A weird ritual when being admitted to a university If you ever go to visit a peruvian university and start to walk around the first-year classrooms you will notice something unusual, most of the students have their hair cut. It's neither a fad nor an obligation imposed by the student center, but a ritual amongst freshmen that is very extended across the country. Usually, to be admitted to a university the candidates should meet a cut off mark in a general exam so they need to work hard in order to make it through the test. They are definitely scared, candidates and relatives alike, because they know there are few vacants and thereby the competition will be fierce. The test is held in the morning and the results are published at 6:00pm, this is the hour in which the ritual starts, bunch of admitted candidates get the hair cut off by their friends and relatives as a rare way to congratulate them for their new achievement. They don't mind to lose their hair because in the end they are thrilled to have been admitted and they know the hair will grow again. I forgot to say that the ritual doesn't apply to girls, for obvious reasons. You might wonder if I went through this ritual. The answer is no, I never let them cut off my hair. :-)