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我是一个非常普通的学生，既没有在同龄人中超群的智商，也没有对待学习付出十二万分的努力。在我G10开始踏入广外IB的时候，我偏偏又是一个虚荣，贪心的人——我想要得到老师的鼓励与喜爱、同学的认同与夸赞。

于是这样现实与心态上的不匹配像是永远对不准的齿轮，只能给我带来无尽的焦虑与不安。但是我要感谢我的同学和老师们，我扭曲的心态与残酷的现实在与老师和同学的相处中渐渐找到平衡。

在良性竞争的环境中，并没有同学的鄙夷。于是，在这样有压力但并不是很大的环境下，只要我愿意学，没有什么能够阻挡我的进步。老师们也都特别愿意帮助我，我特别记得每周二数学老师都会回学校答疑，我经常在她办公室待到晚上十点，把一周的知识点梳理清楚。那时候的我，满脑子都装满了知识，开始了飞速的进步。

所以渐渐的，我不再追求虚无的夸赞和认可，而是注重过程，追求顺会每一个知识点；之后，我终于在现实和心态找到了平衡点。这样的心态，也为我后面的申请季打好了基础。

我一共申请了二十四所学校，包括美国，英国，加拿大三个地区。因为我对申请专业认识非常清晰，头铁申了EE（电子工程），专业比较难申请且热门，我美本申请并不是追求一味的拔高，比较客观。我没有申ED（早申），且只投了一所前三十的学校。我没有特别执着的梦校，如果真的要选一个，可能是US News排名六十多的德州农工。

我对自己的目标非常明确，所以我的申请季并没有那种开ED时的紧张与兴奋，一切都感觉比较平淡，都在掌握之中。我接受自己的平庸，使得我觉得去哪我都会很开心，我也相信每一个学校的资源，只要我有心学，都能帮助我成功。（感谢所有录了我的学校对我的认可，really appreciated )

在申请季的末端，威斯康辛麦迪逊的offer算是一个意外的小惊喜。因为当时申请的时候就知道它今年要缩招五百个坑位，所以我知道我能进去的概率比较小。不知道是因为老天的眷顾还是自身努力的加持，这样一个对我来说的彩票校居然落在了我的头上。当时是三月二十五日，UW - Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）的RD（常规录取）毫无征兆的放榜。得知消息之后的我还坐在马桶上，想着又是送钱买个拒信PDF，所以相当随意地打开了Portal，Portal上Admitted的红色大字有些刺眼，我不相信的看了一遍又一遍，然后相当平静的走出厕所，内心充满了不可置信。

Anyway，Go badger! On Wisconsin!

我很喜欢我的主文书，写的是我从小下棋的经历对我人格和思想的影响。可能对于一个亚洲学生，使用下棋这个素材太过于千篇一律，不能让人眼前一亮，但是我仍然选择了这个素材，因为国际象棋确确实实影响着我对事情的判断与日常的行为。脑力的博弈使我着迷，我下的每一步棋，用的每一枚棋子，都关乎着我的生死。我每走一步，都要分析和预判对手的选择，也就是说，我要同时下黑白两副棋子，只有预判对手的最佳路线，才能更好的辅助于我的选择。

所以，在生活中，我能够站在不同的立场上去思考问题，在不同情况下快速判断最有利的选择。同时，博弈时生死攸关的反转也使我着迷。不到最后，我永远无法预测结局，正如我的申请季，RD的最后阶段，我才拥有了一个或许完美的结局。

(向右滑动查看中文)

I am a very ordinary student. I have neither a superior IQ among my peers, nor have I put in all my efforts in my studies. When I entered Guangzhou Foreign Language School ISA Wenhua IB Diploma Programme in G10, I was feeling vain and greedy; I wanted to get encouragement and love from my teachers, and approval and praise from my classmates. This mismatch between reality and mentality is like gears that are never aligned, which only brings me endless anxiety and uneasiness. But I want to thank my classmates and teachers as I gradually found a balance between my distorted mentality and harsh reality while getting along with them. 

In the environment of healthy competition, I did not get contempt from classmates; therefore, in such an environment with some pressure but not too much, as long as I am willing to learn, nothing would stop my progress. The teachers were also very willing to help me. I especially remember the amount of support I got from my math teacher. She often comes back to school to answer questions every Tuesday, and I often stayed in her office until 10 pm to sort out the key knowledge of the week. At that time, my head was full of knowledge, and I started to make rapid progress. So gradually, I no longer pursued empty praise and recognition, but payed attention to the process of learning and pursued understanding every piece of key knowledge; after that, I finally found a balance between my reality and mentality. This kind of new mentality also laid good foundation for my subsequent university application.

I applied to 24 schools in total, including schools from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. I had a very clear understanding of the majors I was to apply for. I applied for Electrical Engineering first, and that major was popular and more difficult to apply for. I was realistic and not blindly pursuing a top university. I didn't apply to any university under an early decision and early action plan except a top 30 school. I didn't have a particular dream school. If I really have to choose one, it would be Texas A&M University, which is ranked #67 in US News. I was very clear about my goal, so my application season didn't have the tension or excitement of opening ED results, and everything felt relatively normal and under control. I accept my ordinariness, which makes me feel that I will be happy wherever I go. I also believe that the resources of every school, as long as I am willing to learn, would help me succeed. (Thanks to all the schools that awarded me offers, really appreciated.)

At the end of the application season, the offer from University of Wisconsin-Madison was a pleasant surprise. When I applied for it, I knew that it would have 500 admissions less this year, so I knew that the probability of me getting in was relatively small. I don't know if it's because of God's blessing or my own hard work, an offer from such a school fell on my head, which for me actually felt like winning a lottery. It was on 25 March when the Regular Decision (RD) results from University of Wisconsin-Madison were released without warning. When hearing the news, I was still sitting on the toilet, thinking that I would get a rejection letter, so I opened the Portal quite casually. The big red “Admitted” on the Portal was a bit dazzling, and I read it over and over again in disbelief. And then I walked out of the toilet quite calmly, filled with disbelief.

Anyway, Go badger! On Wisconsin!

I like my personal statement very much. I wrote about the influence of my experience of playing chess since childhood on my personality and thinking. For an Asian student, writing about playing chess may seem very typical and not eye-catching, but I still chose to write about it, because playing chess really have been influencing my judgment and daily behavior. The brain game fascinates me. Every move I make and every piece I use are a matter of life and death. Every time I take a step, I have to analyze and predict the opponent's move. That is to say, I have to play two sets of black and white chess pieces at the same time. Only by predicting the opponent's best strategy can I have a better move. 

Therefore, in daily life, I have the ability to think about problems from different standpoints, and quickly choose the most favorable solution in different situations. Meanwhile, the life-or-death inversions of the chess game enchant me. I could never predict the ending until the end of the game, just like in my application season, I only got a relatively perfect ending at the final stage of RD.