亲爱的同学和家长：

我是卡卡，见字如面，一个完整经历 SQA 3+2 的毕业生。 如果你正在看这封信，希望可以耐心看完。

近期的院校分析帖子热度不错，感谢各位的关注。 即便卡卡说着事实，也总会影响一部分人，让卡卡充满着阻力。 这封信，写给正在 SQA 中的同学， 写给正在为孩子操碎心的家长， 也写给曾经那个迷茫、焦虑、想要去更好学校、却不知道该相信谁的自己 —— 同时也想借这封信，把卡卡 SQA 这个账号成立的初衷，认认真真地说清楚。

也许你经历过高考的失利，也许你在传统教育体系中并不顺利， 也许你带着些许不甘和期待来到了 SQA。 第一次接触国际教育的你，发现一切都不太一样，上课方式、对接院校、未来方向，看起来选择很多，但越了解反而越迷茫。 慢慢地你会意识到，你的未来似乎有很多可能性， 但与此同时，你也开始被各种声音包围：什么校园代理的推荐，中介机构的话术，以及那些听起来都很美好的东西。 在这样的环境下，你很容易分不清什么是客观的， 什么是包装过的，什么是真正适合你的。

卡卡和你们一样，曾经的我也想去更好的学校，也反复纠结院校排名， 也抱怨过环境，也怀疑过自己，自己的未来究竟是什么？

后来我一步步走完了这条路。 从刚开始 SQA 学习雅思什么都不懂，到毕业时均分93； 从初到英国时学校上课资料平台都不知道在哪， 到一年后唯一一个该专业的一等学位的中国人并发表国际学术期刊； 从研究生 UCL 写作业崩溃到通宵， 到回国面试时被问 "你为什么走 SQA 这条路" 的时候终于能答得很坦然。 最终，我从 UCL 毕业了。

回过头来看，来时的路充满着质疑与嘲讽，充满着焦虑与执着，我发现 真正改变我的并不是某一个具体的选择， 而是我逐渐意识到我必须自己主动地去询问，去了解。 信息是比选择本身更重要的。 即便在这种情况下，我仍然被各种信息左右着。硕士申请卡卡找的是国内的超大机构，但最后UCL是我自己申请上的王牌专业。 直到今天，当我开始去分享一些更加真实的信息，触及到一些既有叙事时，质疑与阻力依然存在。但这也让我更加确定，这件事情是有意义的。

正是因为这些经历，我决定做这个账号。

我并不是要告诉你应该选什么学校， 也不是要替任何人做决定。 我只是希望在你做选择之前，能让你看到更真实、更完整的信息。 SQA 的课堂情况，到本科对接院校， 再到英国真实的学习与生活，以及研究生选择和回国认证以及就业。 我一路上我结识了很多朋友， 有继续在英国发展的，有回国进了大厂或体制内的， 有创业的，有读博的，也有最后选择换方向的。 他们都证明着 这条路没有标准答案，但每一种可能都值得被认真讲一次。 所以我做的事很具体，就是把这些信息尽可能还原出来， 让你在面对选择时，不要被情绪被节奏所驱动。

整整两百年前，因为不满牛津剑桥的精英化与排他性， UCL 诞生了。 1826 年，一群当时被骂作"激进派"的人在伦敦凑在一起， 办了一所不问宗教、出身、只看你想不想学的大学。 它说明着 教育不应该只属于一部分人，它应该属于每一个有意愿学习的人。 1878 年，UCL 又成为英国第一批向女性开放学位的大学之一。 作为UCL的毕业生，卡卡坚信 每一个学生都值得被认真对待， 每一个家庭都应该拥有充分的信息知情权！ 不管你来自什么背景，不管你走的是哪一条路径， 你都不应该被低估，也不应该被标签化， 更不应该在信息不透明的情况下被动做出决定。

学弟学妹们，你或许很爱玩，没有办法沉浸学习，或者周遭环境让你无法踏实。 你或许发现这个项目学习内容很浅，你或许发现有很多事情被蒙蔽。你也许会因为排名和名校光环而心动，在短暂的情绪中做出判断；也可能在反复比较之后，开始对一切变得麻木，甚至想要随波逐流。这些，其实都很正常。但你的人生不应该被一两次考试定义，也不应该被几句外界的声音轻易左右。你的人生不应该被一两次考试定义，也不应该被别人几句话轻易左右。卡卡能帮你的，就是解答你心中的疑惑，或者帮你尝试找出你的热爱所在，给出最中肯最真实的回答。你可以走得慢一点，但你应该走得更明白一点。

家长们，您是孩子留学路上最重要的支持者，也常常是出资方，但坦白讲，您往往也是这条路上最不懂的人。 当年卡卡也是看中院校排名，但因为一些家庭原因并无法圆梦。我现在回头看来，我走的这条路没错，只是觉得遗憾，家长觉得出钱了就是最大的关心。国际教育的术语、对接的细节、英国大学的实际差别，绝大部分家长根本不清楚。 您看到的孩子上这么个项目，在校表现，可能让您担忧。 然后您又听到的别家小孩录了哪所学校的故事，让您焦虑开始压力孩子。 这些焦虑都是真实的，不该被忽略，也不该被利用。 但卡卡想和您说的是， 每一个孩子都有自己的愿望和想法。 因为年龄、因为代沟、因为不善表达， 他们可能没有把这些想法完整地讲给您听， 又或者讲了之后您觉得这不是正经路子，您又说不出个所以然来，导致沟通崩溃。 孩子他们不是不努力不上进，他们也想自己的未来更好，只是有的时候我们的互联网充斥着各种信息，导致认知偏差。请您相信孩子，不要吝啬赞美。 作为这条路完整走过一圈的过来人， 卡卡愿意做您和孩子之间的翻译， 您愿意了解沟通，就是对孩子最大的支持呀。

此刻我正在伦敦写下这封信。窗外是黄昏后的细雨，桌上还摆着我刚到英国时的笔记， 纸角已经卷了。那个曾经在课桌前怀疑自己是不是被生活筛下的我， 最终成为了今天给你写信的人。

如果我能跨过时间，送给那时的自己一句话， 它一定不是 "你将来会怎样" —— 而是 "你不必走得快，但你应该在看清之后再前行"。 这句话，今天我也想送给各位。

人生里很多时刻，不需要一直全力以赴， 它只需要你在某个清晰的瞬间知道 自己不是孤独的，不是无知的， 不是被任何人轻易定义的。 这就是这封信存在的全部理由。

行文至此，感谢各位的阅读与近期的关注，你们的鼓励是我做这个内容的最大动力。卡卡会持续输出有价值的原创内容，让每一位学生在平等获取信息的前提下了解真实情况，是卡卡始终坚持并创建这个账号的初衷。同样的，如果你有任何问题，欢迎询问卡卡。关注卡卡，带你了解更多内容。

愿各位在所有不确定里， 仍然相信光会从合理的地方落到合理的人身上。
愿你在所有标签和噪声中， 仍能听见自己心里那个最朴素的判断。
愿你被尊重，愿你被告知。
愿你最终能成为那个，可以替别人写下这样一封信的人。

Dear students and parents,

I am KaKa — and I'd like you to think of these words as my face, arriving by post. I am a graduate of the full SQA 3+2 pathway. If this letter has reached you, I hope you'll be willing to read it through.

The university-analysis posts I have written lately have been gaining real attention, and I am sincerely grateful for it. Even when KaKa is simply telling the truth, that truth still rubs against the interests of some, and a quiet resistance still surrounds me. This letter is written for the students currently inside the SQA pathway, for the parents who quietly worry themselves thin over their children, and for the earlier version of myself — the one who was lost, anxious, longing for a better school, and unsure of whom to trust. I also wanted, through this letter, to set down clearly the founding intention behind the KaKa SQA account.

Perhaps you went through a Gaokao that did not go your way. Perhaps the conventional system simply did not fit you. Perhaps you arrived at the SQA pathway carrying both quiet reluctance and quiet hope. For most of you, this is your first brush with international education, and almost nothing will feel familiar at first —— the way classes are run, the partner universities, the directions for the future. The choices look abundant, but the more you read, the more lost you feel. Slowly you'll come to see that your future seems to hold many possibilities; but at the same time, voices begin to crowd in from every direction —— the recommendations of campus agents, the scripts of agencies, a long list of paths each described in language that sounds equally beautiful. In a current like this, it becomes hard to tell what is objective, what has been packaged, and what is genuinely right for you.

KaKa once stood exactly where you stand now. I, too, wanted to go to a better school. I, too, agonised over rankings, again and again. I complained about my surroundings, and doubted myself —— asking, quietly: what is my future actually meant to look like?

And then, slowly, step by step, I walked this road from beginning to end. From the early SQA days when even the IELTS felt like a foreign object —— to a final average of 93. From arriving in the UK not even knowing where my university's learning portal lived —— to becoming, a year later, the only Chinese student in my programme to graduate with First-Class Honours and publish a paper in an international academic journal. From the master's nights at UCL when a single essay would push me through to dawn —— to homecoming interviews where, asked "Why did you choose the SQA path?", I could finally answer with calm. In the end, I graduated from UCL.

Looking back, the road I had walked was full of doubt and mockery, full of anxiety and stubbornness. And what truly changed me, I came to see, was not any single choice —— it was the slow realisation that I had to ask, dig, understand on my own initiative. Information matters more than the choice itself. Even after that realisation, I was still being steered. For my master's application I went to one of the largest agencies in China —— and yet, the flagship programme that admitted me at UCL was the one I applied to entirely on my own. Even today, when I begin to share information that disturbs the established narrative, doubt and resistance still find me. And that, more than anything, has confirmed for me that this work is worth doing.

It is because of all of this that I decided to start this account.

I am not here to tell you which school to choose, and I am not here to make decisions for anyone. I only hope that, before you choose, you can see information that is truer and more complete —— what SQA classrooms are actually like; how the partner universities really work; what study and life in the UK actually feel like; how master's choices play out; how credential recognition and the job market back home really treat this path. Along the road I made many friends. Some have stayed and built careers in the UK. Some returned home and joined major companies or the public sector. Some started their own ventures, some pursued PhDs, some changed direction entirely. Together they prove one thing —— this road has no single right answer, but every possibility deserves to be told honestly, at least once. So what I do is very concrete: restore as much real information as I can, so that when you face a choice, you are not driven by mood, and not pushed by someone else's tempo.

Two hundred years ago — exactly two hundred —— out of dissatisfaction with the elitism and exclusivity of Oxford and Cambridge, UCL was born. In 1826, a group of people branded "radicals" gathered in London and founded a university that did not ask about your religion or your family name, and cared only whether you wanted to learn. It stood for one plain idea —— education should not belong only to a few; it should belong to anyone willing to learn. In 1878, UCL became one of the first British universities to open its degrees to women. As a graduate of that same school, KaKa firmly believes that every student deserves to be taken seriously, and that every family deserves a full right to know. No matter where you come from, no matter which pathway you walk, you should not be underestimated; you should not be reduced to a label; and you should never be forced into a decision made in the dark.

To the younger ones reading this —— perhaps you love to play, and find it hard to settle into study; perhaps your surroundings keep pulling you away from the page. Perhaps you've noticed that this programme is not all that academically deep, or that quite a few things are quietly being kept from you. Perhaps a ranking or the glow of a famous name will move you, and you'll make a decision inside a passing mood. Perhaps, after enough comparisons, a kind of numbness sets in, and you start to feel like drifting along with the current. All of this is more normal than you think. But your life should not be defined by one or two exams, nor redirected by a handful of outside voices. What KaKa can do is sit with the questions in your head, or help you find what you genuinely love —— and give you the most candid, most honest answer I have. You may walk slowly. But you should walk knowing more clearly where you are going.

And to the parents —— you are the most important supporter on your child's journey, and often the one funding it. But honestly, you are also often the person who understands the least about this road. KaKa, too, once cared about university rankings; for reasons within my own family, I never quite arrived at the school I had once dreamed of. Looking back today, the road I actually walked was the right one —— what I regret is the silence around it. Many parents believe that paying the bills is, in itself, the deepest form of care. The vocabulary of international education, the mechanics of partner-university transitions, the real differences between British universities —— most families simply have no way to see them clearly. Watching your child enrol in a programme like this, watching how they perform at school, may worry you. Then a story arrives —— someone else's child has been admitted to a school that sounds impressive —— and the worry tips into anxiety, and the anxiety begins to press down on your own child. These anxieties are real. They should not be ignored, and they should not be exploited. But here is what KaKa would like to say to you —— every child carries their own wishes and their own thinking. Because of age, because of generational gap, because they are still learning how to put things into words, they may not have shared those thoughts with you in full; or when they did, you felt it was not a "serious" road, but you couldn't quite articulate why —— and the conversation collapsed. They are not lazy. They are not unmotivated. They want a better future too. It is only that the internet today floods them with conflicting information, and their sense of the world bends. Please trust your child. Do not be sparing with praise. As someone who has walked this road from start to finish, KaKa is willing to be a translator between you and your child. Your willingness to listen, to understand —— that, in itself, is the deepest support you can give them.

I am writing this letter from London. Outside, a fine rain is falling after dusk; on my desk still lie the notes I kept when I first arrived in the UK, their corners curled by time. The boy who once sat at his desk wondering whether life had quietly filtered him out has somehow become the person now writing to you.

If I could send a single sentence back through time to that earlier self, it would not be "you'll be okay one day". It would be: "you don't have to walk fast —— but you should only walk on once you can see clearly." Today, I want to pass that same sentence to each of you.

Most of life does not require you to be giving everything at every moment. It only asks that, at one clear instant, you know —— you are not alone, not in the dark, and not so easily defined by anyone else. That, in full, is the reason this letter exists.

As I come to the end of this letter —— thank you, sincerely, for reading, and for the attention you have given me lately. Your encouragement is the single greatest reason I keep writing. KaKa will keep producing honest, original work —— because letting every student see the real picture, on equal informational footing, has always been the founding intention of this account. And so, if you have any question, you are warmly invited to ask. Stay close, and I'll keep walking you through the rest.

May you, in all your uncertainty, still believe that light reaches the right people in the right places.
May you, beneath every label and through every noise, still hear the plain judgment inside your own heart.
May you be respected. May you be informed.
And may you, in the end, become the kind of person who can write a letter like this for someone else.