For Your Child’s Sake, Stop Using Baidu to Research Study Abroad Applications!
As is well known, the two main sources of revenue for Baidu search are education and healthcare. Even though the Putian hospital scandal caused a huge uproar, Baidu still displays keyword search results based on advertising bid prices, never taking responsibility for its own promotions. For study abroad applications, as soon as you search for keywords like 'U.S. graduate applications,' 'GRE exam,' or 'study abroad,' your entire search page is immediately flooded with advertisements from various agencies.
Although Baidu's ads are overwhelming, numerous, and chaotic, for international students and parents, its main drawbacks go far beyond just the abundance of untrustworthy ads. Below, we will discuss three major pitfalls of Baidu search.
1. Outdated Information
Study-abroad information changes rapidly. Not only do the school rankings that everyone cares about annually undergo dramatic shifts, but in fact, each application cycle, the application requirements of schools are constantly changing, from major adjustments to essay prompts to minor tweaks in language test score requirements. Yet Baidu search does not filter out outdated information; aside from ads affecting users, news about university rankings or summaries of U.S. graduate application requirements from one or two years ago still rank among the top five search results, which is truly frustrating.
Even less attentive students will notice that today is already the end of 2018. Yet the search results Baidu gave just a minute ago are still filled with old news from 2016 to 2017. Want to check the latest admission requirements for NYU Financial Engineering Fall 2019? Take your time, but first you'll see news and summaries from two years ago. Changes in admission requirements over those two years could seriously affect your application, but that's none of the search engine's business.
Moreover, Baidu displays many ranking results without real-time updates. For example, many schools that have already fallen out of the top 60 pop up first because of news from a few years ago, leading some students and parents to mistakenly believe the school is in the top 30 and become overjoyed.
2. Too Much Irrelevant Information, Too Little Useful Information
When you search for 'NYU SPS deadline' on Baidu, here are the search results that come up:
1. At first glance, not a single piece of key information.
2. Among the top five results, three are articles from way back in 2017, and the remaining two are from six months ago. There’s even a discussion thread from 2015... Not to mention it's already 8021, the students in that thread have now graduated from graduate school for two or three years. Yet their discussion thread is still ranked among the top results by Baidu for 'reference and learning.'
3. Our search should have been very clear: New York University (school) + SPS(college) + deadline. How can none of the results be even remotely relevant, matching none of the keywords?
4. For example, when you search for 'NYU SPS deadline' on Google, you'll directly get NYU SPS application deadlines.
Here, we strongly suggest Baidu change its slogan to — 'Baidu it, and you'll know nothing.'
3. Comparing Google and Baidu: Baidu Search = Browsing Ads
Below is a comparison of the information retrieved from Baidu and Google just three minutes ago:
As you may have noticed, whether you search for U.S. graduate applications, Columbia University application requirements, or Brown University world ranking on Baidu, the results will only show one thing: a dazzling display of advertisements from various agencies.
On Google, the search is much simpler and cleaner, directly providing the U.S. News 2019 rankings (yes, after searching for so long, this is the first time we've seen the number 2019).
Moreover, the first three result links lead directly to the authoritative U.S. News official website, allowing students to view the relevant information most quickly.
The study abroad application period may be the most critical time in every international student’s life. It's no exaggeration to say that every minute of the application period could determine your application outcome and fate. Whether repeatedly verifying information or digging for information like looking for a needle in a haystack, this time should not be wasted on useless information. If you are unlucky enough to encounter incorrect information, it could even lead to a direct rejection from the school.
Therefore, CheersYou（清柚教育） consultants sincerely suggest that everyone: 'To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools.' When selecting information sources, it's best to refer to official school websites (The CheersYou（清柚教育） Program Directory lets you click directly to visit official websites and view program information), U.S. News, and other authoritative organizations. And don't just casually open a search engine and start browsing through unverified, mixed information anymore.
