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After Gaokao rankings are released, do not jump straight to "Which major suits me?" First rule out options that fail eligibility requirements, conflict with your willingness to study the core curriculum, or rest only on popularity. Then combine RIASEC results with course fit to create three working lists: keep, verify, and set aside.
By: Fermat Institute
Published: Aug 3, 2026
Updated: Aug 3, 2026
13 min read
Human review completed · Aug 3, 2026When should I use this article?
Use this article when you want to connect public content with tests, personality profiles, or career guidance from a single starting point.
Does this replace formal judgment?
No. It offers public explanation and action cues, but does not replace medical, legal, or professional judgment.
Content category
职业决策
Return to the article hub to keep expanding the public reading chain.
Continue from the article into a more structured topic entry surface.
If you want to turn reading into self-measurement, continue into an assessment.
This article is not "AI helping you choose a major." It's a practical, actionable major elimination list that you can immediately implement after receiving your scores.
The Ministry of Education announced that the 2026 Gaokao Cloud Consultation Week would run on the Sunshine Gaokao information platform from June 22 through June 28. Treat that platform, provincial examination authorities, university admissions regulations, subject requirements, and official application systems as the primary sources for current admissions information.
The Ministry of Education also published the Undergraduate Major Catalogue (2026), including new entries such as embodied intelligence and brain-machine science and technology. A newly listed major is still a prompt to examine course content, training conditions, and current institutional requirements; it is not evidence that the major will suit a particular student.
Newness does not determine suitability, popularity does not determine value, and an income narrative does not guarantee long-term viability. In an information-heavy application season, first remove options that do not meet your real constraints instead of collecting more major names.
Temporarily remove these six categories from the main shortlist:
| Categories of majors to remove first | Why remove them first | Basis for judgment | Mistakes not to make |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Eligibility requirements are not met | If you are ineligible for a major, interest alone cannot make it a viable application option | Subject-combination requirements, physical examination restrictions, single subject requirements, enrollment plans, batch rules | Do not spend hours researching a major before checking eligibility |
| 2. Persistent aversion to core courses | The name may appeal to you, but the curriculum shapes the four-year experience | Curriculum plan, core courses, graduation requirements, assignment form | Only look at the name of the major, not the course |
| 3. I only like the name but don’t know what to study | The imagination brought by the name often deviates from the real training | Freshman and sophomore courses, experiments/practical training/papers/programming/presentation requirements | Treat “sounding advanced” as suitable |
| 4. Chosen only because it is popular, new, or associated with high pay | Popular directions usually also mean thresholds, competition and changes | Subject foundation, school resources, city opportunities, industry fluctuations | Treat trends as a guarantee |
| 5. Clear conflict with family constraints | An application must account for cost and what the family can realistically sustain, not interest alone | Tuition fees, city, accommodation, transportation, family support, risks of repeating/changing majors | Treating realistic constraints as "not idealistic enough" |
| 6. No practical way to verify the choice | Choices that cannot be verified are easily inflated by imagination | Open classes, course syllabus, senior interviews, project samples, internship tasks | Make decisions based only on short videos and relatives’ suggestions |
“Temporarily exclude” is reversible. Reconsider an option when new official information or credible task evidence becomes available.
You need an updateable evidence table, not a perfect answer.
| Major name | Eligibility: rank, subject combination, enrollment plan, medical-examination rules, and single-subject requirements | What makes the name attractive | Potential core-course deal-breaker | RIASEC corresponding tasks | Issues that need to be verified | Current status | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: Data Science | Whether the ranking is within the scope of discussion; whether physics/mathematics foundation is required | "Data", "AI", "wide range of employment" | Advanced mathematics, linear algebra, probability and statistics, programming, modeling | Investigative (I), Conventional (C), and partly Realistic (R) | Can I accept long-term mathematics and coding training? | To be verified | Look at the curriculum plan and try a Python/statistics open class |
| Example: Psychology | Is there any subject-combination requirement restriction; does the school favor teacher education, medicine, or science | "Understanding people" and "feeling helpful" | Statistics, experimental psychology, measurement, paper reading | Social (S) and Investigative (I) | Do I like to study people, or just chat? | To be verified | Check core courses and interview undergraduate psychology students |
| Example: Journalism and Communication | Is the enrollment plan and school platform sufficient | "Expression", "Media" and "Content" | News writing, communication theory, data communication, interviews, internships | Artistic (A), Social (S), and Enterprising (E) | Can I accept open feedback and high-paced output? | To be verified | See student works and internship requirements |
| Example: Mechanical/Automation | Subject-combination requirement, physical examination, school engineering platform | "Engineering", "Manufacturing", "Intelligence" | Mechanics, circuits, control, drawing, experiments, engineering projects | Realistic (R) and Investigative (I) | Am I willing to be exposed to specific systems and engineering constraints? | Needs verification | Check experimental courses and graduation projects |
| Example: Business Administration | Is it within the optional major group | "General", "Management", "Business" | Accounting, operations, organization, market, case analysis | Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), and Social (S) | Do I want to study management, or do I simply not know what to choose for the time being? | To be verified | Check the course structure and compare accounting/marketing/information management directions |
Apply three rules:
Interest and personality assessments begin only after these conditions are checked. They cannot create eligibility where the official rules do not.
| Question | What to check first | What to do if not satisfied | What can the test do here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is the ranking within the discussion range? | The official score-to-rank table, admissions from previous years, changes in this year’s plans | Do not enter the main list, only put it in the observation area | Basically cannot help |
| Does your subject combination meet the requirements? | School admissions regulations, subject-combination requirements, major group requirements | Exclude the option if the requirement is not met | Cannot be bypassed |
| Are there any physical examination/single subject restrictions? | Admission regulations, physical examination requirements, special major instructions | If not met, exclude or be cautious | Cannot replace official requirements |
| Is the enrollment plan too small? | This year’s enrollment plan, major composition | Mark risks, do not need to rule them out immediately | Can only assist in discussing interests |
| Are the family constraints manageable? | City, cost, accommodation, transportation, risk tolerance | Mark for verification or exclusion | Not a substitute for family decision-making |
If you need a refresher on the model, read What Is the RIASEC Career Interest Assessment?. In this checklist, use RIASEC only to form task questions:
| RIASEC Signals of Interest | Convert to Major Verification Questions | What to Check | Safer Conclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Realistic (R) | Does this major have specific systems, equipment, experiments, engineering, or field tasks? | Experimental courses, practical training courses, graduation projects, project-based courses | Prioritize verifying the specific tasks involved |
| Investigative (I) | Does this major require analysis, modeling, reasoning, experimentation, or data processing? | Mathematics/Statistics/Thesis/Experimental Requirements | See if you are willing to engage in long-term abstract training |
| Artistic (A) | Does this major have expression, design, content, works, or open questions? | Portfolio requirements, presentation-based classes, and creative assignments | It does not mean that you can only choose art |
| Social (S) | Does this major involve sustained work with people through teaching, service, communication, or support? | Who is served in practice, the communication load, and the emotional labor involved | See whether the "people-facing work" is real and acceptable |
| Enterprising (E) | Does this major involve organizing resources, persuading others, advancing projects, and tracking results? | Case classes, competitions, presentations, business projects | Does not necessarily mean studying business |
| Conventional (C) | Does this profession value process, data, discipline, accuracy, and order? | Accounting, auditing, statistics, data governance, documentation requirements | See if you are willing to handle structured tasks |
For each retained major, write two tasks you want to try and two you may resist. Then verify them with coursework, project descriptions, interviews, or a small task.
For a model overview, read What Is the MBTI Personality Test?. If MBTI and RIASEC appear inconsistent, use What to Do When MBTI and RIASEC Results Disagree to turn the difference into verification questions. MBTI-style preferences can help you compare study approaches, not majors:
| MBTI Clues | How to Use in Major Screening | What Not to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Information processing preferences | Determine whether you are more likely to learn from cases, data, concepts, or system frameworks | Infer that a given type "should study" a particular major |
| Decision-making preferences | Help you identify whether you value logic, impact, value or executability when making trade-offs | Predict future achievements |
| Communication preferences | Evaluate whether a large number of group assignments, presentations, and discussion sessions may be draining on you | Determine the level of social skills |
| Structural preferences | Observe whether you can adapt to open projects, ambiguous tasks and uncertain deadlines | Judge self-discipline or ability |
Turn the answers into reversible study experiments. Do not use a type to claim that someone has or lacks the ability for medicine, engineering, law, communication, or any other major.
For each program, inspect:
| Information to check | What to review | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum plan | Four-year course structure, credit distribution, practical requirements | The name is very new, but the courses and resources are very vague |
| Core courses | Main courses from freshman to junior year | A large share of the core curriculum is something you would persistently resist |
| Assignment form | Exams, papers, experiments, code, presentations, group projects | A very high proportion of tasks you hate |
| School resources | Laboratories, internship bases, industry cooperation, teacher orientation | A popular-sounding major with weak supporting resources |
| Paths to further education/employment | Common destinations, job tasks, and industry changes | Salary rankings are visible, but the actual work is not |
The same major name can represent different training at different institutions. Use the target program’s official curriculum.
The goal is not to name one perfect major immediately. It is to reduce an unmanageable list into a transparent decision set.
| Status | Criteria | What do you do next |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | Eligibility requirements can be discussed; core courses are acceptable; RIASEC tasks are interesting; realistic constraints can be tolerated | Compare application tiers and institutions |
| To be verified | Eligibility requirements can be discussed, but courses, tasks or realistic constraints are uncertain | Check the curriculum plan, ask seniors, try open classes or projects |
| Temporarily excluded | Eligibility requirements are not met; core courses are resisted for a long time; only the name is attractive; cannot be verified | Removed from the main list unless new evidence is obtained later |
Do not settle the dispute by choosing a winner. Assign an evidence task to each disputed claim.
| Conflict situation | What it may mean | How not to argue | More effective verification actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parents recommend a stable major, but your interests tend to be creative/research | Parents focus on risks, you focus on task interests | "You don't understand me" / "You are too idealistic" | Write stability, courses, employment paths, and interesting tasks in the table |
| You like popular majors, but the red lines in the courses are obvious | What you like is narrative, not necessarily the training process | "Popular majors have a future" | Look at the core courses and try an introductory course |
| The Holland result supports a certain direction, but the ranking range does not | Interest is established, but the current application conditions may not support it | "The test said I am suitable" | Explore adjacent majors, minors, official major-transfer options, and postgraduate pathways |
| MBTI preferences are inconsistent with major tasks | This is just a reminder at the level of learning/communication preferences | "This type cannot learn this" | See if the course format and real assignments are adaptable |
| What's wrong | Why it's dangerous | What's safer |
|---|---|---|
| Select only by popular majors | Popularity does not mean suitable, nor does it mean that your school has strong resources | Check courses, school resources and real job tasks |
| Choose only from parents' recommendations | May ignore the long-term demands of studying the subject | Write the risks that parents care about into verifiable conditions |
| Select only by MBTI | MBTI is not a major recommendation tool | Only use it to supplement learning and decision-making preferences |
| Select only based on Holland results | RIASEC does not judge admissions, abilities, or employment | Convert results into task verification questions |
| Only look at the employment salary list | Income is affected by city, school, ability, and industry cycle | Check courses, internships, employment directions and job tasks |
| Don’t look at the course content | You may spend four years learning content that you have resisted for a long time | Look at the curriculum plan and core courses |
| Don’t look at the subject-combination requirements | You may not be able to apply at all | Check the official admissions regulations and subject-combination requirements first |
| No reality verification | It is easy to submit application preferences based on an imagined version of the major | Complete at least one form of verification: an open class, interview, project, or task sample |
If your current major pool is still quite disorganized, we recommend taking this path:
The value of these tools is not to provide a definitive "answer," but to transform vague anxieties into specific, verifiable questions. For guidance on the appropriate boundaries of use for these tools, refer to Method Boundaries and Common Misconceptions. Before taking any assessment, you may also review the Data and Privacy Statement.
Hard criteria first: ranking, subject requirements, admission quotas, batch, physical examination requirements, and single-subject limits. Only majors that meet these hard criteria should be considered further for course study, personal interests, and real-world validation.
Start by narrowing down a discussion-worthy range using rank and enrollment plans, then eliminate majors that don't align with subject-combination requirements, have restrictions, involve long-term course resistance, are only appealing due to name, clearly conflict with real-world constraints, or cannot be verified. Do not initially sort all majors by interest tests.
It can help, but it does not determine outcomes. RIASEC is better suited to help you observe which tasks and environments you are willing to engage with over the long term, and then translate those results into major verification questions. It cannot predict admission, employment, salary, or career success.
MBTI can assist in understanding learning styles, communication preferences, and decision-making tendencies, but is not suitable for directly recommending majors. Treat MBTI as a language for describing preferences; do not equate the 16 personality types with a major-matching chart.
Not necessarily. A program's novelty or popularity indicates only that it warrants attention; neither means that it is necessarily worth enrolling in. You need to assess whether the school offers courses, faculty, laboratory facilities, practical resources, and pathways for employment or further education.
Don't argue over who's right. Include in the form the parents' concerns about stability, city, cost, and employment risks; also include the interest tasks suggested by the tests. Then verify through courses, interviews, open lectures, and real-world constraints.
If eligibility requirements are not met, there is long-term resistance to core courses, a preference for names over substance, reliance on popular narratives alone, clear family reality conflicts, or no verifiable pathway, it can be temporarily excluded.
No. FermatMind is not an official college application system, does not predict admission outcomes, and does not replace the Provincial Examination Authority, Sunshine Gaokao, school admission rules, subject requirements, or the official application platform. FermatMind's test is only suitable for self-awareness and exploring hypothetical scenarios.