"Professor Manning, we just got a call from the dean's office. The admissions committee has some conflicting opinions on an applicant's application materials, and the review meeting needs to be expanded..."

"Professor Konkensing, Professor Rowell, don't they have time? It's rare that the project is over, so can't you let me, an old lady, take two days off?"

Yawning and wrapped in her nightgown, Helen Taft Manning walked listlessly to the phone in the living room. Her tone sounded very impatient. It was obvious that she was an old lady who was anxious to get out of bed.

"Sorry, Professor Taft, Professor Conkensing and Professor Rovell all have course schedules. In addition, you need to be present because one of the people who should provide a letter of recommendation for this applicant is a former student of yours. The admissions committee feels that

Your presence will make the evaluation results more fair and prevent us from missing an outstanding future alumnus due to subjective factors."

"Okay, okay, don't talk to me in a bureaucratic way. Don't you just want to see that I'm free now? Is it a holiday? I can't do my job... But you have to wait until I finish breakfast. This is my last

The bottom line!”

"The meeting starts at ten in the morning, you have enough time. Thank you for your help, Professor..."

···

···

"My student? Who is it...who is trying to trick me, an old man in his sixties..."

Wearing a heavy coat and a green-gray checkered wool scarf, John Taft looked at the snowflakes flying everywhere outside the door, shivering and walked out of the house. He got into the car...

"Fake! In this damn weather, the car can't even drive..."

After giving an innocent slap on the steering wheel, the grumpy old lady raised her hand and looked at her watch. Seeing that the meeting time was approaching, she had to open the car door and brave the wind and snow to walk to the Yale Undergraduate Admissions Office at No. 38 Hillhouse Street.

"Hey, you old lady, aren't you driving? Look at the snowflakes on your white hair!"

"Forget it, the fuel tank is probably frozen. In this damn weather, is there any hot tea?"

Standing at the door of the conference room of the Admissions Office, Mrs. Helen stamped her feet vigorously, like a defeated dog on a cold night shaking off snowflakes from her body. She looked very embarrassed...

"Is it the child of my former student? Graves? Or Willis?"

"No, it's Jim Rogers, the guy from the class of 60 who graduated from the history department and also got a bachelor's degree in philosophy and political economics."

A dean from Yale College dean’s office walked up to the old lady and took the initiative to take her coat:

"Hurry up and take a seat. It's so hard for you to make this trip in the cold weather. This applicant is really special."

"What's so special? Jim...I remember him, that stupid kid who studied history and went to Wall Street to develop! I'm not saying this is bad, but shouldn't his children be...wait, 60

By then? He has a child at the age of 20?!"

Pulling out the stool by the table, the old lady sat down and reached for the hot tea on the table.

"No, it's not his child. In Jim's words, this young man who has just turned 18 is his friend. What's even more surprising is... Forget it, Ms. Ebsen, could you please introduce this applicant?

That’s it.”

"Okay, everyone, let me start..."

According to the order in which Yale admissions officers read application materials and the admissions committee’s review procedures, Georgina Ebsen, who is responsible for admissions in the southeastern region of the United States and is the first person in charge of receiving Carter’s application materials, stood up and presided over the meeting.

Meeting.

"The applicant, Carter Black, is from Douglas, a small city in south-central Left Georgia. He will graduate from the local public high school Elmond in June this year. The application direction is the philosophy department..."

Philosophy student, why did you call me here?!

Old Mrs. Helen couldn't help complaining in her heart. However, as Ebsen hung Carter's photo on the whiteboard for discussion, Mrs. Helen's anger quietly subsided a lot.

At least, this kid is pleasing to the eye...

But just looking at his personal information, Helen didn't find anything different between him and others...

"The following is his high school transcript and standardized test transcript. The first point of controversy is here. The applicant's high school academic performance has always been good, and his SAT test score is also very high, 1680 points."

"It stands to reason that such a high-scoring student should take standardized tests in multiple subjects. But he did not. He only had a SAT score report. After calling the College Board to consult, he learned that this applicant only had

I only took one SAT test last month.”

"Do you suspect there is something wrong with this score?"

Seeing the big question mark marked on a small piece of paper next to Carter's transcript, Mrs. Helen raised a question.

"Don't worry, Professor Manning. This little guy has a lot of surprises..."

Dean Dyson chuckled and signaled to Mrs. Helen to calm down. Judging from her relaxed expression, Mrs. Helen seemed to feel something:

Dyson seems to be very optimistic about this applicant?

"That's right, Professor Manning. Apart from this, his campus activity record is blank! In other words, he has not participated in any campus party, any sports meeting, and even the records of physical education courses are blank...

.”

Good guy!

Old Mrs. Helen called him a good guy in her heart. This little guy who didn't play by the rules successfully aroused Mrs. Helen's curiosity:

"Please continue, Ms. Ebsen."

"The following two items are the most controversial. One is his essay, and the other is the recommendation letter. It is worth mentioning that in addition to the recommendation letter from our 60th alumnus, Mr. Jim Rogers, this applicant also has

A letter of recommendation from the local mayor, and a possibly false letter of recommendation from Princeton graduate John Bogle.”

"His records of extracurricular activities are almost all pieced together from these letters of recommendation..."

Looking at the notes on the side of the recommendation letter: A banker with a strong sense of social responsibility? A financial investor with a vicious eye? The founder of a fast food chain brand?

These labels, which were almost impossible to appear on an 18-year-old student, made old lady Helen unable to bear it any longer. She directly reached out to Ebsen:

"Can you please show me the original letter of recommendation?"

"Of course, Professor Manning!"

After receiving the letters of recommendation, Mrs. Helen couldn't wait to open the first one.

"Dear Mr./Ms. Yale Admissions Officer:"

"With great reluctance, I wrote this paragraph. If I were to sum up my recommendation of Mr. Carter Black to go to Yale, I would just say: 'You are in luck! Lucky.

Yale!'"

"We are a small city here. I have known Carter's father for many years. I have watched him grow from a child wearing crotchless pants to the handsome young man you see today. I am deeply impressed by his willingness to help others, solidarity and friendship.

, when he was a child, he often stood up for the weak. Today, this quality has been amplified a hundred times..."

"It was 1979, towards the end of the year. The economy was in dire straits, and more and more people were unemployed in our city. Being incompetent, I had no choice but to find Carter, who had just taken over the savings bank from his father who unfortunately passed away.

I asked: 'Look, kids, can you help them? They need bread...'"

"He slapped his chest and said: 'I will do it, this is my responsibility, Uncle Rob.' He didn't lie! Before he received the task from me, he had already begun to contribute silently to the citizens. He

exist..."
Chapter completed!