How to apply for Harvard University by yourself?

It happened that some of my classmates and friends in the Department of Foreign Languages at National Taiwan University-Liu, Bai Xianyong, Wang Wenxing, Chen Ruoxi (Xiu Mei), Ouyang Zi (Hong Zhihui), Lin, (Cheng), Zhang Guangxu, etc. -Everyone loves literature. When I was a junior, I ran a magazine "Modern Literature". What about me? Apart from waving flags and shouting for them, occasionally translating a few articles has made no contribution. Although I like literature, I dare not specialize in pure literature. So, what should I study in America? So I applied at random and sent application letters everywhere: the drama departments of Yale and Indiana University (I took Professor Dong Hanjiu's drama class in my senior year), the journalism and media departments of Iowa and Illinois State University, and the film department of UCLA. Finally, in order to be more "practical", I think I should apply for a "useful" study: because I study foreign languages, I think I can study diplomacy, and diplomacy is "international relations", so I decided to apply to the University of Chicago to study international relations, just in case-if my dream of drama and film fails, I can at least learn one thing to make a living; And it's decent to be a diplomat. Maybe you can dance with the ambassador's daughter at the dance hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! This is a "good story" told by an English teacher to our students when I was studying in Hsinchu Middle School. Overture: the first day of applying to Harvard. After all the application procedures were completed, one day my father said to me, "I might as well try to apply to Harvard." I was hesitant at that time, thinking that the opportunity was slim and I wasted the application fee. Later, I thought it would be okay to try. Anyway, my four-year academic performance in the Foreign Languages Department is good-a top student may be seen by this top school! This idea is all wet! Later, I learned that going to the United States for postgraduate study mainly depends on how well prepared you are for the one you want to study. The score of 100 in English test is useless, but it is even more difficult to apply for an undergraduate course in Harvard, because every applicant is not only among the best, but also a genius. So, which subject should I apply for at Harvard? Harvard has no drama department, let alone film and media. What should I study? I first heard the name of Fei Zhengqing, a Harvard professor, in my sophomore international relations class. It is said that he was not very friendly to the authorities in Taiwan Province Province. I don't know where I got my inspiration, thinking that my superficial knowledge of "international relations" could be valued by him, so I decided to apply for East Asian Studies at Harvard, taking the modern history of China as the main course and taking the project of "East Asian Regional Studies" in the master's class first. After the application form was sent, I graduated for military service in a few days. Fortunately, I drew lots to become an English teacher in the air force junior school. Every day, I do nothing but teach. The school is located in donggang city, the southern tip of Taiwan Province Province. On weekends, you can take the train to the "Air Force Club" in Kaohsiung to dance with female middle school teachers. You had so much fun that you forgot to apply for studying in America. The following spring (1962), my father sent me several letters from American universities, but my application failed one after another, and only the University of Chicago and Harvard accepted me: Chicago gave me tuition-free treatment, while Harvard's letter said that I had won an "alternative scholarship", and I was ecstatic after reading it. However, I think the English term in the letter is a bit strange-"alternative fellowship"-I initially interpreted the word "alternative" as "another scholarship", but ignored the small word "fora". I went home to discuss with my father, and he gave the same explanation, thinking that I had won a scholarship from Harvard. Later, I carefully read the "text" and realized that I was a "backup" or "backup": if others don't want that scholarship, I may still have a chance, otherwise there is no hope. Who would refuse a scholarship from Harvard? In desperation, I finally decided to accept the "tuition-free" treatment of the University of Chicago, which can at least save my parents a considerable amount of tuition. As a matter of fact, my parents can't afford me to study abroad at my own expense. Their annual salary is not enough to buy a plane ticket to America! For my trip to Chicago, they had to borrow money, even at the expense of losing everything, all for my precious son to study abroad. God knows why I chose a "learning" that I know nothing about. After arriving in Chicago, I discovered that the so-called "international relations" are not like that at all, nor are they the so-called international current affairs at all. There must be a way to learn, and when I first entered the University of Chicago, I was going to learn the so-called "game theory". I regarded the political and military strength of various countries as chess pieces or "sailors" on the international stage-not real people, but electric puppets in today's computer games-and inferred the "safety" index from this. Less than two months after I arrived in Chicago, I was caught in an existential crisis: what am I doing in America? Why learn this "game"? Why do you want to chew on these incomprehensible theoretical books? As a diplomat, what are my dreams? Every country is just a small piece on the international political chessboard, which is not in the eyes of the professor at all. I also took a course on "International Politics", which was taught by the famous professor HansJ.Morgenthau. His newly published textbook "Politics in Political Science" is very popular. This book talks about "pragmatism" in international relations, so it completely scoffs at the so-called "morality" in international relations. So I wrote a letter to Harvard with the feeling of giving it a try and reapplied. This time, I wrote more specifically in my application, especially my "Chicago experience", and especially emphasized that I studied under Mr. Qian Cunxun, the director of the Far East Library of this school: I took several courses he taught-Textual Research and Bibliography of China Ancient Books-because it was very close (working in the Far East Library). Mr. Qian is not only my mentor and an enlightener of Chinese studies, but also a key figure in helping me successfully apply for Harvard. The letter he wrote to me played a key role, because with his authoritative recommendation, I was qualified to apply for the postgraduate of China Culture. But why study China in the United States? I am very westernized. I have no interest in "Chinese studies", and my understanding of China's history is only the level of ordinary college students. I only have a soft spot for China's modern literature, because during my stay in Chicago this year, in order to get rid of my depressed mood, I began to read "banned books"-the literature of the 1930s banned by the Kuomintang in Taiwan Province Province-especially Lu Xun's works, so I buried the "gene" of studying Lu Xun many years later. But I searched Harvard's courses, and there is no such subject as modern literature in China. In the history of China, apart from Professor Fei Zhengqing, there are only two names I am not familiar with: Yang Zhenning and Schwartz. Later, I also took a course under Mr. Yang, and I was indebted to him for personally passing the oral exam when I took the doctoral exam, but Professor Schwartz became my apprentice. As for Professor Fei Zhengqing, there are too many students in his class. I probably only took one reading class, and the others are on duty. Moreover, I became a "troublemaker" in his class, and I criticized his works without shame, thinking that there was only system and political history, and there was no human touch and humanistic atmosphere. This is another story. At the end of my first year in Chicago, I received an acceptance letter from Harvard University and scholarships from all graduate schools and science schools.