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十七歲的陳柏麟今年夏天即將自萬佛聖城培德中學畢業。目前她總共收到史丹福大學、耶魯大學、德州萊斯大學、西雅圖華盛頓大學；加州大學柏克萊分校、洛杉磯分校、戴維斯分校等多所名校的入學許可。其中，加大戴維斯分校已提供校董獎學金，可以為她付清所有學雜費；在該校近兩萬名的學生中，只有八十五人申請到這項獎學金，柏麟便是其中之一。不過，柏麟仍在等待其他各校獎學金的申請結果，再作選擇。陳柏麟申請大學時，大都提及中學住校生活是在一座佛教道場裡度過，課外活動包括參加佛教儀式，以及義務為道場工作。德州萊斯大學的申請表上，有一塊空格，讓學生在空格中填入任何能夠打動自己的事物。陳柏麟在這個空格中，畫了釋迦牟尼佛頭像，並且在四個角落分別寫上『慈、悲、喜、捨』的中英文幾個字（右下）
陳柏麟感覺，佛教背景以及道場生活經驗，對於申請大學很有幫助，因為頂尖的大學總要錄取具有不同天賦及來自不同背景的學生。培德中學是一所很獨特的小型中學，學生具有與眾不同的特色，只要成績理想，進入好大學的機會是很大的。
四年前，陳柏麟的母親決定，將柏麟從唸了一學期的聖方濟中學，轉學到萬佛聖城培德中學。陳媽媽有感於十幾歲這個階段，是人生中最要緊的時期，孩子要學好或學壞，就看這個時候了。她希望女兒柏麟能夠待在良好的環境中。
柏麟在培德中學及住校生活上都適應以後，父親也就放心讓她放棄其他私立中學校而到培德中學就讀。母親倒是有些擔心將來的升學問題，當初陳媽媽曾經顧慮柏麟申請不到合適的大學。
陳柏麟的父親是加州大學柏克萊分校的碩士，母親更曾在同校攻讀博士，但為了照顧柏麟而放棄了博士學位。柏麟就培德中學與其他美國學校比較，她覺得，培德中學比較不重視時髦、衣飾、異性，跟她所唸過的其他小學、中學大不相同。
培德中學另一優點是，注重培養學生的品德。某些課程，培德中學會安排學生到附近的社區學院修課。柏麟在社區學院修了八門課。
培德中學的第一屆畢業生（一九八八年畢業）易瑞華目前在史丹福大學就讀，她在培德中學唸書時，也在社區學院修了不少課程，這些學分在史丹福大學被接受承認，使得易瑞華在四年大學期間，不僅修到「人類生物學」的學士學位，也同時獲得「亞洲研究碩士學位」。今年（一九九二）年夏天大學畢業，易瑞華就要在史丹福大學繼續攻讀「亞洲研究」博士課程。
「培德中學的數學課程很棒」，柏麟說：「我們採用薩克孫的數學課本，內容循序漸進，使得困難的課程容易明白，也使數學像是好玩的遊戲。」她的大學入學測驗數學成績，充份說明了培德中學的數學課程實力：PSAT數學考到九十九分，SAT數學考到九十四分，ACH的第二級數學考了七百七十分。柏麟又說：「我的中文課老師們也都教得很精彩，她們將課本與生活的經驗結合，不僅教導我們語文，也教了我們哲學思想。我們還修過很活潑的英文課，是一位法師所教的。我們用的是大學一年級的課本，而且要一篇接著一篇作文。」
萬佛聖城裡生活純淨平和，柏麟得以專心求學。柏麟的SAT和ACH都考得很高，其中SAT的語文考到百分之九十九的比率。她在哈克小學時的一位同學最近告訴柏麟，史丹福大學沒有錄取這位同學。柏麟一聽，大感驚訝。「我們比較了大學入學測驗的分數，以及我們的高中生活方式」，柏麟說：「我很驚訝地發現，我考得比她好太多了。但是，從前在哈克小學時，我們的成績一向是很接近、相差不多的。就生活方式而言，她的高中生活可比我來得「多釆多姿」。」柏麟猜想，她這位小學同學正是因為社交活動、外務太多，所以無法專心唸書吧！
至於柏麟的高中生活，不只書唸得好，籃球也打得好，畫畫更有一手，曾獲一九八九年加州本土植物協會主辦的海報競賽第一名。柏麟最喜歡的課餘活動就是在培德中學女校教體育，還喜歡畫佛像，有時也畫人物和動物，樂在其中。對於培德中學、以及在萬佛聖城的住校生活，柏麟很喜歡，也感覺獲益良多。正如她在史丹福大學的申請表上所寫的：
「對我而言，中學時期在道場裡工作、生活，真是寶貴無價的經驗。不只讓我體驗平和、非世俗的生活方式，更讓我有機會親近女法師、女居士，直接觀察她們的行為準繩與德行。無論是在煮飯、收集木材、甚至在刷馬桶時，沒有人抱怨、卸責。相反地，每個人都盡力遵行師父提倡的六大宗旨：不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、不妄語。觀察我週圍的人，使我看到一個人的偉大，並非炫耀在外的，而是成就在內的。」
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Seventeen year-old Berling Chen is graduating from the City of Ten Thousand Buddha's high school, Developing Virtue High School (DVHS) this June, and she will be the school 's fourth graduate. She has been accepted into the following universities: Stanford, Yale, Rice (Texas), University of Washington (Seattle), UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCLA. From UC Davis, Berling was awarded a Regents' Scholarship, a merit scholarship that covers full financial needs and which only eighty-five out of the more than 20,000 applicants are awarded. Her final decision on which school to attend will await financial aid results from the remaining colleges this Spring.
In answering many of her college applications, Berling wrote about life as a boarding student at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, mentioning such activities as Buddhist ceremonies and volunteer work. Rice University's application asked the applicants to fill an empty square with something that appealed to them. Berling drew a beautiful, moving picture of Shakyamuni Buddha and wrote in the four corners of the square, Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Renunciation.
Berling feels that her Buddhist background and the experience of living in a monastery gave a boost to her college applications, because the better universities want students from diverse backgrounds with unusual talents. Furthermore, since Developing Virtue High School is a small and unique school, its students have an excellent chance of getting into good colleges, as long as their grades are consistently high.
Four years ago, Berling's mother decided to transfer her to DVHS after a semester at St. Francis High School. She felt that teenage years were the time when a child would become either a good or bad person, thus they were the most critical period in a person's life. Thus she wanted her daughter to study in the best possible environment.
As Berling grew used to being a vegetarian and going to school in the City, her father stopped worrying about her withdrawing from St. Francis. Since DV was a rural high school, Berling's mother was concerned about her daughter's ability to enter college. Berling's father has a M.A. from UC Berkeley, and her mother had to discontinue Ph.D. study, also at UC Berkeley, in order to raise Berling.
Comparing DVHS with other American schools, Berling feels that DV lacks the intense social pressure regarding boys, clothes, and popularity that pervaded both her grade school, and her first high school. Another advantage to DV is that it lives up to its name: it develops virtue in its students. Berling says in her experience, many of the top schools in the area, which may be excellent in academics and athletics, still neglect character development.
Since DVH School is unable to provide a full range of courses, the school arranges for students for take certain classes at the nearby Mendocino Community College. By the time she graduates, Berling will have taken eight classes at community colleges (Mendocino and De Anza), classes which she feels were helpful toward the SAT. Developing Virtue High School's first graduate, Shari Epstein, (class of 1988), who now attends Stanford, also took many community college classes while at DVHS. Shari's community college credits were accepted by Stanford, allowing her to graduate this June with a B.A. in Human Biology and an M.A. in Asian Studies. In the fall, she will pursue a Ph.D. in Asian Studies at Stanford.
"Math classes at DV are great, "Berling says. "We use Saxon math books, which are incrementally developed. Saxon makes difficult subjects understandable, and makes math seem like an enjoyable game." Her math scores on college entrance exams speak well for DV's math curriculum: 99th percentile on PSAT math, 94th percentile for SAT math, and a 770 on the Math II ACH." My Chinese teachers have all done a splendid job; they taught us the language as well as the philosophy, combining textbook knowledge with insights into life. I also took a dynamic English class from a Dharma Master, where we used college freshman texts and had to spew out essay after essay."
Berling feels that the City's pure and peaceful environment is ideal, because it allows her to focus on her studies. Her high score on the SAT and ACH prove the point. In fact, Berling scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal part of the SAT.
When an old Harker classmate recently told Berling that she hadn't been accepted into Stanford, Berling was quite surprised. "I was amazed when my friend and I compared college test scores and our lifestyles during high school," says Berling. "I had scored a lot higher that she did on many of the college tests, whereas at Harker, we had the same G.P.A. and similar results on standardized test scores. As for lifestyles, hers was much more wild." Berling guesses that her friend had too many social distractions and hence couldn't concentrate on her studies.
Berling does well not only in school, she is also good at basketball and art. In 1989, she won first place in a statewide poster contest. Berling enjoys teaching Physical Education in the girls' school and drawing people, animals, and Buddha images in her spare time. As for school and dorm life at the City, Berling says "Both were great!" The following is an excerpt from one of Berling's essays on her Stanford application:
"Working at and living in a monastery during high school has been an invaluable experience for me. Not only has my work exposed me to a peaceful, non secular lifestyle, but it has also allowed me to have close interaction with the nuns and laywomen, and observe firsthand their lofty morals and code of conduct. Whether we were cooking lunch for the rest of the community, gathering wood, or even scrubbing toilets, none of them ever complained or tried to shirk responsibility. Instead, each person strove to uphold the Six Principles the Abbot had stipulated: no fighting, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing personal advantages, and not lying. Observing the people in my community, I saw that a person achieves greatness not by what she has to show outside, but by what she has accomplished inside."
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