Lin Yuzhé, who was admitted to Hong Kong City University of Science and Technology this year and graduated from Jianguo High School with a full scholarship, had already done research on his future path and attended university expos in sophomore year, with clear goals in mind.

He mentioned having conversations with NTU students and felt their abilities fell short of his expectations. For instance, the reading lists they discussed in their first and second years—covering economics, stocks, and markets—he had already read. This led him to believe that Taiwan's universities don't cultivate unique individual abilities, which is why he chose to go to Hong Kong to broaden his horizons.

Many top-tier high school students like Lin Yuzhé share this mindset. After visiting Hong Kong themselves, they discovered that Hong Kong schools emphasize practical skills over theory, have a more pragmatic character, are more proactive and daring in pursuing their goals compared to Taiwan. Taiwanese students, by contrast, seem like obedient rule-followers—not that they don't dare to pursue opportunities, but relatively speaking, they appear more reserved.

According to Business Today statistics, in the past five years, more than 50% of high school students have applied to overseas universities. Just this year alone, when the Unified College Entrance Exam results were released, 120 Jianguo High School graduates were heading abroad to study. Of these, 13 went to University of Hong Kong, 15 to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and as many as 23 to City University of Hong Kong. Combined with mainland cities like Beijing and Shanghai, 77 students went to the two regions—accounting for 64% of the total going abroad. Even Taipei First High School and Attached High School showed similar patterns: 27 Taipei First High School students went to Hong Kong and mainland (48% of their total), and Attached High School had 24 students going to Hong Kong and mainland (55% of their total). These numbers were zero just two years ago.

Many might wonder: with Hong Kong's high cost of living and tuition, how can students without money afford to study there? But to attract top talent, universities across the three regions have already prepared various measures, including tuition fee waivers and full scholarships with generous subsidies. This allows Taiwanese students to study there without bearing school costs, and even receive living expenses to sustain themselves locally—a clear demonstration of determination to recruit top talent.

These benefits are genuine support for families without sufficient resources to fund their children's education. However, are students and living environments in Hong Kong and mainland China really so different from Taiwan?

Students from Hong Kong and mainland China are proactive and daring in pursuing what they want in life. For Taiwanese students, because we're accustomed to following our parents' guidance and consulting others' opinions when making decisions, choosing university majors based on teachers' recommendations, we've been taught from childhood to simply study hard and find a job. To us, the job market is limited to Taiwan, not international. Therefore, the personality and environmental differences between students from the two regions are perhaps the hardest to adapt to.

Many Hong Kong and mainland students are extremely proactive and hardworking in their studies and club activities. They compete for front-row seats in class and bombard professors with questions after class. A friend who exchanged at Tsing Hua told me that at 9 PM, the self-study halls are always packed—and this is the case from day one of the semester, not just before midterms and finals.

Moreover, in club activities, second-year students organize events—but not the small activities Taiwanese students know of, like freshman welcoming parties or evening galas. Rather, they organize international exchange activities.

Silk Road study tours are planned by second-year students.

A Tsing Hua student once told me that during an exchange to mainland China, he participated in a 14-day Silk Road study tour. All the accommodation, travel itineraries, and rich exchange activities were arranged and planned by a second-year student from Lanzhou University.

The activity had nearly 60 student participants from more than a dozen universities with different personalities and backgrounds. Everything—from accommodation and transportation to scenic spot arrangements—was managed and organized by this student without any problems. This impressed everyone greatly. Even this already outstanding Tsing Hua student reflected critically on himself: "What kind of university life have I wasted?"

Getting out there is how you realize how much you lack.

On Hong Kong and mainland campuses, international student faces are more diverse. Hong Kong especially, as a financial hub, attracts many students from Europe and America for short- or long-term academic exchanges and discussions.

Therefore, studying in Hong Kong offers far more opportunities to meet people of different nationalities than staying in Taiwan. Another factor is internships. Taiwan internships typically occur in the summer between sophomore and junior year, and many positions just have you "watch and learn" or run errands buying lunch. Companies rarely let you truly learn and grow by executing projects. Such internships are practically useless.

During my own media internship in grad school, I felt like I was wasting time. Fifty students crammed into one department simultaneously, with no room for progress or growth, and no real chance to learn from a mentor. Because we rotated departments weekly, it was just a superficial tour. Now, that internship has only confirmed I won't return to that company—it helped nothing else.

But internships in mainland China and Hong Kong are very different. Students can directly execute major projects within companies. Recently, there was a viral article about a mainland internship where someone was assigned to organize a welcome event for 150 interns—just him and one partner. This would be almost impossible in Taiwan, but mainland and Hong Kong companies actually let you do it.

Regarding the workplace environment, mainland China uses high salaries to attract talent from all fields. Therefore, more students are willing to develop their careers in Hong Kong and mainland China. These regions have sufficient resources and are willing to spend money on talent. For most ambitious high school students, this represents an excellent springboard. Naturally, students with the opportunity to go to Hong Kong and mainland will seize it.