The Only Criterion is Quality

After leaving the principal's office, Link pulled Peggy to the library. It was class time, so the library was empty. Link said, "Peggy, are you planning to go to Princeton University?"

"Of course, Princeton University has the best math department."

"But Peggy, I'm actually planning to go to California Institute of Technology?"

"Why?"

"Because I think it might be more suitable for me."

Link didn't explain in too much detail, and after listening, Peggy said, "In that case, I'll choose to go to California Institute of Technology too."

"Wait, Peggy, don't you need to discuss it with your parents?"

"Of course not." Peggy paused before slowly saying, "After my parents divorced, each of them started acting strange. My mom started busy dating, and my dad became like a child. My sister often cries by herself.

I used to hope everything would go back to how it was, but I realized that's impossible... Every weekend I go home, I have to stay in two different houses, and my grandma said a lot of bad things about my dad...

Most of the things that were important to me before are no longer important. I originally thought I was alone, but when I remembered how you risked danger to save me during the camping trip, I knew you still cared about me.

After that, I thought, no matter where you go, I want to be with you. I'm studying hard now just because you like me to."

Through these words, Link completely confirmed that Peggy now had an overly dependent feeling towards him. For a moment, he couldn't decide how to handle it.

He originally wanted to say that the wild boar they encountered back then, even without a weapon in his hand, would have been difficult to harm him, so the danger wasn't as great as she imagined. However, after hesitating, he finally just said:

"Okay, Peggy, in that case, we can tell Flora next time that our goal is California Institute of Technology. But before that, you still need to get your parents' consent."

"Of course, no problem. My mom will agree."

After that, Link didn't know what Peggy said to her parents, but they finally agreed to Peggy choosing to go to California Institute of Technology. However, Linda said she would accompany Peggy to California Institute of Technology before the start of the semester to personally choose a suitable host family.

After all, Peggy was only eleven years old. As for Peggy saying Link could take care of her, that was directly rejected. In reality, no one would believe that the seventeen-year-old Link could take good care of someone.

The PSAT is only part of entering university, and it's more about obtaining scholarships.

Of course, with Peggy's age and perfect score, plus the school's recommendation, California Institute of Technology had already made the decision to admit her early on.

But the seventeen-year-old Link still needed to follow the standard college entrance examination procedures, such as taking the ACT and SAT tests.

Both the ACT and SAT are types of college entrance exams in the United States and also affect scholarship evaluations. Taking both exams allows for a wider range of school choices, and getting good scores on both increases the likelihood of being admitted.

According to the test schedule, Link took the ACT first.

He had only been at the new school for a little over a year after transferring, but according to Link's plan, he had just gotten his driver's license not long ago, so it was time to go to university.

The procedures before the exam were not much different from the college entrance examination across the Pacific Ocean. He brought paper and pen, admission ticket, student ID, etc., and then waited in line outside the examination room for the teachers to search.

Students were asked to voluntarily hand over items that could not be brought into the examination room, and each student's appearance was checked to prevent proxy testing.

Universities often claim to treat the ACT and SAT equally, but it has become an open secret among students and teachers that Ivy League schools prefer ACT scores.

Link also hoped to get a good score on the first try, after all, he didn't want to wait another two months.

Unlike universities across the Pacific Ocean, universities in the United States were initially prepared for the upper class, so the selection process also had a strong aristocratic feel.

The emphasis on scores across the Pacific, where thousands of troops squeeze onto a single-plank bridge, is despised by some who don't understand, and the example they often use is the emphasis on quality in US college admissions. Little do they know that the emphasis on scores is the most important fair ladder for them to enter the upper class in their lives.

The emphasis on quality means not judging heroes by scores. You either have money or power, and in the United States, power and money are interconnected. Therefore, in summary, there is only one sentence: if you don't have money, don't come.

For the top-tier wealthy descendants, their parents had already accumulated wealth. Even before they were born, they established foundations, donated money to build buildings for top universities, and introduced renowned teachers and expensive teaching equipment.

Thus, no matter how wild or poor their grades were in high school, these second-generation or Nth-generation rich kids could effortlessly enter world-class universities that countless others struggled desperately to get into.

Those with slightly less wealth and status would spend 'small sums' like hundreds of thousands of dollars donating to prestigious schools, becoming members of the school's donation committee. When their children applied to the university, they would be given priority admission by the school's admissions office.

Those even lower down would have their children attend university preparatory courses, honors programs, and participate in various niche sports that represent quality, such as equestrianism and golf.

These niche sports, widely recognized as representing quality, are simply not offered in public high schools. Even if they were, the vast majority of students wouldn't even have the money to buy the equipment.

After such a selection process, a large portion of the student pool for prestigious schools is already gone. Coupled with the need to make exceptions for geniuses like Sheldon and Peggy, the spots truly left for ordinary students are few and far between.

As a result, the remaining ordinary students can only take the ACT and SAT, reverting to a system based solely on scores. Moreover, a large number of qualified students have gone directly to the other side, watching countless ordinary students squeeze onto a tightrope like a vast army.

Of course, since he was born in the United States, he had to find a way to adapt to everything here. If Link didn't have a cheat that allowed him to continuously improve his intelligence, even if he were reborn with only the intelligence of an ordinary person, his best hope would be to get into a first-class public university. He wouldn't even think about the most famous private institutions.

But now, after his intelligence has improved, Link can be considered a genius. Compared to those natural geniuses who showed high intelligence from a young age, he still has a disadvantage in terms of age. Being around the same age as others means he can only choose to obediently participate in the exams.