学生竟会因为这些原因被心仪大学拒之门外?
明明成绩和各方面都很好,却没有被本该稳录的学校录取?可能是你的文书出了大错!
美国大学对于录取的学生会进行综合考量。尤其是学生的人品方面会是考量的一大标准。很多学生不知道该如何写文书,写了一些过于敏感的话题,导致招生官的质疑甚至反感,那么这样的学生是会立刻被学校筛选掉,再也不看的。除此之外,学校如果在学生的社交媒体和面试过程中(部分学校和项目会有面试)发现学生有任何不尊重的行为及言论、暴力行为、甚至违法行为,即便发了录取通知也会撤销。
文书是申请的一道极为重要门槛,一篇好的文书可以让学校招生官看到学生的才能、情商、社会经验、课外活动丰富度、共情能力等等各种特质。尤其是近几年,申请文书的占比及重要性不停上升,成了GPA和标化成绩以外最重要的考量标准。尤其是今年各大学校宣布SAT/GRE/GMAT等等标化成绩均为Optional(选择性提交),以及UC彻底宣布不看SAT后,文书在申请材料中的地位可谓是举足轻重。
那我们一起来看看关于美国高校的录取趣闻,也可以学习一下如何规避这些“致命”的错误。
"The worst case I've seen is a kid openly admitting in his application essay that he was a habitual cheater throughout high school — but it taught him how to become resourceful and think outside the box."
“我见过的最糟糕的情况是一个孩子在他的申请论文中公开承认他在整个高中都是一个习惯性的作弊者——但这教会了他如何变得足智多谋和跳出条条框框来思考。
"I'm a teacher. One student I worked with had his acceptance to Stanford rescinded. He's a low-income, minority student with an excellent GPA and ACT scores. On paper, he's a talent and diversity score for schools. When he got his acceptance letter, he tweeted AT STANFORD something like, 'Fuck yeah, I got in.' That prompted them to click on his Twitter, and they saw all this fucked up shit about misogyny and drug use."
“我是一名教师。与我共事的一名学生被斯坦福大学取消了录取资格。他是一名低收入的少数民族学生,拥有出色的 GPA 和 ACT 成绩。从理论上讲,他是学校的人才和多样性得分。当他得到在他的录取通知书上,他在斯坦福大学发了一条推文,比如“欧耶,是的,我被录取了。”这促使他们深挖他的推特,他们看到了所有关于这个学生的斑斑劣迹。”
"I rejected a student who applied to our Ph.D. program to work with me because she plagiarized my paper in the personal essay of her application."
“我拒绝了一个申请我们博士项目的学生和我一起工作,因为她在申请的个人论文中剽窃了我的论文。”
"I once went and visited a college that my brother was interested in. The admission officer must have been having an awful day because he proceeded to go on a full-blown rant, saying, 'If ANY of you write a college essay about a tragic event in your life, it has to be tragic. An essay about how you moved in your sophomore year of high school to another state and no longer had friends with you, THAT IS NOT TRAGIC. If it is supposed to be a tragedy or huge overcoming, then it must be a tear-jerker. EVERY TIME I see an essay about overcoming a lame obstacle, it instantly hits the bin.'"
“我曾经去过一所我哥哥感兴趣的大学。招生官一定度过了糟糕的一天,因为他继续咆哮,说,‘如果你们中的任何人写一篇关于你生命中的悲剧事件,它必须是一个真正的悲剧。一篇关于你如何在高中二年级搬到另一个州并且没有朋友的文章,这不是真正的悲剧。如果你要写一个悲剧的时间或你克服了一个巨大的困难,那么它一定是催人泪下的。每次我看到一篇关于克服很小的障碍的文章,我直接把他移到垃圾箱。'”
"An admissions officer at W&M once told me about this student who had submitted a beautifully written essay. It was not only well written but emotional, and spelling- and error-free – overall, a fantastic essay. The admissions officer was just about ready to accept her right there when she saw that at the end of the essay, the student had written, 'And that's why I want to go to UVA.'"
“W&M 的一位招生官曾经告诉我,这位学生提交了一篇写得很漂亮的文章。它不仅写得很好,而且很感人,而且拼写和错误都没有——总的来说,这是一篇很棒的文章。招生官几乎准备好了接受这位学生,直到她看到论文末尾的学生写道,'这就是我想去弗吉尼亚大学的原因时,就接受了她。'(忘记修改申请学校的名字,这个错误非常可怕)
"My mom is an admissions counselor. The worst story I've heard from her is about an outstanding student who had a top GPA, top test scores, and a good essay — except my mom had never heard of their school. She does some searching and can't find anything on the school (odd), so she types in the address on google maps. She finds an abandoned school that no one has attended for YEARS."
“我妈妈是一名招生顾问。我从她那里听到的最糟糕的故事是关于一个优秀的学生,她的 GPA、考试成绩和论文都很好——但我妈妈从来没有听说过他们的学校。她搜索了一下,在学校里找不到任何东西,所以她在谷歌地图上输入地址。她找到了一所废弃的学校,多年来没人上过学。”
"I rejected another student to our (science) Ph.D. program because he said he 'didn't believe in data' during our interview."
我拒绝了另一个学生参加我们的(科学)博士项目,因为他在我们的采访中说他‘不相信数据’。”
"I worked in a graduate admissions office in college. We once turned away a woman who would call the office every day to ask us questions about the program that we were not able to disclose — average GPA/GMAT of the class accepted so far, job placement rate, etc. This was a brand new program, the first class hadn't even graduated yet. Eventually, we rejected her because her resume wasn't as built out as some of our other applicants."
“我在大学的研究生招生办公室工作。我们曾经拒绝过一位女性,每天都会打电话问我们一些比较机密的课程问题——该班级的平均 GPA/GMAT、就业率等等。这是一个全新的项目,第一班还没有毕业。最终我们拒绝了她,因为她的简历不像我们其他一些申请人那样完善。”
"In a program about CommonApp essays, the university I wanted to attend told us the story of a particular applicant. He mentioned the show Dexter in his essay, then ended his essay with something along the lines of, 'I would definitely become Dexter and kill bad guys.'"
“在一个关于 CommonApp 论文的项目中,我想就读的大学告诉我们一个特定申请人的故事。他在他的论文中提到了德克斯特的节目,然后在他的论文的结尾是这样的,‘我肯定会成为德克斯特杀死坏人。
(以上案例均来自buzzfeed.com)
这些趣闻有些让人啼笑皆非,有些却值得深思。那么,写好一篇好的文书,到底有哪些要素呢?
杜克大学招生官Willie对于优秀文书提出了一个4C原则:
准确 Correctness
用词准确,时态、拼写和标点没有错误。这一标准用来评判学生是否具备基本英文写作能力。
有料 Content
检查文章是否围绕学生自身来写,是否真实,是否展现学生个性、才能以及思想深度,能否引起反思。
清晰 Clarity
文章简洁,观点清晰明确;运用恰当的措辞、词汇、语法以及多样精致的句式结构,这是即将步入大学的高中生应该必备的。
新颖 Creativity
能否吸引读者的注意力?主题表达是否新颖?
写文章时没有所谓完美的题材。招生官喜欢看不同主题和题材的文章。文章必须真实可信,同时也表达出学生自己的特点和想法,并且还符合上面提到的4C原则就是合格的题材。招生官最不喜欢的就是千篇一律、小题大做以及“跑题”。
以下问题可以在构思自己的文书时进行最基础的参考:
1. 突显自己的与众不同
2. 把更多的重点放在自己身上。“我”做了什么?而不是把过多的重点放在事情本身
3. 选择这个专业的原因和未来目标是什么?
4. 从什么时候开始对这个专业感兴趣的?又是通过什么
5. 事情确定这个专业就是你所喜爱并追求的领域?
有哪些非学术的经历可以帮助你的申请?(家庭背景,工作经历,课外实践经历等)
6. 未来想要做什么?
奥弗尔教育拥有最专业的藤校名师和专业作家辅导文书。一对一定制,拒绝“流水线”,让你在申请中脱颖而出!请立刻免费咨询我们。