病牛废话

binneal

记得前些日子空闲时翻过一本叫哈佛小子的书，讲的是一个上海的中学生学习奋斗的经历。 He was admitted by Harvard University right after graduating from high-school and was offered full scholarship.  其中细节已经不记得了，印象其深的一点感慨便是：人和人是不一样的，，从出生到此后的每一步。

The little young fellow was born into a family that values child education over almost anything else.  The kid, smart and hardworking, studied at a top high-school in Shanghai.  那学校的条件,外教师资，和学习气氛,都是国内许多中学甚至美国的language school不能比的。小主人公好学上进，加上家里广有羽翼请来名师小灶精补，高中毕业英语就超过国内许多本科生硕士生的水平，倒也是情理之中。 Here in U.S., child education is pretty much the same story.  arents, especially a lot of Chinese, send their kids to a type of private school called "Challenger", starting from kindergarten till all the way before college.  学费高的就连大公司的 directors and tech-leads 都心惊肉跳。However, the school trains students on the basic skills from the very beginning.  这些skills不仅仅是听说读写推理计算，还有 social skills, interpersonal communication, leadership, etc.  No wonder the graduates are so successful statistically in their future lives.

回到考G，其实想说得就一句大俗话：谋事在人成事在天，别把得失看得太重。这世上，目标750，轻松拿下的有，目标650，屡败屡战的也有。每个人起点不同天份也不一样。 说实话，十年之后指不定谁比谁事业成功家庭幸福。所以呢，别拿考G论英雄。我自己这两天就一直捉摸，真要是拿到admission，到底值不值放弃自己所长的technical track，抛
出大笔大笔的血汗和越来越有限的生命，和洋鬼子，假洋鬼子们头破血流的拼我的弱项？GMAT and MBA, after all, might be just a fantasy. 当然，有的朋友已经破釜沉舟孤注一掷了，如一道AI topic 提到的 motiviated by both self-interest AND fear by now, 我在这儿也不想破凉水。但是硝烟战火之后，如果事与愿违，不论接下来是隐退江湖还是东山再起，只要能直面人生，就都是英雄好汉。

On the other hand, despite what I have advocated, if 750 or 650 is indeed your goal, your must-have-otherwise-life-is-incomplete dream, bear with me a little bit longer here.  Gmat exam is often compared by many to a race.  To me, it is more analogous to hiking： Everyone has his/her own target and starts off from his own place.  The physical limitations also vary from one to another.  Unlike people in a race, gmaters can setup their own pace and take as many time (trial) as they like.  记得六年前在复旦考paper based GRE,大有生死一战的味道。 而今的CAT机考每月一次，而且B-School大多注明只看highest score,简直就是被ETS买通了让考生花钱买分数。即便是考个三番五次之后水平不涨，ETS自己承认的几十分的标准偏差，也能让人反复sample之后在(real expected score + 50)的地方冒出个点, 小牛一把。The bottom line is: if you are so determined, just keep going. NN们一个箭步迈上750，你就一步一个脚印儿的奔。虽然苦点儿累点儿costly一点儿，最终看到的都是一样的风景，你还锻炼了身体，磨练了毅力，下次再比就和NN们的距离又小了一节儿，有什么不好？再说了，平时不花钱不加压让锻炼身体，又有多少人真肯呢？

To recap:
1. 每个人天份不同，考了牛分固然是本事，也不值得沾沾自喜，居高临下。倒是那些出道之后，还虚怀若谷，扶老携幼的NN们，着实让人钦佩感激。这些琅琅上口的名字，想必我不用提大家也知道。
2. 知难而退的是大智。认定要啃G这硬骨头的，即便不爽也是一时。

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-1-20 17:00:21编辑过]