Top Student at Their Peak
Chapter 103 - 76: A Phone Call That Changed Perceptions (Part 2)

Chapter 103: Chapter 76: A Phone Call That Changed Perceptions (Part 2)

Everything Xue Song said on the phone made Qiao Yu realize that his previous thoughts were indeed too simplistic.

Of course, all this had to do with what Lan Jie had told him before.

However, speaking of which, it’s true that the good guy has never been a university professor, so some cognitive bias seems normal. After all, high school and university are two completely different systems.

And on the other end of the line, Xue Song was still tirelessly explaining.

"Take our Yujiang University for example, the admissions work is directly outsourced to each department. For instance, our Mathematics Department is responsible for admissions in Dongshan Province this year. Do you think the professors assigned to carry out admissions work will give face to the admissions office? Don’t be silly!

The admission processes at Huaqing and Yanbei, although I haven’t researched them, should be roughly the same. In other words, the teachers responsible for admissions might very well have been top scorers in the national exam or even former competition champions, do you think they would care about city or provincial top scorers?"

Qiao Yu listened intently, as all this information was completely out of reach for someone like him, a middle school student, or even for ordinary people. In this sense, Xue Song was genuinely sharing for free, regardless of his motives.

"So, before you enter university, I want you to complete a paper as the first author that can be published in a journal ranked in the top 5% of Area 1. However, the reason I’m asking you to do this is not for you to negotiate scholarships with Huaqing or Yanbei over such trivial matters.

It’s to give you the qualification to choose an academician as your mentor, preferably one of those senior academicians who haven’t taken students in recent years. This is important for you because, on an academic level, you don’t need much guidance. All you need is someone to help you shield against issues so you can focus on research during your student years.

Don’t think it’s a simple task. Can you imagine someone watering down findings in another lab just out of jealousy? With such a mentor, at least you won’t encounter these problems while doing research.

A senior academician values their reputation and is willing to go all out for their closed-door disciple, and their words carry weight. You should know that most of your senior brothers and sisters have already made a name for themselves in academia, and they will all be your support.

An Area 1 paper may not seem like much to them. But for a student who can independently complete a high-quality Area 1 paper while just entering high school, and also win a gold medal in both the IMO and the Little Alibaba Competition, it’s different.

Put it this way, my situation back then was quite similar to yours, so I went to Princeton and secured a renowned mathematics mentor early on, which led to my achievements today."

"Ah? A senior academician mentor? Well, does the Mathematics Department at Yujiang University have senior academicians?" Qiao Yu couldn’t help but ask.

"There are academicians but no senior academicians. Also, Yujiang University can’t handle much; don’t come."

Honestly, Xue Song’s words really surprised Qiao Yu.

He originally thought that Professor Xue, after saying so much today, would ultimately aim for him to study at Yujiang University, but this statement completely ruled out that possibility.

Qiao Yu had also searched online before, and at least in Huaxia, academicians are considered the highest honor in the academic field.

As for those senior academicians among academicians... they are probably the top-tier bosses, right?

In any case, for a middle schooler, this topic seemed somewhat distant.

But soon, Xue Song’s words made Qiao Yu realize that this was actually an issue he would face in a year’s time.

"In short, your first choice should be a senior academician mentor. So, it doesn’t matter who contacts you now, don’t pay attention to them. Quietly prepare for your competitions and papers. Then publish the paper, obtain the IMO gold medal, and sign a joint undergraduate-master’s-doctorate program agreement with Huaqing or Yanbei.

When signing this agreement, you can directly confirm the mentor. Don’t bother with other trivial conditions. By that time, choose the institution whose mentor has a stronger voice and is more suitable for you academically."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yu sincerely said, "Thank you, Professor Xue."

"Don’t thank me just yet. I’m helping you plan so much with conditions. For your first paper, you are the first author, but the corresponding author should be my name, and the affiliated institution should be Yujiang University. Do you have a problem with that?"

Qiao Yu immediately replied, "No problem!"

There really wasn’t a problem. Although he didn’t quite understand papers, Lan Jie had talked to him about some things on the way back to Star City.

It is commonplace for students’ papers to have their mentor listed as the corresponding author.

It’s not just that mentors need the corresponding author credit, but often students need their mentors as the corresponding authors to pave the way.

After all, students are usually newcomers to academia. Unless it’s a completely ambitionless, money-driven journal, editors won’t even take a proper look. Not to mention the Area 1 journals recognized by the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, which generally rank in the top 30% internationally and typically aren’t short on submissions.

The difficulty for an unknown newcomer to publish in such journals is imaginable.

Sometimes even many students’ papers are just names that mentors reluctantly agree to as corresponding authors.

If the paper is poorly written and published, it can be embarrassing, but to meet the school’s minimum graduation requirements, they have to accept it.

It’s like a classic complaint circulating between mentors and students: "Your paper poses no threat to my status in academia, but it leads to disgrace in the field of education."