Students get ideal majors, but only if they're lucky

The auditorium at the University of South China in Hunan province was crowded on the evening of Sept 8, when hundreds of students gathered to decide their majors through luck of the draw - a lottery system.

"We were forced to take these measures," said school official Lu Qinghua. "If choosing a major is based solely on students' wants, some majors will be overcrowded and others will have difficulty enrolling enough students. There are some other colleges that use this method."

Not all of the department's 585 students must rely on luck, Lu said. The top 190 students in the department may choose their majors freely. Students who draw through the lottery still have a chance to switch with another student before their majors are finally set.