2005 was a turning point of my life. I tried to write this experience as Essay A but only realized that when everyday was a losing cause, I didn't feel as "the end of the world" but straighten up and kept fighting. To give "a more thorough impression", I feel incumbent to present this experience and how it changes my life.
In China, the transition from junior high school to senior high is a standardized entrance examination. Held annually by a certain branch of government, it unilaterally, as well as exclusively, decides which senior high you are going. Because the very inconvenient public traffic , my reasonable choices of senior high schools were very limited: one called No. 47 High School, the other High School Affiliated to South China Normal University. Both near my home, the only difference was that the first one is mediocre while the latter is the best in the province. In contrast with the rumours of bullying and gangs related with No. 47, "HSFZ", as abbreviation in Pinying, has a connotation of extraordinary excellence. For decades, it holds the highest cutting score in the standardized entrance exam. Among a million junior high school students who took the exam each year, "HSFZ" only admits the best 600.
So, they laughed when I said I was going to register "HSFZ" as my first choice and they were being reasonable: I ranked 70 out of 150 in our school but in the history of our junior high, the highest number of students got in "HSFZ" was 24. Three months before the exam, going to "HSFZ" really seemed like mission impossible.
Somehow, I refused to give up and be "realistic". For the first time in my life, I listened carefully during the entire class and started to take notes. Every day, I woke up at 6:50, kept telling myself my goal and the situation. Every day, I went to school trying to reach beyond myself. During the break between classes, when other were relaxing or chattering, I was either sketching on a rough paper trying to solve another geometry problem, or concentrating on the textbook, trying to memorize another poem written in ancient Chinese. In the crucial moments like this, everybody was working hard and all I could do was to work harder. Because PE was part of the entrance exam, I went to the field near my home and practiced sprint every day after school ended at 5:30. Exhausted, I would be home at 7:30 and study for another three hours after dinner.
Three months passed and the final moment came. Chinese literature, math, English, physics, chemistry, politics and PE. According to the philosophy of Confucius and thousands years of tradition, examination was the only way to judge a person good or bad. Through those seven subjects, generations of students presented themselves in terms of a final mark. Now, it was my turn.
In the end, 693, the result of the exam, ranked 14 in my school. Upon learning my acceptance at "HSFZ", I didn't realize I just made a miracle which the principal of my junior high would mention every time during a school assembly. Neither did I know "HSFZ" would change my life forever. There, I would meet the most brilliant minds in the province; I would keep challenging and reaching beyond myself.
Looking back, I learn one thing: whenever there are different paths, always choose the hardest one, the seemingly impossible one.
And that is one of the various reasons I'm now applying MIT.
word count 588
In China, the transition from junior high school to senior high is a standardized entrance examination. Held annually by a certain branch of government, it unilaterally, as well as exclusively, decides which senior high you are going. Because the very inconvenient public traffic , my reasonable choices of senior high schools were very limited: one called No. 47 High School, the other High School Affiliated to South China Normal University. Both near my home, the only difference was that the first one is mediocre while the latter is the best in the province. In contrast with the rumours of bullying and gangs related with No. 47, "HSFZ", as abbreviation in Pinying, has a connotation of extraordinary excellence. For decades, it holds the highest cutting score in the standardized entrance exam. Among a million junior high school students who took the exam each year, "HSFZ" only admits the best 600.
So, they laughed when I said I was going to register "HSFZ" as my first choice and they were being reasonable: I ranked 70 out of 150 in our school but in the history of our junior high, the highest number of students got in "HSFZ" was 24. Three months before the exam, going to "HSFZ" really seemed like mission impossible.
Somehow, I refused to give up and be "realistic". For the first time in my life, I listened carefully during the entire class and started to take notes. Every day, I woke up at 6:50, kept telling myself my goal and the situation. Every day, I went to school trying to reach beyond myself. During the break between classes, when other were relaxing or chattering, I was either sketching on a rough paper trying to solve another geometry problem, or concentrating on the textbook, trying to memorize another poem written in ancient Chinese. In the crucial moments like this, everybody was working hard and all I could do was to work harder. Because PE was part of the entrance exam, I went to the field near my home and practiced sprint every day after school ended at 5:30. Exhausted, I would be home at 7:30 and study for another three hours after dinner.
Three months passed and the final moment came. Chinese literature, math, English, physics, chemistry, politics and PE. According to the philosophy of Confucius and thousands years of tradition, examination was the only way to judge a person good or bad. Through those seven subjects, generations of students presented themselves in terms of a final mark. Now, it was my turn.
In the end, 693, the result of the exam, ranked 14 in my school. Upon learning my acceptance at "HSFZ", I didn't realize I just made a miracle which the principal of my junior high would mention every time during a school assembly. Neither did I know "HSFZ" would change my life forever. There, I would meet the most brilliant minds in the province; I would keep challenging and reaching beyond myself.
Looking back, I learn one thing: whenever there are different paths, always choose the hardest one, the seemingly impossible one.
And that is one of the various reasons I'm now applying MIT.
word count 588
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