanghai university, who asked to remain anonymous, sees the trend growing because students want to have more choices. 

He said he supports universities offering major transfers, noting that gaokao score cutoffs keep students out of fields that might suit them and that they know what they like and what fits them better after taking courses in college. 

However, he cautioned that transferring majors is not a decision to be taken lightly. “Students shouldn’t see it as a way to obtain better prospects or a better way out,” he said. “That leads them to (transfer majors) for utilitarian reasons rather than their own ideas.”

Long road

But switching majors can come with its own set of challenges. 

Wu Wenjun, another student in Shanghai, was accepted as a transfer student from history into her dream major, law — something she hadn’t gotten into originally due to her gaokao score. The law school had a steep requirement, however: to earn her degree, Wu would have to drop down a grade and spend four years on top of the year she had already completed as a history major.

Wu was prepared to make that time sacrifice — even if it meant future employers might assume she had delayed graduation and look down on her application, a common phenomenon in China. If the transfer fell through, she was also prepared to delay graduation by a year to finish her original history degree, since she had taken only law by that point.

Now a senior in law school, Wu said she sometimes struggles with how much she has to memorize. She also said she finds law especially competitive. And when she switched majors as a sophomore, Wu felt she trailed her classmates, many of whom had already begun interning at prestigious law firms.

But being a transfer student has had upsides too. Wu said the five-year graduation requirement brought unexpected benefits, including lighter course loads each term, since she had already completed various general graduation requirements during her first year as a history student. 

Wu has also found internship interviewers to be fairly understanding once they learned she had transferred rather than delayed graduation. She notes that personal advantages also matter greatly to law firms, not just how long it took to graduate. Her English proficiency, for example, gives her an edge at foreign firms. “In law, you don’t have to stand at the top of the pyramid and be number one to find a job,” Wu said.

The Shanghai philosophy instructor noted that students who transfer majors often have one more year of experience than their peers, richer résumés, and greater freedom in course arrangements.

He observed that many students who transfer into philosophy are more enthusiastic and motivated than students who have been in the program longer. He attributed this to transfer students’ “second choice” feeling like a “rebirth” in learning, and they cherish their opportunities more.

Looking back, Wu said her transfer gave her more room for error, but added that as another one-time option, it also carries risk. 

She hopes the transfer process will eventually look different: students take courses in a certain major, discover they are suited to or interested in it, and then decide to transfer. “It’s best to go with what suits you and what you like,” she said.

Additional reporting: Xu Ruishuo; editors: Marianne Gunnarsson and Apurva.

(Header image: Visuals from VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)