The second-round interview
On May 16, I took part in the second-round interview at Chongqing University, the one I had been waiting for for a year and a half. I was genuinely excited. It felt like the closest I had ever been to the dream I had been chasing, and I believed I had prepared enough. I was confident.
The whole interview lasted less than twenty minutes. Maybe because I was in the afternoon group, the teachers seemed impatient from beginning to end, as if they just wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible. Or maybe my answers were really that bad? I still do not think so. They asked me two questions:
- how to calculate the design flow rate in water supply engineering;
- eutrophication in Chaohu Lake.
Both were exactly the kinds of hot professional topics that Wu and I had spent a long time preparing for the second-round interview. In my own view, my answers were almost flawless.
But somehow, I still failed.
Later, when I checked the admission list, I saw that the academic master's program had an admission ratio of more than 1:3, and the professional master's program was close to 1:4. I had nothing to say. Chongqing University really is something.
Going back to campus
On May 18, I returned to school. Partly, I wanted to calm myself down and prepare for adjustment applications. Partly, I wanted to see several of my teachers again.
The requirements for returning to campus were extremely strict. The first batch allowed back were students who had failed courses and needed to retake them, and students returning to help organize graduation materials for their classes. Our class monitor was in Jilin, which at the time happened to be a high-risk area, so I effectively took his place and got the qualification to return.
The journey back felt very long. Along the way, I kept thinking about the previous six months. I felt that the final result had failed all the effort I had put in during that time. I knew the second-round interview at Chongqing University would be a hard battle, so I had never allowed myself to slack off. Even on New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year, I was still reviewing professional courses. Yet most of what I had reviewed did not seem to come in handy.
During the year of the gaokao, compared with many people, I was lucky. This year, it seemed as if that luck had finally run out. When I applied, the 2020 enrollment quota had already been cut in half. Maybe from that moment on, failure had been decided. But at the time, I really did not want to give up. As a result, much of what I did over the year turned into wasted effort.
After going through the gaokao, I used to have a kind of ridiculous confidence. I believed that as long as I worked hard, there would be a good result, and that God really did see people who tried. This postgraduate entrance exam experience woke me up. Hard work will bring results, yes, but the result may not be the one you hoped for. It may miss by just a little.
Adjustment applications
The first thing I had to deal with after returning to school was the adjustment process. To be honest, after being rejected in the second-round interview, I had already lost almost all my fighting spirit. I was basically dragged forward by my good friend Wu. In fact, during the last half month before the second-round interview, he had also been the one pulling me along.
Once we learned that the preliminary exam score would account for 70%, Wu and I had already started asking our teachers about adjustment information. During the adjustment process, several of my teachers were like reinforcements dropped from the sky. They provided us with a great deal of internal information, so the two of us did not spend too much time running around blindly.
I still want to give my warmest thanks to my undergraduate teachers: Teacher Wen, Teacher Rong, Teacher Yu, Teacher Ge, Teacher Wei, and Teacher Liu. Thank you all. Thank you to the School of Earth and Environment. Thank you, AUST.
Because of the nature of our major, the adjustment options we considered were mainly two fields: environmental engineering and municipal engineering. Both of us preferred municipal engineering, but there were too few schools offering it. Most 211 universities basically did not accept adjustment students, and even some stronger non-211 schools in municipal engineering, such as Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology and Shenyang Jianzhu University, did not accept adjustment applications for that direction. The schools we looked into included the following:
<table> <thead> <tr> <th>School</th> <th>Major</th> <th>Reason for giving up / status</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Lanzhou University</td> <td>Environmental Engineering</td> <td>The adjustment requirements were very high</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Chang'an University</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Minimum adjustment score was above 350</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Taiyuan University of Technology</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Official information was not transparent; teacher information was incomplete; the adjustment portal opened late</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shenyang Jianzhu University</td> <td>Municipal Engineering / Environmental Engineering</td> <td>Municipal engineering did not accept adjustment students; environmental engineering was only average</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Anhui Jianzhu University</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Chosen as an option: close to home, sufficient information</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Guangxi University</td> <td>Environmental Engineering</td> <td>Too remote; the program was average</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Anhui University</td> <td>Environmental Engineering</td> <td>Did not accept professional master's adjustment students</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Chosen as an option: two adjustment slots</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Xi'an University of Technology</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Chosen as an option: municipal direction leaned toward civil engineering</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ningbo University</td> <td>Municipal Engineering</td> <td>Chosen as an option: good location</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>My choice was essentially between environmental engineering and municipal engineering. If I studied environmental engineering, I would have preferred to return to my own university. Our environmental engineering program had its own doctoral program, a decent ranking, and many teachers with overseas study backgrounds. For municipal engineering, however, there were too few schools, and adjustment choices were mostly limited to non-211 institutions. Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute was a very good option, and with my score at the time, I actually had a strong chance. But after being rejected in the second-round interview, I had become timid. I did not want to take risks, so I gave it up.
A few traps I ran into during the adjustment process:
- Many schools will ask you to fill in their adjustment system as long as they think your score is acceptable. Even if they know your chances are slim, they will not necessarily consider the situation from your perspective.
- You must be extremely careful when filling in adjustment information. When I filled out the form for my own university, I accidentally selected the academic master's program instead of the professional master's program, wasting one of my choices directly. Some schools' systems automatically judge your eligibility, meaning that if you are applying as a professional master's candidate, you cannot choose an academic master's program by default. But some systems do not separate them clearly, as happened with my university. Be careful.
- The most effective way to avoid useless effort is to ask your undergraduate teachers. Their academic networks are far stronger than you imagine and may bring unexpected help.
- Some schools will hold your adjustment application without sending an interview notice and without rejecting you. They simply make you wait. And when you need them most, the admissions office phone will be impossible to get through.
- If you are not determined to take the exam again next year, it is better to play safe during adjustment. Do not be too aggressive. Although you can fill in three parallel choices, the interview times will not necessarily avoid one another perfectly.
Graduation defense
My graduation design supervisor was Teacher Wen, but he also found me an even more experienced mentor from a municipal design institute, the person I had previously referred to as Zhang.
Teacher Wen and Zhang are both from Xuchang, so in a sense they are both my fellow townsmen. During the months of working on my graduation design, Teacher Wen held a meeting with us every Friday. He asked about everyone's progress and the problems we had recently encountered, then helped solve them one by one. As for me, because I had Zhang's guidance, I basically had no major problems to raise in those meetings.
The day before the graduation defense, we held our final Tencent Meeting. By then, almost everyone had completed their work and was waiting for the defense, so the meeting was no longer centered on technical questions. Teacher Wen asked each of us about our plans after graduation: graduate school, work, another year of exam preparation. He asked everyone carefully.
Teacher Wen had graduated with his doctorate from Chang'an University the previous year and had only just come to our university this year. We were his first group of students, his opening disciples in a sense. Throughout the whole process, he was very responsible. During regular meetings, no matter how simple the questions we raised were, he answered them one by one. He even taught us things like inserting formulas in Word and using EndNote to insert references. Teachers like that are not common.
During that final Tencent Meeting, Teacher Wen gave advice to every student. Although we were all separated by screens, there was a faint sadness in the air. He had treated us very well, and my classmates were also wonderful. During the graduation design process, everyone often helped one another. But we were about to part ways. We could not even meet one last time before separation.
I had never met Zhang in person. We usually communicated through QQ. Whenever I had a question, I would leave him a message, and he almost always replied quickly. When he was busy with work, he would reply at night. Throughout the design process, whenever I ran into calculation problems or drawing problems, Zhang gave me advice and suggestions. The whole process also allowed a student like me, who had mostly lived inside textbooks, to see the collision between theory and practice. I learned many things beyond textbooks, or things I had never paid attention to before. Every time I asked a question, Zhang gave me an answer that I could fully understand, and he would often add a little practical experience from his own work.
I was like a seed, desperately absorbing every bit of water given to me. I grew quickly.
With the support of Teacher Wen and Zhang, I finished my graduation design quite early. So the defense was never really a problem for me. I was confident I would pass with a high score.
When the defense groups were assigned, I found that one of the teachers grading me was Teacher Yu. He had taught us as an undergraduate teacher and had led us to the production internship in senior year, though at that time I had never really spoken to him. I did not expect that later I would have the chance to get to know him, and I certainly did not expect that he would become my senior schoolmate.
My defense order was relatively late. By the time it was my turn, it was already afternoon. The teachers had been worn down by us for an entire day and had long since lost their patience. The invited industry expert also looked a little exhausted. I honestly felt for the students in the morning group, who had been questioned much more intensely. So my own defense went very smoothly. I knew how to answer every question the teachers asked.
Thanking my teachers
During my four years of university, I had almost no contact with teachers in the first two years except during class. In my freshman year, I drifted along, neither studying properly nor having much fun. In my sophomore year, I became absorbed in web development and basically did not listen much in class.
I truly began to know my teachers during the period when I was preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam. At first, I planned to switch fields and apply for computer science. Later, after considering various reasons, I gave it up. When you do not want to do something, you can always find ten thousand reasons.
The first teacher I got to know was Teacher Rong. At that time, I skipped physical education classes for a whole semester and followed him through fluid mechanics. Teacher Rong originally worked in water conservancy, so his understanding of fluid mechanics was beyond question. But that was not the main point. I believe many professors have an absolutely solid command of undergraduate knowledge. What is less common is being able to teach it seriously, responsibly, and clearly. Teacher Rong had both qualities, so his fluid mechanics course was excellent and benefited me a great deal.
The second was Teacher Wen, my graduation design supervisor. In the past half year, besides guiding my graduation design, he also helped Wu and me a lot while we were preparing for the second-round interview. We often communicated with him. Since Teacher Wen is not much older than us, there was almost no generation gap in conversation. On top of that, we are from the same hometown.
Then there was Teacher Yu. After completing his master's degree at Anhui Jianzhu University, he came directly to work at our university. Our university's environmental engineering program is strong, but water supply and drainage science and engineering was still a newly established major. There were very few professional teachers. Strictly speaking, at the time only Teacher Wen and Teacher Yu were genuinely focused on municipal engineering. So Teacher Yu's arrival was very important for our university and our major. At the very least, my younger schoolmates now have better resources.
Our class was only the second graduating class of the water supply and drainage major. The previous class had not performed very strongly overall in the postgraduate entrance exam. Our class finally looked more like it had momentum; in fact, I think our class was very strong. During the adjustment process, Teacher Yu also helped Wu and me tremendously. He gave us a lot of internal information, allowing us to understand the schools and teachers with much more confidence. Originally, both Wu and I planned to go to Anhui Jianzhu University. Later, Wu suddenly got a better option and went to Xi'an University of Technology, leaving only me. I was successfully adjusted to Anhui Jianzhu University, and Teacher Yu became my senior schoolmate in the same academic line.
In fact, besides the three teachers mentioned above, Teacher Ge and Teacher Liu also gave us great help. Wu and I are deeply grateful to all of our teachers. The education you gave your students will be remembered for life. Thank you to my undergraduate teachers. Thank you to the School of Earth and Environment. Thank you, AUST.
Trying to enjoy campus one more time
The last thing I wanted to do after returning to school was to experience campus life again.
In freshman year, I neither studied nor played properly. I just drifted. In sophomore year, I was obsessed with web development and did not really have much fun either. The first semester of junior year may have been the most carefree period I had, the one time I truly experienced university life. I was very happy then. The second semester of junior year and the first semester of senior year were spent preparing for the exam, so I did not really play. Then came the second semester of senior year, and COVID-19.
So if I count carefully, the only period when I really experienced a complete, ideal version of college life was the first semester of junior year. To be honest, I had not had enough. There were still a few things I wanted to do:
- walk around campus;
- sit in the library;
- run on the track at night;
- work on the website;
- write on the blog;
- drink again with friends.
If I had been forced to graduate without doing any of those things, that would have been too miserable. Though even after doing them, it was still miserable in a way: no graduation photo, no academic gown, no proper farewell.
During the days I spent back at school, I basically managed to do all these things. Still, because some friends had not yet met the requirements to return, there was inevitably some regret.
On the 7th, because Chaoqun was leaving the next day, we called two friends from Class Two and walked around campus together in the evening. These were places we had stayed in every day, and suddenly we were about to leave them. I really felt reluctant. Tiangong Building, where we had attended so many classes; Mingli Building, which had air conditioning; the library with its absolutely top-tier facilities — memories came back one after another and rushed into my mind all at once.
On the 3rd, Wu asked me to sit in the library with him. Sitting in that familiar seat, thinking back on the three hundred days of exam preparation, I felt all kinds of emotions mixed together. In that year, the happiest thing was getting to know several excellent study partners. We teased each other every day, but once we started studying, we helped and pushed one another. We played together when it was time to play, and studied together when it was time to study. With friends like that, it was hard not to be happy.
Starting on the 8th, almost everyone in our class had left. Only Dong from the next dormitory and I remained. The dorm became strangely quiet. In these last few days, I planned to keep tinkering with the front end of the website and write about the past year and a half of life. I think this period was a turning point in my life. When I look back on it someday, I will probably miss it very much.
Zhishan Academy.
Draft paper, answer sheets, and notebooks used during the year of postgraduate exam preparation.
Four years passed in the blink of an eye. It really was fast. I enjoyed these four years, and I am happy that I met such good friends and several teachers who became so important to me. How lucky must I have been to meet so many people I like?
Hello, AUST. We will meet again.
June 8, 2020. Renyuan Building No. 2, AUST. The sun was blazing overhead.