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李開復博士英文自傳全書（連載【24】）
Unpredictable Destiny
When I started thinking
about college, on average one or two of the graduates from my high school would
be accepted to Harvard University every year. I thought it would definitely be
me.
But when my SAT scores
came out, I lost some confidence. Although I got a perfect score on math, my
English score was only 550, below the average performance of Harvard admits.
I knew the lower than
expected English score probably resulted from my lack of motivation to memorize
obscure words of the SAT vocabulary. I didn’t see the point of memorizing words
not regularly used.
Despite the setback, I
still applied to Harvard, hoping my achievement in extracurricular activities
would give me enough extra credit to help me get in. I wanted very much to
enter Harvard, especially for the university’s law and math programs being
rated number one. At that time, I thought I would either major in math or go to
law school after college.
I explained in my
admission essay that my SAT English score was excusable because I was not a
native speaker. I asked the admission officers to look at my strengths in
science and leadership as well as my bi-cultural background that could
contribute to cross-culture discussions. I thought it was quite a compelling
essay. However, I received a letter of rejection from Harvard in April 1979.
That was the first major frustration of my life.
More frustrating responses
came. Stanford, Yale and Princeton put me on their waiting lists.
However, all the other
universities I had applied to responded positively. I sent out 12 applications
in total. In that pre-computer era, my teachers had to type every
recommendation letter on a typewriter. I greatly appreciated their typing more
letters for me than for anyone else.
I took a little time to
choose between Columbia and UC Berkeley. I was leaning toward Columbia for its
longer history and higher ranking. But my parents were concerned about the
crime rate of New York City and preferred Berkeley. To show respect for my
parents’ opinion, I asked them to fly to America, to take a tour of Columbia
University with me before making my decision.
When we
arrived in New York, we realized Columbia University was in a safer
neighborhood of New York City, and had high walls as well as campus police.
That removed my parents’ worries. At the same time, we were all enthralled by
the beauty of the Columbia campus. The Roman-style architecture, the statues of
Greek philosophers and the ivy-clad dorm buildings all
presented a picture perfect ambiance of academia, with which I fell in love
right away.
After accepting Columbia’s
offer, I ran into my friend Phillip back at Oak Ridge High School. He had just
received an admission letter from Harvard. When I told him I wasn’t accepted to
Harvard, his eyes opened wide, “Really? Kai-Fu, I can’t believe it! You used to
beat me every math contest!”
Since then I’ve learned
that life is full of surprises. It may not always give you what you want, but
sometimes what it gives you is actually better than what you want. In
retrospect, I think Columbia with its liberal and innovative style was the best
university for me. Thanks to its allowing students to change majors easily, I
was able to go into computer science, which later became the passion of my life.
I am still in touch with
Phillip. He is now vice president of marketing at a telecommunications company.
We often chat on line while being thousands of miles apart. His fun-loving
nature hasn’t changed through the years. One holiday season he signed his one-year-old
daughter’s name on the Christmas card he sent me. The card read, “Uncle Kai-Fu,
my father asked me to send you this card, to wish you a Merry Christmas!”
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【法奶日報www.lulijen.com
2012.11.20.出刊，第9782號】
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