America 1982-Chapter 43 - 2: Guidelines
Tommy Hawk first returned to his apartment, took off the T-shirt with "Italy will win" he’d just been wearing, and threw it into a corner. Then he put on another T-shirt, this one printed with a Bob Dylan lyric, "When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose," and flipped off the T-shirt in the corner with a gloomy expression:
F*ck you, Italy!
Only then did he get on his bike and hurry to Lincoln High School.
The reason for his current hatred toward Italy was naturally because of the World Cup. Although both the official betting companies of Las Vegas and illegal gamblers like Ruby were offering World Cup betting services, Tommy Hawk didn’t intend to make a big fortune by gambling, since he only remembered that Italy was the champion in ’82 and knew nothing about the specific matches or scores.
He’d tried to take out fifty bucks for each match, phoning the Vegas betting companies to bet on the three group matches of the Italian team, thinking that even if he could win a dozen or so dollars from each match as some sort of part-time job, it would be good. In Tommy Hawk’s eyes, Italy was the ultimate champion of this World Cup. Even if they couldn’t win all three group matches, winning two out of three shouldn’t be a problem.
But those damned Italians ended up turning in a performance of three draws in three matches.
Leaving their fate of advancement or going home to be decided by the other teams in the group, okay, that’s very Italian.
The Italian team’s bizarre performance meant that not only did Tommy Hawk fail to earn any pocket money, but he also lost one hundred fifty bucks, incidentally reaffirming the belief of those like Wilson and Green, who had seen him do well from a young age and had decided to follow his lead in betting, that he was indeed his dad’s own flesh and blood.
The money earned earlier was now safely in the bank. After subtracting the handling fees, taxes, and paying back the interest Melanie owed the bank, Tommy and Melanie’s two hundred boxes were left with just ten thousand bucks. Plus the one hundred boxes his dad had earned, the Hawk family’s savings had reached fifteen thousand bucks.
Tony had already started renovating his room, painting it pink and building a desk and wardrobe in preparation for bringing Bessie home.
Yes, this money was enough to bring Bessie back, just waiting for a court date now.
Although Dad was still working odd jobs and Tony hadn’t yet finished his apprenticeship, at least everything in this family was moving in the right direction. The only problems bothering Tommy Hawk now were his college issues and that damned Italy!
One hundred fifty bucks! It was the only time after his transition that he had tried to take a shortcut and make some pocket money based on his memories from his previous life, only to be completely screwed over by the damned Italians with their three draws!
"Miss Farrell, good afternoon," Tommy took a deep breath in the hallway to adjust his mood, tossing Italy out of his mind, and gently knocked on the already open door, greeting Ottilia Farrell inside, who was talking to other students. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
"Tommy, good afternoon," Ottilia greeted Tommy and then turned to the boy in front of her: "Sean, you can leave now. I appreciate chatting with me, but I need to start working. Thank you for letting me know that you can’t spell ’astronaut’ but you have the grand dream of being the first person to land on Mars."
The boy named Sean didn’t take offense; he just stood up with a smile, ready to take his leave: "Miss Farrell, so where should I go to study?"
"Get a Lego Mars Exploration Kit; that might be your only chance of landing on Mars," Ottilia Farrell said to Sean, exasperated.
After sending Sean off, Ottilia shrugged her shoulders and looked at Tommy Hawk: "Now that the grades are in, you need to tell me your plans for the future, Tommy. Then I can give you some advice. Tell me what you want to major in, what kind of job you want to do in the future, which state you’d like to study in, stuff like that."
"The college that gives me a scholarship and has the highest ranking, and the major with the lowest tuition fees at that college?" Tommy Hawk said to Ottilia Farrell.
Ottilia Farrell didn’t react for a moment, staring blankly at Tommy for a few seconds before she asked back, "What are you talking about?"
"I don’t care what major I study, but the school must be as highly ranked as possible, and I must get a scholarship to ease the pressure. For example, if Princeton is willing to give me a scholarship, I wouldn’t mind enrolling in its excavator repair program."
"Tommy, Princeton doesn’t have the major you’re talking about." Ottilia Farrell sighed, "You need to think carefully, and what are your plans for the summer? You should know that your current resume doesn’t have enough standout social practice or extracurricular sports activities. Good colleges prefer high school students who demonstrate social responsibility, leadership capabilities, and well-roundedness."
"I’m considering some summer athletic camps for the summer, and as for social practice, I’m planning to volunteer for a charity marathon in Boston, setting up the venue, handing out water, things like that?" Tommy Hawk wondered aloud.
Applying to colleges in the United States is very troublesome; besides your transcripts, you also need recommendation letters, a personal resume, a personal statement, and various proofs of your abilities outside of studying, and so on and so forth.
"OK, which university did the founder of that charity organization graduate from? You’re going to choose colleges based on his recommendation letter, right?" Ottilia nodded, then asked.
Tommy Hawk shook his head, "I’m not sure. Shouldn’t my recommendation letters be written by the principal and my teachers?"
"But when it comes to social practice activities... when I was in high school, students would participate in social activities, and the initiators of these activities were often alumni of the universities they were fond of. They, of course, would write recommendation letters, seriously describing your performance during the activities to their alma mater, which is a plus for applicants. If a family participates in social activities together, it pleases universities even more. Family relationships are also one of the reasons why prestigious schools take students into consideration," Ottilia Farrell explained.
Tommy Hawk looked toward Ottilia Farrell, having only heard that many prestigious schools would accept additional recommendation letters, like if a notable social figure or well-known politician from their own school wrote a letter recommending a high school student, that student’s chances of being accepted by that university would certainly be higher than those who only prepared the standard recommendation letters.
But where could he find such an organizer who was an alumnus of a prestigious university and who would provide an additional recommendation letter?
"You still have plenty of time, Tommy. Think about the colleges and majors you like. You’re smart, you can definitely do it, or talk with your family, let them give you some ideas, like which social activity would be more suitable for you."
"I think the colleges won’t like the family social activities that my family suggests."
"Why? How can you be so sure the colleges won’t like them? Maybe the ideas from your family are exactly what certain colleges are looking for," Ottilia mildly rebuked Tommy Hawk’s dismissive attitude towards his family, reminding him.
Tommy Hawk looked at Miss Farrell in front of him, who knew nothing about his family, and said in despair:
"The last time my dad invited me to participate in a social activity, the whole family went to a sperm bank to sell ’tadpoles.’ Later, he changed his mind and only took my brother along, telling me to go on my own after receiving a college admission notice because I might be able to sell for a higher price since I’ve been educated. If you think this social activity might interest any college, I can go donate now, and then, all three men from the Hawk family will have their donation certificates."
After staring in shock for several seconds, Ottilia struggled to regain her composure, "Isn’t there any other social activity? Like charity fundraising, community events?"
"Sure, a few days ago my dad used the pretext of me getting into college and bringing glory to the community to try and solicit donations from the neighbors. That social activity earned me dozens of middle fingers from the neighbors and an endless stream of ’F’ compliments," Tommy retorted.
Ottilia took a sip of water to calm herself for a few seconds before she said to Tommy Hawk, "It’s best if you don’t mention the word ’family’ on your personal resume, if you still want to receive an acceptance letter, that is. This is the most important advice I can give you at the moment."
