High School Review (Please Vote!)

Chapter 38: High School Review (Please Vote!)

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, graduation was approaching.

After finishing the SAT, Adam earned an excellent score. He then secured his recommendation letters and finally began formally applying to colleges.

College admissions in the United States were a two-way selection process, and there was no limit on the number of schools a student could apply to. Casting a wide net was standard practice.

Adam's first application was sent to Harvard University.

Harvard University was a private research university, one of the United States' Ivy League schools. It had consistently ranked among the world's top three overall, while Harvard Medical School had long held the number-one spot in the world. It was holy ground for medical students.

Adam planned to become a doctor in the future, and he hoped to grow into a top-tier surgeon as quickly as possible. Harvard Medical School was naturally the best choice.

American universities did not offer undergraduate medical programs. Before applying to Harvard Medical School, it was necessary to attend a good university and earn a bachelor's degree, preferably in a medically related field such as biology or chemistry.

And what choice could be more suitable than Harvard's biological sciences program?

Not only had Harvard's biological sciences program consistently ranked first in the world, but once Adam became a Harvard biological sciences graduate, applying to Harvard Medical School afterward would undoubtedly improve his chances of admission.

Internal graduate recommendations were not something exclusive to East Country.

Still, Adam did not place all his hopes on that. The better the university, the harder it was to get in. As one of the world's very top schools, Harvard was not somewhere one could enter just by getting a high SAT score and a few recommendation letters with little weight.

In the end, it would depend on luck—namely, how many big spenders there were that year, and what the gender ratio among the interviewers would be. If they were all women, then he would be set.

Adam's second application was sent to Columbia University.

Like Harvard University, it was one of the United States' Ivy League schools and consistently ranked among the top twenty in the world. Adam placed it second because it was located in Manhattan, New York, the very center of the Center of American TV Show Multiverse.

Classic American shows such as Friends, How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, and Sex and the City all took place there. It would bring obvious benefits to improving Adam's various attributes.

Adam's third application was sent to the University of Texas at Austin.

As a public university, it only ranked within the world's top hundred overall, making it Adam's safety school.

Dr. John Sturgis was a physics professor at this university, and the recommendation letter he had given Adam carried considerable weight there.

Of course, Adam did not particularly want to attend this university. For one thing, its reputation was insufficient; for another, Little Sheldon studied there, and Adam had no desire to become Little Sheldon's babysitter.

Besides those three universities, Adam also applied to Cornell University, New York University, and the University of Rochester in New York.

That's right!

They were all universities in New York, for the same reason he had applied to Columbia University.

After sending out his applications, all that remained was an anxious wait. As expected, his first choice, Harvard University, was a lost cause. Fortunately, Columbia, his second choice, along with several other universities, offered him interviews.

Adam politely declined his father Bob's suggestion to drive him to New York. Instead, he took Bob's pickup truck and set out alone.

In many American movies and TV shows, once American high school students got their driver's licenses, their families would buy them a car—even the cheapest used car—for them to drive.

Adam could only say that was an illusion!

He had held his license for over two years and was about to graduate from high school, yet he had not even touched the shadow of a used car. Every time he needed a vehicle, he had to ask his father Bob—and even then, it depended on Bob's mood.

He headed east.

The two places were roughly 2,600 kilometers apart.

The drive would take around twenty-six hours. Adam planned to spend three days on the road, stopping here and there to take in the sights. It counted as the most popular kind of road trip among American high school graduates.

He did not know whether it was a pity or a relief, but Juno had passed the preliminary selection for Harvard's biological sciences program and qualified for an interview. Otherwise, they could have gone together and taken turns driving.

With her around, Adam would have felt a little safer if he ended up on a wrong turn or had to spend the night in some "inn" or motel.

That's right!

Juno had also chosen biological sciences. In fact, the wide net she had cast was copied entirely from Adam's. According to her, she had said long ago that she might become a doctor with Adam someday.

Thinking about it that way, the relief of not having to see her was far greater than the small sense of safety she would have provided as a travel companion.

Along the way, Adam's nerves remained taut. He was terrified of encountering some dreadful accident, and he had made up his mind that the moment he noticed anything unusual, he would leave immediately. He absolutely could not imitate those American teenagers whose curiosity drove them to openly court death.

His strength and speed had not yet reached the level of superpowers. He could not act without restraint. One careless move, and he would either become part of some strange animal's meal or be turned into food himself...

Oh, right. What were his strength and speed attributes again?

As he drove, Adam began reviewing his attribute panel.

Intelligence: 138.25 (100 normal, 120 excellent, 140 genius, 180 super genius)

Initial value: 108

Juno's contribution: +1 + 0.005 * 365 * 4 = 8.3!

Little Sheldon's contribution: +5 + 0.005 * 365 * 4 = 12.3!

Paige's contribution: +6 + 0.005 * 365 * 2 = 9.65!

He was less than two points away from the genius threshold of 140. Adam had a feeling that once he crossed 140 and became a true genius, his impoverished and miserable life would undergo a major turning point.

For Adam, who had mild obsessive-compulsive disorder, that gap of less than two points was practically unbearable.

If he did not find a way to resolve it soon, then relying on Juno, Little Sheldon, and Paige alone would still require another 117 days to cross that boundary. That was practically as long as a lifetime.

Fortunately, it was not as though there was no solution. An idea suddenly came to Adam, and he already had a plan. He would deal with it after his interview at Columbia University.

"Whew."

After letting out a soft breath, Adam continued reviewing his other attributes.

Strength: 180 (100 normal, 200 strong, 500 super strong, 1000 inhuman)

His strength attribute had not changed at all. If Duncan's family and Emmett had not truly contributed 100 points during his first year after transmigrating, he would have begun doubting whether his guess about the rules governing strength growth was correct.

Endurance: 400 (100 normal, 200 excellent, 500 Just You Show, 1000 inhuman)

His endurance attribute remained as mysterious as ever, having inexplicably surged to 400. Perhaps before long, he would reach the Just You Show level. He wondered what was so extraordinary about Just You Show-level endurance.

Speed: 160 (100 normal, 200 excellent, 500 Just You Show, 1000 inhuman)

His speed attribute was similar to his strength attribute. It had barely increased, so there was nothing much to say about it.

Lifespan: 35.06 (early death, 80 normal, 100 excellent, 150 Just You Show, 200 inhuman)

As for his Lifespan attribute, since he had decided on the Path of a Great Doctor and needed to devote more energy to studying, he had almost completely stopped doing those insignificant good deeds. As a result, the value had not changed at all.

In other words, if Adam made no changes, he would die young at the age of thirty-five years and twenty-one days.