17岁的高三男生Martin Altenburg收到了12所全美顶尖大学的录取，其中包括8所常春藤大学(哈佛、耶鲁、普林斯顿、布朗、宾大、哥大、达特茅斯、康奈尔)，芝加哥大学、斯坦福大学、麻省理工学院MIT、加州理工学院Caltech.让人不得不羡慕，不得不佩服。

　　Martin Altenburg来自美国北达科他州一个名叫Fargo小镇，在申请季，他也不确定自己有多少把握获得录取，于是他全部申请了。他说：『我爸妈本来不想让我申请这些学校，因为他们担心我要负担全部学费，而这些大学学费太贵，部分大学的就读费用都超过了我家的年收入。』

　　他要想申请这类顶尖大学，经济条件并不是唯一的障碍——他没有太多渠道去了解这些顶尖大学的相关信息。而且和其他同学一样，他并不保证自己能在这些大学里如鱼得水，取得成功。刚进高中时，他甚至没有考虑过自己能被藤校录取。

　　家境不好，了解的信息受阻，依然不影响学霸逆袭。

　　不过在了解招生流程之后，他对自己充满信心，认为自己不仅有潜力申请优质大学，甚至还可能脱颖而出。于是他把自己的申请目标尽量定稿，申请了全美所有的一流高校。

　　“我们是一个低收入的家庭，所以我想自己尽力，去看看自己可以到达多高，能不能得到一份好的工作，让我了解世界如何运作，并且自己能做到真正对这个世界有影响。“他说。

　　学霸Martin Altenburg有着强烈的求知欲，他的高中成绩是最高分——5分，修了所有AP科目，其中包括生物学，欧洲历史，人文地理，英语，微积分和化学等等。

　　“我喜欢参加AP考试并学习AP科目，因为AP课程可以让你像大学生一样学习。”他说。

　　当这名学霸修完了他所在的高中提供的所有数学课，他在高二暑期参加了MIT的暑期项目MITES，并修了课程微积分2(Calculus II );在高三的上学期，他在本地的一所大学上了课程微积分3(Calculus III )。

　　他考了ACT，也考了SAT。ACT的成绩是35分(满分36)，SAT是1510分。他用了ACT成绩申请大学。

　　从成绩来看，Martin Altenburg是妥妥的学霸，有着强烈的求知欲，修了一系列高难度课程，并且都是满分。他参加过很多数学竞赛，是Fargo Youth Initiative项目的创始人和共同主席。除此之外，他有音乐和体育方面的特长，擅长小提琴，在越野、田径、游泳运动方面参加过比赛。

　　Martin Altenburg的背景堪称完美，不过在接受CNN采访的时候，他显得很低调：“我想上好的大学啊，但是竞争很激烈啊，所以我申请了那么多学校啊，希望录取的概率大一点啊。”但是没想到全部都录取了!

　　随着申请季的结束，他必须要决定选择接受哪一所大学的offer。目前他是在哈佛大学、普林斯顿大学、麻省理工学院和斯坦福大学这四所高校之间进行定夺。

　　商业内幕公布了该学霸的申请文书，全文如下。

　　My favorite time to run is at night.

　　This particular run in early August brought a break to the humid, muggy weather I left on the East Coast. I used my body as a human psychrometer, knowing that the cold feeling of evaporating sweat signaled much needed dry air.

　　I cross over the bridge into Minnesota. Out of my three sports, cross country is definitely my worst — but I continue to be hooked on it. Unlike swimming and track, my motivation to run is heavily intrinsic. I live for the long runs I take on by myself. While they rarely happen during our season, we were assigned a long run to complete over our first weekend of cross country. In reality, I was supposed to go six miles, but felt eight gave me more time to explore the home I had just returned to. My mind begins to wander as I once again find my rhythm.

　　My train of thought while running is similar to the way one thinks in the minutes before sleep — except one has more control over how these thoughts progress and what tangents they move off of. While special relativity would be the "proper" thing to think about, especially at MITES, I revive the violin repertoire I had turned away from for so long and begin playing it in my head. I'm now at the edge of town in between the cornfields. The streaming floodlights on the open road give me a sense of lonely curiosity, reminiscent of the opening lines of Wieniawski's first violin concerto. I come up with adaptations of the melody in my head, experimenting with an atonality similar to Stravinsky's.

　　I turn south onto a highway heading towards downtown. The dark night sky is broken by the oncoming light pollution. While I've longed for a road trip across the country, the neon lights from Sunset Lanes will have to do for Las Vegas. Turning west, I see a man and perk up as I try to look more menacing than I really am. But I relinquish. I realize that I did such an act simply because of the color of his skin. I kick myself for reverting to passive racism — something I spent much of the summer trying to overcome.

　　The bridge over Main Avenue leads me back into North Dakota and downtown Fargo. My city is on the eve of its annual pride week — the largest in North Dakota. Beyond the rainbow flags lining downtown, I see the Catholic cathedral I attend every Sunday outside of the summer. The juxtaposition brings back memories of trying to come to terms with my own beliefs. The conservatism on my mom's side of the family often clashes with the more liberal views of my dad's family. Fargo is known for its "nice" attitude, but the discussion of controversial issues is often set aside in favor of maintaining peace. On the surface this can be good, but it makes change a long and cumbersome process, and has caused me to become very independent in finding my own belief system — something especially difficult when these beliefs may have to do with your future identity.

　　The remaining part of my run is short and uneventful. The fact that the traffic lights have switched to blinking yellow and red means that I have been out later than usual. When I get home, I find that my run took somewhere around an hour — I honestly don't care about time during my distance runs. Longs runs are often seen as a runner battling the distance rather than time. But for me, long runs are a journey — both physically and mentally. Each time I run a route, I understand my surroundings and city more and more, and couldn't be more excited and sad to know that I'm leaving this place in a year's time.