"I had considered finding a job after finishing my graduate studies in a year or so, but I have to find a job now," she said.

According to the Ministry of Education, the number of new university graduates nationwide will reach 8.74 million this year, a rise of 400,000 from last year, and solving the employment problem has been high on the government's agenda.

Kang Xinrui, a senior student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, has received six offers from universities in the United States.

The 22-year-old wants to study at New York University, but she is planning to take a break of six months or a year in the hope the pandemic situation in the US will improve.

She said visa application interviews at the US embassy in Beijing are fully booked until December, so she has no chance of arriving in the country in late August in time to complete the enrollment process.

Instead, she is looking for an internship or a full-time job related to software development-the subject she will study in the US-but like Ma she has not received replies from her preferred companies.

She had the opportunity to be recommended for graduate studies at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications without taking any more exams. She turned the offer down, though, because her father encouraged her to study in the US.

"I am a little regretful about giving up that opportunity. My mother would prefer me to stay in China-she said that if I accepted the recommendation (in Beijing) I wouldn't have to experience so much uncertainty," she said.

Many students admire those who study abroad, while some of those heading overseas admire people who can finish their graduate studies in China. Kang is now searching for online materials to study software development on her own.

Policy matters

Shi Xiaoguang, a professor with the Graduate School of Education at Peking University in Beijing, said the COVID-19 pandemic will have a short-term impact on people planning to study overseas, while the long-term effect will depend on when things return to normal.

He said the overseas study sector will recover gradually, noting that the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome also affected the industry but it rebounded.