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In the eyes of many people, the art entrance exam is a shortcut to getting into university. Every year, on average, 1 out of every 10 candidates chooses to take the arts exam. In fact, the art entrance exams are not easy; the competition is fiercer than that in the regular college entrance exams, and the acceptance rate is also lower than that of the regular exams. Moreover, it is expensive and difficult to find employment. The teacher advised candidates to be cautious when choosing an art exam route; they should not focus solely on academic credentials. It is important to consider one’s interests as well as future career prospects. 1 refers to pursuing a bachelor’s degree; many candidates decide to learn an artistic skill on the spot. The art exams are seen by many students with modest academic scores as a shortcut to getting into good universities. Among art exam candidates, many are those who started pursuing this path later in life. In fact, there have always been a large number of \"crash course candidates\" in art exams; they engage in intensive training on a short notice, a few months before the exam, receiving what amounts to exam-oriented education that lasts from two to three months to as long as half a year, before stepping into the examination room. Such candidates are mostly found in fields such as fine arts, broadcasting and hosting, and film directing. Some even joke that, \"one is an ordinary person in the 11th grade, but becomes an ‘artist’ in the 12th grade.\" “To be honest, the main goal is to use the art exam as a way to make up for weaknesses in academic subjects; it’s like finding a roundabout way to achieve the goal. ”Father Liu Junwei said that the main reason for choosing the artistic exam route for his daughter was that her scores in academic subjects could be lower. Approximately 10% of art exam candidates are involved in the arts; in some liberal arts classes, one-third of the students are engaged in artistic pursuits. Over the past decade, many people have chosen to pursue a career through art exams. In 2009, the number of art candidates in our province exceeded 100,000 for the first time, and this figure rose to 104,592 in 2010. In the following years, the number of students taking the art entrance exams continued to decline, but this was not due to a decrease in interest in art exams itself, rather it was because the total number of applicants for the general college entrance exam decreased. In our province, art students have always accounted for about 10% of the general category of candidates. In 2014, the number of applicants for the college entrance examination in Henan was 724,000, of whom 654,000 were candidates for regular programs, while 80,853 applied for art programs. Candidates pursuing art studies accounted for 12.4% of those in regular programs; on average, at least one candidate from the regular program groups had an interest in art. In 2016, there were still many candidates in Henan who took the art entrance exams. This year, the number of applicants who met the requirements for the 9 different art-related programs across the province reached 83,076 (it’s possible that a single candidate applied for two art programs and passed the requirements for both). “I’m in the arts class; there are 62 students in total, and about 20 of them plan to take the entrance exams for art programs. ”Li Le (a pseudonym), a candidate currently attending training in broadcasting and hosting, said that students who don’t perform very well in the liberal arts classes prefer to take part in the artistic entrance exams. Nationwide, art exams have been quite popular over the years. Data shows that between 2002 and 2013, the number of candidates taking art exams across the country increased from 32,000 to nearly 1 million; over those 10 years, the number of such candidates rose by almost 970,000, representing a growth of more than 30 times. In 2013, there were 9.12 million candidates taking the national college entrance examination, with nearly 1 million of them being art students, accounting for about 10% of all candidates. 3. The cost of art exams is high; over 20,000 yuan was spent in 8 months. It is now widely recognized that art exams are expensive. Last year, Ms. Liu’s daughter took part in the art entrance exams, and it cost over 20,000 yuan in 8 months. Her daughter is studying broadcasting and hosting; since her grades in academic subjects weren’t very high, she decided to take the artistic entrance exams during the summer vacation of her sophomore year. The cost of art exam training for half a year was 15,000 yuan; later, a tutor was hired for one-on-one instruction at a rate of 200 yuan per hour. Adding in expenses such as transportation and accommodation for traveling to take the exams, the total cost came to around 20,000 yuan. Ms. Liu’s daughter does not incur the highest expenses; some students who study music or performance need to go to Beijing or Shanghai for training, with each session costing several thousand yuan, or even tens of thousands of yuan. If private tutoring is hired, the costs are even higher, and it is common to spend 100,000 yuan per year on such expenses. Not only are art exam training courses expensive, but the tuition fees at art schools are also quite high compared to those at regular universities. Tuition fees for general art programs usually exceed 10,000 yuan; the tuition at art colleges ranges from 10,000 to 15,000 yuan per year. Tuition fees for flight attendant and fashion modeling programs range from 15,000 to 20,000 yuan per year, while those for music and acting programs are also above 15,000 yuan. “Excluding living expenses, the tuition fee is 15,000 yuan per year; adding costs for clothing and other items, the total expenditure over 4 years is around 70,000 yuan. ”Chen Li said that her brother studied computer science within the province, with tuition fees of around 4,000 yuan per year. 4. The art exams are not easy; the acceptance rate is even lower than that for regular admissions. Many people choose to take these art exams because they think they are relatively easier. In fact, the competition in the art entrance exams is no less fierce than that in the regular college entrance exams; in some cases, it’s even more intense. According to statistics, the admission rate for art-related exams across the province in 2009 was around 54.8%, while the admission rate for regular college entrance exams was 58%. Thus, the admission rate for art-related exams was 3.2 percentage points lower than the overall admission rate for college entrance exams. In 2014, 19,270 students were admitted to undergraduate programs in the art category under category A, while 9,313 were admitted under category B. In total, 28,583 undergraduates were admitted to art-related programs. The number of applicants for art programs was 80,853; thus, the acceptance rate for undergraduate programs in the art category was 35.35%, and the overall acceptance rate for art programs was 56.58%. In 2014, there were 654,159 candidates in the general category in our province, of whom 50,005 were admitted to universities; 288,273 of them were admitted to undergraduate programs. Based on these figures, the admission rate for the college entrance examination in our province in 2014 was 77.5%, while the admission rate for undergraduate programs was 44%. In comparison, the admission rate for regular undergraduate programs is nearly 9 percentage points higher than that for art-related undergraduate programs, while the overall admission rate in our province is more than 20 percentage points higher than that for art-related programs. It is even more difficult if one wants to get into a popular art school. According to statistics, in 2016, the number of applicants to the Beijing Film Academy, the Central Academy of Drama, and the Shanghai Theatre Academy was 30,400, 29,500, and 22,000 respectively. For the most popular acting programs, the competition ratios were 170:1, 136:1, and 200:1 respectively. 5. The excessive expansion of art programs has led to difficulties in finding employment. According to statistics, 70% of graduates from the acting departments at various art schools across the country change their careers due to unsatisfactory job prospects. The employment rate for undergraduate art graduates six months after graduation is lower than the national average. Among the 15 undergraduate majors with low national employment rates listed by the Ministry of Education in 2014, six were art-related majors, namely: animation, radio and television programming, acting, art design, broadcasting and hosting, and music performance. A responsible official from the admissions and employment office of a university in the province said that most universities in China now offer art-related programs, and the number of students enrolled in these programs is increasing year by year; as a result, the market’s demand for such professionals has reached saturation. According to statistics, from 2002 to 2013, the number of universities in China that offered art-related programs increased from 597 to 1,679. The growth momentum in art-related majors has continued unabated; alone in 2014 and 2015, Chinese universities added a total of 416 new programs in the field of art. These newly added art programs are mostly found in colleges and universities of lower tier, which have relatively lower requirements regarding college entrance exam scores, but high tuition fees. “The introduction of a large number of art-related programs and the expansion of enrollment make it difficult to ensure an adequate supply of teaching staff and high-quality education; as a result, it is also hard to guarantee the standard of graduates. This is one of the reasons why the employment rate for some art-related majors is low. ”The head of the Admissions and Employment Office said. 6. Don’t focus solely on diplomas; when choosing an artistic exam path, take interests and employment prospects into account as well. Many people opt for artistic exams because art majors require lower standards in academic performance. In recent years, the education authorities have been raising the minimum score requirements for academic tests in the admission process for art-related programs. For undergraduate programs in fine arts, this minimum score must be no less than 70% of the scores required of students in regular liberal arts and science programs in the same admission batch ； The score for the music major must be no less than 65%. In addition, some universities have strengthened their assessments of the cultural knowledge of art students, with certain programs even using such cultural scores as an important criterion for admission. The art exam is not a shortcut, and this path is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. “Many people take the art entrance exams simply to get into a better university and obtain a good diploma, without thinking about their future employment. When choosing an art exam path, one must think in the long term, taking into account both interests and future employment prospects. ”Chen Lin said that she is just an example – at that time, she only thought about getting into a good university and didn’t consider employment. Wu Jian, the deputy dean of the Zhengzhou University School of Fine Arts, said in an interview with a reporter from Henan Business Daily that if a child has no interest in the art form they are studying and does not intend to pursue a career in it in the future, choosing such a major merely to attend a better university and obtain a good degree requires careful consideration. Having taught art for decades, he has observed that some students, although they obtain a diploma, are unable to succeed in their professional field and are forced to change careers, which is equivalent to taking a detour. “One must be very careful when choosing an art exam pathway; not only should one consider their own interests and hobbies as well as their family’s financial situation, but most importantly, they need to take into account their future career goals and the employment prospects of that field. “Chen Lin said. For those who want to pursue a career in the arts through competitive exams, when should they start preparing? \"For children who truly want to study art, it’s certainly better to start preparing early; they should begin attending training courses in specialized skills from the second semester of their senior year of high school. These training sessions can take place on weekends and holidays, so they don’t have much impact on their studies in general subjects.\" ”Chen Lin said that it’s best to start no later than the second year of high school, as this increases the chances of getting into a good school; waiting until the third year to cram at the last minute is too late. In her view, fields such as fine arts and music attract a large number of applicants; it’s difficult to get into a good school by relying on last-minute training. On the other hand, certain specialties like fashion modeling and flight attendant training have high requirements regarding a student’s physical appearance and other tangible qualities, so more last-minute training is needed in these cases.