Wearing a simple cap and gown, Xue Yifan, 22, looks solemnly into the camera. Standing in front of the big library on campus, her graduation photo is a bit unusual - she is all alone. That’s because Xue is the only paleontology graduate from Peking University this year.
身着学士服，头戴学士帽，22岁的薛逸凡在镜头前显得很严肃。同样以高大的图书馆为背景，薛世凡的毕业照却有些与众不同——照片中只有她一个人，因为她是北京大学古生物学专业今年唯一的毕业生。

The photo went viral after it was posted online. People are impressed by her determination to pursue the academic degree. She devoted herself to a seemingly dull major instead of jumping on the bandwagon.
这张毕业照在被传到网上后迅速走红，她选择这个专业的决心更令人印象深刻。放弃了当下最“火”的专业，薛逸凡却选择了一个看似枯燥无味的专业。

But Xue is not the only student with a genuinely academic goal. There are many more students who choose less popular majors and stick to them, simply because they love what they are learning about.
勇敢追求自己学术目标的远不只薛逸凡一个人，还有很多学生也和她一样因为兴趣爱好而选择了相对冷门的专业。

Pure sound
纯粹的声音

Song Jiazhe, 21, is an audiology student at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. His university offers the only audiology program for undergraduate students in China. About 100 students graduate from the major every year.
21岁的宋佳哲（音译）就读于浙江中医药大学，因为这所学校是中国唯一本科开设听力学专业的高校，每年约100名该专业的大学生从这里毕业。

“The number of graduates is so small that people seldom even notice the existence of our major,” Song says. But he believes his major is of great importance.
宋佳哲说“这个专业的毕业生实在太少了，人们几乎都没听说过我们专业”。但他坚信自己的专业十分重要。

“We take care of newborn babies and seniors,” he says. Checking the hearing of newborn babies and helping seniors with hearing loss are the two major responsibilities audiology graduates shoulder after their graduation.
他说：“我们照顾新生儿与老年人，为新生儿检查听力，帮助听力受损的老年人是我们专业毕业生的主要职责。”

In order to achieve this goal, Song studies hard and values every opportunity to practice. He spends every vacation interning at hospitals. “I am always the first to arrive and the last to leave, just to get as much real experience as possible,” he says.
为了能履行这一目标，宋佳哲努力学习，珍惜每一个实践机会。每个假期，他都在医院实习，他说：“为了能更多的积累实际经验，我常常是最早到、最晚走的。”

Classy major
优雅的专业

Compared with Song, Meng Ziwei’s major seems more entertaining. The 19-year-old is studying golf management at Shenzhen University. It’s a newly launched major, explains Meng. Her department has less than 100 students, who will work as golf coaches and golf club managers once they graduate.
相较于宋佳哲的专业，孟紫薇（音译）的专业似乎更有意思。这位19岁的姑娘就读于深圳大学高尔夫管理专业。孟紫薇解释道，这是一个新开设的专业，他们系学生人数不足100，而他们毕业之后将成为高尔夫教练或者高尔夫俱乐部的管理人员。

However, the major requires hard work. Meng and her peers not only have classes on business management, but must also attend golf training. “I practice golf three times a week,” she says. Some of her peers even practice on a daily basis. “I love what I’m learning from the bottom of my heart,” she says, “so the tough training is never a problem for me.”
不过，这个专业并不轻松。孟紫薇和她的同学们不仅需要完成商业管理类课程，还要参加高尔夫球训练。她说：“我每周需要练习三次高尔夫球。”而她的一些同学甚至每天都参加训练。但是，她说：“我真心喜欢自己的专业，所以再辛苦的训练于我也不是问题。”

Dinosaur fever
恐龙发烧友

Another student who chose a major based on her interest is Bai Wanyi, a 20-year-old student of paleontology at Shenyang Normal University. She has been a paleontology fan ever since she was in elementary school. “Those dinosaurs just amazed me so much that I decided to study them,” she says. While her peers bought beautiful Barbie dolls, Bai collected rocks. Finally she enrolled in a paleontology program despite resistance from her parents.
同样因为兴趣选择自己专业的还有白婉怡（音译）。20岁的她目前就读于沈阳师范大学古生物学专业。早在上小学的时候，她就是一个古生物迷，她说“那些恐龙深深地吸引了我，于是我决定将来研究它们。”小伙伴们买漂亮的芭比娃娃时，白婉怡却在收集岩石。最后，她顶住来自父母的压力，终于进入古生物专业学习。

“In my eyes, paleontology is not a dull subject that only deals with old rocks. Instead, it studies our past by examining the fossils of ancient life forms,” Bai says. She believes that mastering the present is based on a good understanding of the past.
白婉怡说，“在我看来，古生物专业并不是只和古老岩石打交道的枯燥专业，相反，它让我们通过检测古生物化石，了解人类的过去。”她相信，只有充分了解过去，才能更好地把握当下。

“I’m sticking to the choice I made and I will further my studies in paleontology after I graduate,” she says.
白婉怡说：“我会坚持自己的选择，在毕业后继续钻研古生物学。”