Every year some students lose the opportunity to enter colleges because of their desire to only gain entry to prestigious universities. While students are often criticized for holding such wrong ideas, the Beijing News carries a commentary saying that this phenomenon has deep social groundings.

The paper says that students form such ideas because parents and teachers are constantly passing to them their desire for prestigious universities. In schools, teachers usually display rosters of model students who have entered famous universities to encourage their students to follow suit.

The paper also points out that the unbalanced development between universities could also harbor students' improper attitudes towards college studies. While students are encouraged to apply for colleges based on their own interests, colleges should also be able to compete in a free and fair manner. Colleges should be allowed to set their own academic standards to eliminate unqualified students, while students should also be allowed to transfer between different colleges. In this way, students may not get infatuated with prestigious universities when they work on college applications.

Meanwhile, the paper says healthy interaction between colleges and the society should be fostered. If prejudices could be eliminated against graduates from non-famous universities, students would not put too much emphasis on the brands of universities, and instead could focus more on their studies.