She followed her heart to New York and filmmaking

Shen Hua is always following her heart. One day in 2008, a voice in her head told her to go to New York. So she figured out a way to send herself and enroll with Columbia University, even though she already had a good job at China Central Television.

This 30-year-old woman was not a super fan of tests such as Test of English as a Foreign Language or Graduate Record Examinations. She did have a friend during her first year at Wuhan University who was crazy about studying abroad and learned about these tests from her.

"I had to take TOEFL because that's a requirement of applying for Columbia University," said Shen from Wuhan, Hubei province.