"Please welcome Pan Zhoudan! Pan Zhoudan, 29 years old, holds a master’s degree from ETH Zurich."
Just reading the text seems to conjure up that sharp gaze, the swaggering stance, and that iconic, almost hypnotic introduction.
Pan Zhoudan has undeniably sparked wave after wave of imitation trends on the internet. It started with simply mimicking his smooth, fluid walking style.
Eventually, it became "everything can be Pan Zhoudan"—hands, water cups, pencils, sausages, anything that could "twist" joined the frenzy.
In reality, Pan Zhoudan is quite different from his TV persona. He effortlessly quotes classical poetry, is humble and refined, and his words exude the cultivation of a cultured person.
In response to the imitations, Pan Zhoudan responded generously, calling it his "arduous gait," and explained the reason behind his "arrogant move":
"The production team suddenly changed the rules, and everyone was a bit camera-shy. As the senior, I was arranged to go first. At that moment, my shoulders were tucked behind the back row. To avoid bumping into classmates beside me, I had to turn my head and twist my body when standing up."
In the internet age, some people become viral sensations overnight. Amid this wave of imitations, Pan Zhoudan joined Douyin and gained over one million followers overnight. With just eight videos, he amassed over five million likes and comments.
One person creates a meme, and a crowd revels in it. Behind these playful discussions, what’s often overlooked is the scholarly journey of the top student.
Dominance and Competence: The Indispensable Secret
Pan Zhoudan: PhD at Oxford, Master’s at ETH Zurich
Pan Zhoudan is pursuing a PhD at Oxford University, and earned his master’s from ETH Zurich.
As one of the world’s top 5 universities, Oxford holds prestigious academic status and extensive influence in fields such as mathematics, physics, medicine, law, and business, and is widely recognized as one of the top higher education institutions globally.
ETH Zurich is no ordinary school either. Known as the "MIT of Europe," it focuses on education and research in engineering, natural sciences, and architecture, and is hailed as the "top university on the European continent." It is also the alma mater of Albert Einstein and has produced 32 Nobel laureates.
Netizens exclaimed: "If I had his educational background, I’d walk even more arrogantly than him!"
Eileen Gu: Balancing Gold Medals and Top Universities
Apart from Pan Zhoudan, another impressive scholar is Eileen Gu, who has achieved both gold medals and admission to a top university. She became a champion in her Olympic debut, and her story has been told and retold countless times.
Her father graduated from Harvard, and her mother from Peking University and Stanford. She herself has been a top student since childhood, consistently earning straight A's. To prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, she completed two years of coursework in one and scored a near-perfect 1580 on the SAT to enter Stanford University.
Beyond her beauty, Eileen Gu’s popularity largely stems from her resilient vitality and the boundless potential that seems within reach. You never know what surprises this gem of a girl will bring next.
She embodies what many girls aspire to be: filled with wisdom, strength, and courage, persistently pursuing her passions and doing everything to perfection. With no boundaries or limits, she boldly does what she loves.
Aside from these widely discussed scholars, even in various talent shows, talk shows, and reality programs like "An Offer You Can’t Refuse" that lean toward ordinary participants, top students add a legendary aura to their personas.
Take Hu Lan from talk shows. You might not remember his jokes, but you’ve certainly heard that a Columbia University graduate emerged in the stand-up comedy scene.
Although the viral fame of "Please welcome, Pan Zhoudan" carries a hint of cynicism, it still reveals that people hold an overwhelming admiration and yearning for wisdom, science, and genius—especially when the genius carries a dramatic story.
Are All Internet Stars Masters? Are Overseas Degrees Worthless?
In this era, academic degrees seem to be standard for competitive candidates, but there is no shortage of cynical voices, such as "Spent 2 million on overseas study, only to earn 4,500 a month," or "An MIT graduate leeching off parents for three years—so what’s the point of a prestigious degree?"…
Various "learning is useless" narratives and viral articles mocking the employment prospects of overseas students are plentiful, and even various "dissuasion theories" about top overseas universities circulate online. The targets are not only niche liberal arts colleges and hidden gems but also many traditional prestigious universities abroad.
In reality, the internet—especially as a platform for self-expression—is full of awkward teasing and self-deprecation; one should just laugh it off. In contrast to these "dissuasion theories" and "learning is useless" claims, the recently sweeping "Undefined Literature" trend on Douyin actually better captures the spirit of contemporary international students.
Originally, it was a piece of advice from Douyin blogger "What’s Meizi Up To" to console a netizen: "Be the wind, be the undefined wind." Unexpectedly, after netizens ran with it, a new literary style emerged—the Undefined Literature—which makes everything undefinable.
Apart from "the undefined dog" and "the undefined loafing around," creative netizens naturally cooked up a piece of "undefined overseas study."
Go study abroad
Go to an undefined study
Be academic trash
Write endless essays
Chase never-ending deadlines
Go
Live a different life
The essence of the Undefined Literature is not to be swayed by worldly opinions, to care nothing about others’ gazes and judgments, and to live truly as oneself! It may seem like venting, but in reality it is the self-deprecation and resolve of international students.
Although the path of studying abroad comes with various hardships, learning is never in vain. Academic background remains the first step toward future graduate school applications and job hunting.
The Threshold for Graduate Applications
UK universities have long had a strong preference for Chinese elite institutions; some schools and programs even "only recruit graduates from 985/211 universities." Even before the 2023 application season began, UCL released a list of recognized Chinese universities as a criterion for its graduate admissions.
In this list, UCL categorizes Chinese universities into three tiers: Group A, Group B, and Group C. Group A includes 77 institutions, primarily composed of domestic 985/211 and Double First-Class universities; Group B mainly targets students with computing backgrounds; all other MOE-recognized Chinese universities fall into Group C.
For a prestigious G5 university like UCL, the level of competition each year is imaginable, with applicant numbers increasing annually.
Faced with a flood of applications, raising the entry threshold can reduce the screening burden on admissions offices, avoiding massive backlogs that slow down the review process—a trend likely to continue in the future.
A Stepping Stone for Employment
In industries like internet, finance, consulting, and accounting firms, each has its own Target School List. For schools on the list, major companies prioritize consideration or allocate recruitment resources first. Because "looking at the school" is one of the simplest and most straightforward ways to assess a candidate’s capabilities.
Major investment banks continuously conduct campus recruitment at target school programs, with fixed quotas allocated to these schools. Moreover, alumni are spread across major banks, making networking a breeze.
The top 16 schools account for 50% of investment banking offers; Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, ranked #1, and NYU Stern School of Business, ranked #2, receive three to five times the number of investment banking offers compared to any semi-target school.
Boutique investment banks are notoriously "elite school-obsessed." Take Centerview and Evercore, for example—the majority of their employees hail from world-class universities like Wharton, Yale, Oxford, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and LSE.
Therefore, getting into a good school lays the foundation for landing a quality job platform in the future!
Stay Firm in Your Conviction, Pursue an Undefined Study Abroad
Clearly, the "learning is useless" rhetoric is exactly the biggest lie in the adult world of this era. Of course, academic credentials are only the first step in graduate applications and job hunting. Effectively enriching your background, enhancing yourself comprehensively—holding both capability and credentials is equally important.
Just as the emergence of scholars like Pan Zhoudan, Wei Dongyi, and Eileen Gu tells us:
"Studying brings not just utilitarian gains; every passage you read, every bit of knowledge you acquire, becomes part of your temperament and speech, helping you shed restlessness, broadening your mindset and vision."
This is the true essence of studying abroad. Time will give an answer to today’s choices and efforts. I hope every international student, years from now, can look back on their study abroad experience and say, "I have no regrets."
