讲座实录 | 美籍白人哥伦比亚大学毕业生为你讲述美国留学申请的那点事儿

转自Global Dreams

背景

上周，我们举办了一次微信群的免费讲座。

这次讲座由我们公司专业的留学咨询师Chris Pecaro进行线上分享！Chris先生毕业于美国哥伦比亚大学，是地道的美籍白人，此次讲座他主要来给大家讲述了申请学校过程中需要注意的一些细节问题，并且详细的介绍了什么样的学生才是招生官心目中理想的申请者。

内容分享

Hello everyone, this is Chris Pecaro, I made graduate of Columbia University where I was part of the Columbia University's Scholar's Program which is a fellowship for the top 10% of College Applicants.

大家好，我是Chris Pecaro，我是哥伦比亚大学的毕业生，入校时我在所有的申请者中排名前10%，我也因此获得了哥伦比亚大学的奖学金项目赞助。

In this session, I will explain the college admission’s process and also answer any question you may have about the application process to elite universities like the Ivy League schools as well as the elite high schools in America.

今天的讲座，我会为大家讲解美国中学及大学的申请流程，同时回答大家关于美国名校申请的各种问题，尤其是美国常春藤名校的申请流程，我都会一一解答。

Whether you are applying to high school or to college, the process involves 4 or 5 main things, your GPA in terms of grades, your SAT scores or other standardized test scores like ACT or TOEFL, your extracurricular activities, your teacher recommendations, and finally, your essays, a lot people asked me, what is the most important thing here, well, it is hard to really say which is more important than the others, what I would advise is that this is a holistic process where all these aspects are as important as the others.

学生申请美国高中或大学的流程大致包括四到五点：每年的在校成绩（GPA）、SAT或者其他标准化考试（ACT、托福、雅思）成绩、课外活动、老师推荐信，最后是文书。

很多人问我：这些当中哪一个是最重要的呢？我想说并没有哪一点一定比另外几点更加重要，因为美国学校申请是一个注重全面的过程，所以这里提到的每一个方面都是同等重要的。

What I will say is that great SAT scores and great grades can get you into the door, it can get your application onto the desk of the admission office of great universities like Harvard or Yale.

But all of us hear stories every year about students who have perfect SAT scores and 4.

0 GPAs, but they still are not admitted into a top university.

That’s where the more qualifying sides of your application matters once you get on the desk.

The admission officer typically takes 5 min to read your essays and another 5 min to look over your recommendations and extracurricular activities, so that’s where you need to show them that you are interested in and engaged in part of the community.

我想说，出色的标准化考试成绩（如SAT、托福）和优异的在校成绩可以作为你申请时的敲门砖，形象来说，它们能够让你的申请足够被摆上哈佛、耶鲁等名校招生办公室的台面，但是我们也都听说过这样的故事：有着4.

0满绩点、完美SAT分数的学生依然被名校拒之门外，这说明什么呢？说明好的分数帮助你的申请上了台面之后，接下来就是你的其他方面来决定你是否能够被真正录取。

学校的招生官一般会花费五分钟的时间来阅读你的所有文书，然后另画五分钟来阅读你的老师推荐信以及课外经历，所以文书、推荐信以及课外经历才是你能够拿来做文章的点，通过这些方面，你能够向招生官展示你对于所申请的学校有着极大的兴趣，也能够体现你非常愿意成为这个集体的一份子。

So when you are preparing for a college or high school application, what I would recommend is to begin, obviously taking your grades seriously throughout the process, and work hard to achieve well academically, but also start very early in the standardized tests prep process, what you don't want is to have a test that you have to take maybe a month before the deadline and it’s going to totally alter your application plan based on what score you get.

I really recommend for students to start early, maybe a year to even begin the first test, and really make sure they know the best score they are really capable of achieving.

所以在准备美国大学或者高中的申请时，我会建议学生们：首先认真对待在校分数，努力学习以达到漂亮的成绩，同时提前开始准备标准化考试。

我并不提倡拖到申请截止日期前的一个月才进行标准化考试，因为这样考出来的考试结果非但不会很理想，更会因为不理想的成绩影响你整个申请的计划。

我强烈建议学生们早做准备，甚至可以提前一年开始准备第一次的标准化考试，因为这样的话，学生就有充足的时间来尽其所能，冲击心仪的分数。

While the student cannot forget about achieving great grades and also achieving excellent standardized test scores, they must also make sure that these processes aren’t overweighing what maybe the most important part of the application, which is the qualitative side: they need to find some extracurricular activities that they are passionate about, that they are interested in, and show that they are not only going to be someone who is good to have around class, not just someone who is smart and can do well on test.

But someone who is going to make an impact on their community, someone who is going to be able to build a group or community of people around a common interest or a particular passion.

学生们在考虑保证好的在校成绩以及标准化考试成绩的同时，也需要把握好度，不能纯粹因为追求顶尖的定量分数而顾此失彼，疏于打理申请中最重要的“定性部分”：学生需要找到自己所热衷、感兴趣的课外活动，从而证明自己并不只是在课业和考试上表现出色，而是能够同时为整个集体带来积极的影响，更能够凝聚身边志同道合的人来促成一个集体。

What I would recommend parents is to encourage your student to follow their passions and dreams.

That may sound a bit contrived, but through my experience working with the admission officers, they can usually tell when a student is taking part of an activity because they love it and that is a passion of theirs, or when they are only taking part of it because their parents are making them doing it every week.

That kind of difference comes out in your essays, in your recommendations, and also in your interviews with colleges.

So, it’s very important to find a student is passionate and curious about what they are doing in the world and what they are learning about.

我建议家长们要多鼓励孩子积极追求自己的爱好和理想。

这可能听起来有些矫揉造作，不过根据我与名校招生官打交道的经历来看，他们往往可以轻易的看出一个学生到底是真的对于一项活动有着发自内心的激情，还是被父母强迫着去机械式地发展一项自己所不认同的爱好。

这种区别是能够从申请文书、老师推荐信以及与学校的面试中可以看出来的。

所以非常重要的一点就是：学生对于自己所做的以及所学的事情有着绝对的热情和好奇心。

As far as essays they are very few topics that I would discourage off the bag, any topic can make a great essay, but here is what I will say makes a particularly effective essay, an effective essay is obviously going to use story-telling technics, but it does not have to be the most amazing story anyone has ever thought of, what it can be is making extraordinary observations about one’s ordinary life.

One of the best essays I read this year, for example, was about a student who had been going on jogs for over ten years, jogging itself does not sound like the most interesting topic, in fact, it’s quite ordinary.

But he talked about the process of jogging for years and noticing the ways in which the buildings around him, the skyscrapers in Shanghai were expanding.

And he started to talk about the ways in which technology has a good or bad impact.

就文书来说，没有什么不可以写的话题，任何一个话题都可以写出一篇完美的文书。

到底怎样写出一篇脍炙人口的申请文书呢？我想一篇好的文书，当然要将故事娓娓道来，但并不一定要挑一个惊世骇俗的话题来写，最朴实有效的方式反而是透过独到细致的眼光来观察平凡的日常生活。

我今年读到的最好的申请文书之一，是一位来自上海的学生描写自己坚持慢跑十多年的故事。

诚然，慢跑本身并不是一件很奇特的事情，相反的，它可以称得上是非常平庸了。

但是这位学生描写了在自己坚持慢跑的这些年里，他发现随着时间的推移，每天慢跑的固定路线周围逐渐开始升起摩天大楼，由此他深入探讨了科技的发展如何给人们的生活带来好的与坏的影响。

由平凡处发微，论述自己独立的见解，实为好文书的典范。

So what college admission officers want to see is they want to see the student is feeling and thinking, and can extract strong analytical thoughts and opinions out of the ordinary day, that is going to be the kind of students who are going to be successful in the classroom environment when they pick up the book of Plato, or Ovid, some of the ancient Greek techs, the people are able to see the transcendent aspects, the extraordinary aspects of everyday life, that is what really, for me, sets apart the good essays from the great.

因此，学校招生官希望透过文书看到学生真实的所感所想，从平凡的日常生活中提炼出耐人寻味的深刻见解，因为这说明该生有着犀利的眼光，能够帮助他们在未来的课堂环境中出类拔萃。

就像古希腊的思想家柏拉图、古罗马的诗人奥维德一样，这些人能够发现寻常日子的不寻常之处，我认为这是让一篇文书脱颖而出的关键。

Again, what you have to keep in mind when writing your high school or college essay is, the admission officers are only going to take about 5 min to read your essay.

So, what I recommend to the students is, do anything you can to stand out and appear unique, whether if you are funny, be funny, if you have an interesting story to tell, telling an interesting story.

But it’s very very important that in this brief amount of pages we have, you show yourself as unique, and as thoughtful, and as emotional as possible, those are going to make you the kind of student that they want to be around classroom, and in a dorm and in a college community.

同学们在写美国高中或大学的申请文书时，需要时刻提醒自己的是：招生官只会花五分钟左右的时间来阅读你的所有文书，所以我建议大家“不择手段”地来打造吸引眼球的文书，如果你是诙谐幽默的人，那就以幽默的口吻来写；如果你是一个“有故事”的人，那就讲一个有趣的故事。

但是最重要的一点是：在有限的篇幅里融入你所有的真情实感，以感性的话语塑造一个独特的自我形象。

因为这代表着你无论是在教室、宿舍还是校园，都将是一个不可或缺的存在。

When considering a potential college or high school applicant, an admission officer is asking these things: 1, is the student smart enough to attend the school and get good grades and perform well academically; 2, is the student only there to take test and get good grades or, are they actually curious and passionate about what they are learning, are they going to be the kind of person who is challenging others in the classroom, who is asking important questions, who is trying to expand the sense of what we call “Collective Wisdom”, the question being are they going to be good to have in the classroom.

招生官在拿到一份申请时，往往会考虑以下方面：一，学生在硬性方面需要达标，证明该生能够学有所成；二，学生不应该是所谓的“考试机器”，而是真正热衷于钻研所学的知识，他们能够在课堂上提出质疑、引发讨论，同时带动大家集思广益，简单来说就是因教招生。

A potential applicant is not only applying to be a part of classroom but they are also applying to be a part of community, they will be living in the dorms, taking part in the club, starting club, they are going to be active parts of the community.

So, the admission officers want to see that you have leadership abilities, and that you are interested in being positively engaged in a larger community.

More and more, big schools like Columbia and Harvard are pushing this idea of a “Global Citizen”, you are not only interested in making your campus community better, but you are also interested in making a positive impact to the global community.

诚然，一个合格的申请人不单单是在课堂上表现出色，也应该是集体的一份子。

学生将会在宿舍进行集体生活，参与各类社团，甚至是自己创建社团及组织，每个人都应该是集体的一名积极分子。

所以招生官希望申请人有一定的领导才能，时刻准备着参与到更大的集体中去。

现如今，越来越多的名校，如哥大、哈佛等，开始注重推广“世界公民”的概念，一名世界公民不单单能够让“学校”这个集体不断提升，更能为“世界”这个大集体带来积极的影响。

If you can prove these few things that you are smart, curious, passionate, that you are going to be a person to have around the classroom, and a good person to have around the community, who wants to be a leader, and wants to make a positive difference in the campus community and beyond, you are the ideal college applicant.

So, pursue ways in which you are giving passion and you are giving experiences that can lead to a vision of you who expresses these attributes.

如果你可以证明自己良好的学习能力、强烈的好奇心以及源源不断的热情，那就说明你是每一个课堂、每一个集体所需要的一份子，能够为学校甚至是以外的集体做出贡献，这样的学生，称得上是一名理想的申请人。

所以请同学们以饱满的热情去打造一个独特又重要的你。

I think the last thing that I want to talk about is the major selection.

We touched upon this with our essays, but remember, there are thousands and thousands of people applying for each space that is being granted in top universities like Ivy League schools.

So, when you are choosing your majors, I think it’s important to show, to express the version of you that is unique to a college admission officer.

So, everyone is trying to be a lawyer, everyone is trying to be a doctor, everyone’s going to do research, are their ways that you can present yourself to separate yourself from the average applicants, that’s going to allow you to stand out.

最后和大家分享一下关于专业选择的建议。

我们在写文书时也会涉及到专业的选择，但是大家要记住，名校的每一个专业每年都有成千上万的申请者，所以在你选择专业时，应着重向招生官体现你与该专业独特的契合度。

在美国，每个人都想成为律师，每个人都想成为医生，或者是做研究，但时刻谨记，你要找到一种契合，来让你在茫茫多的申请者中脱颖而出。

Most colleges either allow you to declare your major as undecided or change your major once you get to college.

I changed my major 4 times when I was in college, so when you apply for a major, you are not essentially held to that.

For example, whenever I have a student from a Catholic school, I tell them to say that they are interested in studying Latin because Latin departments at schools are notoriously under-staffed and there are more professors than there are students that are taking the classes.

So, I always encourage you to express your interests in less popular majors, and once you get into the college, you can actually pursue Biology, English and whatever major you are interested in initially.

It’s about being strategic with your application admission.

另外，大多大学（本科教育）允许你在申请时暂时不选择特定专业，或者是在进入学校后转专业。

我个人来说，在校期间转了四次专业，所以当你在申请某个学校的某个专业时，并不代表你未来就无法改变了。

举个例子来说，我遇到过一些学生来自天主教高中，我让他们在申请大学时表现出自己对于拉丁语专业的强烈兴趣，这是因为美国大学的拉丁语专业出了名的“教授比学生多”，也就更容易进入。

所以同学们可以从不那么热门的专业入手，进校之后再考虑转到自己喜欢的专业（如生物、英语等）。

这是申请时可以运用的一种策略。

That's the advice that I want to present initially.

If there are any comments or questions about anything about I've said, I would be happy to continue talking about different aspects of the process.

Thanks.

以上就是我想与大家分享的信息。

如果大家对于我所讲的有任何的问题或者想法，可以随时提出，我很乐意与大家深入讨论。

谢谢大家！

提问环节

主持人: Hi Chris, thank you so much, it was a great summary of U. S. school admission process.

Can you please give us some advice about——I believe there are a lot of parents who care about this question——how do their kids find a job after graduation from U. S. universities like Ivy League school?

主持人：谢谢Chris的分享，有关美国学校申请过程的叙述非常的详细。

如今很多家长关心的问题之一是：刚刚从常春藤毕业的学生如何在美国找工作呢？换句话说，如今，每一位家长都希望孩子进入美国顶尖的学校，而我们也知道，并不是所有的学生都能够适应顶尖如常春藤学校的环境与节奏。

所以是否就读于藤校就一定意味着毕业能找到一个好工作？如果不是，那么决定性的因素又是什么？请你为大家讲解一下。

Chris: Because to me, I think a lot of parents want their kids to go to the best schools, but at the same time, we all know not every kid can go to the best school, and even though the kids get into the Ivy League schools, they may not survive.

So please explain, what is actually the best for the kids? Are Ivy League Schools the only solution to landing a successful job in the U.

S? Or are there more important factors that can allow a student to find a job after graduation?

I do have some advice about jobs.

What I would say in the current American job market is, especially at school like Columbia or Harvard, pretty much any Ivy League schools besides Cornell, there are actually very few professional majors, some of them have business, then they all have engineering, but otherwise you can be in Latin major, you can be in French major, you can be in English major, you can be in philosophy or anthropology major.

You have to recognize that those are institutions of higher learning and it's an academic program that you are taking part in.

首先我想为大家补充一下这方面的背景知识。

像哥大、哈佛等除了康奈尔之外的藤校里，（本科）大多专业并不是一味为了让学生找到工作而设立的，这句话可能有点抽象，举个例子来说：有一些学校确实设立有商科专业，也有一些有工程专业，这些专业在职场中有相对应的职位设置。

但是也可能有些学生是拉丁语、法语或者英语专业的，更有些学生是哲学或者人类学专业的，像这样的专业就是以“深入研究对应知识”为核心的学术性项目，而不是所谓的“职场”专业。

That's not to say that attending Harvard, Columbia is not going to prepare you to have a job, what typically happens is, if you are in a humanity, you can get a job in business, consulting or education, but the expectation now in the job market is that you are going to be using your opportunities to pursue internships while at school or over the summer, or then also attend graduate schools that specialized in industry or higher learning, and that will allow you to home your professional skills.

这也并不代表，在哈佛、哥大等学校就读这些非职场性专业，就无法在毕业后找到一份工作，事实上，如果你是从人文类专业毕业的，也能够在商务、咨询或者是教育行业找到一份工作。

现如今的美国职场更加要求学生运用在校期间或者寒暑假的时间进行实习积累经验，或者是在本科毕业后继续就读于更加针对职场的研究生项目，因为在这类项目中学生可以学习如何培养专业技能。

This is a really good question Gia thank you for asking.

I know students who didn’t even go to colleges and now they are millionaires by the time of their thirties, and I also know students who had great grades at Ivy League schools, graduated with honors from Columbia and they still don’t really know how to make money and still live with their parents.

So obviously part of this is going to be about your own personality your own ambition and your own ability to network and make a living for yourself, and pursue the skills and talents you have, and utilize them in a way to make a good living.

So, what I would say is, no, not going to an Ivy League school does not mean that you are destined to failure or you are not going to get a good job.

回到主持人问的问题上来，这确实是一个好问题。

我知道很多仅有高中学历的学生在三十多岁的时候成为了百万富翁，也见过很多藤校高分毕业生毕业后很多年依旧无法独立谋生，以至于还在啃老。

所以从某种意义上来说，其实更多的是与你的性格、志向，以及你扩展人脉的能力有关，这能决定你如何运用这些能力和天赋来独立谋生。

所以我的回答是否，不就读于藤校并不代表你就注定失败，更不代表你不能找到一个好的工作。

What I will say is that attending an elite school like an Ivy League school or a top 20, 30 schools will make things easier.

Doors are open for me because I went to Columbia that isn’t open for someone if they went to Ohio State in the same way.

Furthermore, just the people that I’ve met throughout my time at Columbia, the friends I’ve made, the professors that I’ve had, the people that I’ve contacted with have been the most valuable aspects that I’ve had in the process.

Because the people that I’ve networked with are highly talented, highly connected and highly successful.

So, I always encourage students to go to schools with the best sense of prestige, because those are where the community will help you succeed academically and professionally.

我想说的是，上常春藤联盟这样的精英学校或者说前20—30的学校，会让你的生活变得更容易。

因为我去了顶尖学府哥大，我可以享受到很多其他学校学生所接触不到的资源。

大门对于我来讲是开放的，然而如果相同的条件下去了俄亥俄州立，那么这些大门将不会开放。

此外，我在哥大上学期间遇到的那些人，我所有的朋友，我的教授，我接触到的所有人都是我所拥有的最优价值的方面。

因为他们都非常有才华，在各自的领域都非常成功。

所以，我总鼓励学生去名校，因为好的圈子会使你变得更学术，更专业。

Q: 请问孩子在美国布兰迪斯商学院学的金融，本科国内上的，专业是人力资源。

是不是在美国很难找到工作？

A: Here is what I will say: American economy is doing very well right now, we have some of the lowest unemployment (rates) in the past 30 years, especially in financial sectors and places where HR major could be an asset, those industries are expanding and growing very rapidly, Brandeis is a very good school and it has an excellent business program, so no I don't think it will be difficult for your child to find a good job in America, especially in the realm of finance, when you use your marketable skills and HR skills.

So, I got it won’t be a trouble for your child to find a job in America.

我要说的是：现在美国经济非常好，现在是美国近30年来失业率最低的时候，特别是在金融领域和人力资源主要可以成为资产的地方，这些行业正在迅速发展壮大。

Brandeis是一所非常优秀的学校，并且它拥有出色的商学院项目，所以我认为您的孩子在美国找到一份好工作不会很困难，特别是在金融领域，当你使用你的市场技能和人力资源技能。

所以，孩子在美国找工作不难。

Host: Thank you Chris, can you also give some tips of the optimal timeline for the application season, especially the advantage of starting early?

谢谢Chris.

你能否给些建议在理想的申请时间线上面？特别是早做准备的好处。

Chris: Sure, for the timeline, whether applying to high school or college, standardized tests should be completed by the Spring before the application whether it's an Early Decision in Nov, or whether it's a regular season around Jan 1st.

I really think that those should all be completed by the Spring before the application season or at latest Summer.

You don't want to be preparing or applying to a college on Nov 1st and you are still taking SAT in early Nov.

You are not going to have an accurate assessment of what your scores and what your potential is as an applicant.

And you need time to be able to make those decisions.

So, what I say is, start in the fall of your junior year taking standardized tests and complete them by the Spring or Summer, and from then on you can work on thinking about your college application choices and your essays.

What I would recommend for essays is, I would have five pages of writing done in different kinds of essays by the end of Aug, that way you will have two months to polish your Early Decision essays for Nov and more months to prepare for regular season essays around Jan 1st.

If you have those 5 pages completed by the end of Summer, you can use a lot of those writings as a baseline or platform, from which you can do a lot of your other writings.

Many of the essays kind of repeat questions, or they focus on similar topics, and there is no reason to write a unique essay for every school, if you already have writing that is applicable, obviously you have to answer the problems as specifically as possible, but what I found as a writing consultant, you can recycle and reuse a lot of the writings so long you have prepared them early, that will make the application process much more easier.

无论是申请高中还是大学，标准化考试都应该在申请前的春季完成。

不管你打算申请提前录取还是常规录取，我真的认为这些考试应该再申请季前或者最近的夏天之前完成。

你一定不希望你11月1日准备申请大学，但是11月你仍然需要参加SAT考试。

这样，你不会准确的评估你的分数和你作为申请者的潜力。

因为你需要时间来做出这些决定。

所以我的建议是，从大三的秋季开始准备标准化考试，并在春季或夏季完成。

从那时起，你就可以考虑大学申请的选择和文书工作。

关于文书，我的建议是在8月底之前，我会用五种不同类型的文章来完成写作，这样你将有2个月的时间来为11月的提前申请润色文书，同时还有更多时间来准备我们的常规申请。

如果你在夏天结束前完成了5页文书的写作，你可以从中作为基点，同时创作出很多其他作品。

因为许多文书的话题都是相似或者重复的，并且没有理由为每所学校写一篇独特的文章，如果你已经有了合适的文书，显然你的整个申请过程也会变得简单许多。

Q: 各位老师好，我孩子今年高考，之前没想出国，但就成绩来说很一般，这种孩子恳请老师给个建议，感谢！

主持人: 相信这也是很多家长所关心的问题，没有谁想让孩子进差学校，但是如果孩子目前成绩一般化，该如何做来申请一个好的学校，并足够在美国立足呢？

Chris: This is a very important question.

I think there is a school for everyone.

There are a couple of different routes you can take, the student can either apply to a lower tier university when they turn 18 and they can perhaps transfer after a couple of years, or there is also a community college route where a student can take classes a year or two at a very inexpensive but normally very fairly good quality local school and gain college credits, and use that experience to apply to a much higher tier college.

I’ve had students who graduated from high school and didn't really have good grades, but they were very motivated to spend efforts working hard in community colleges and were able to make a transition to a higher tier university after a year or two.

What I want to say is that if you are willing to work hard, you can attend a good college at any point of your life, it might not be when you are 18, but it could be when you are 20 or 22, I went to school with 30-year old who went to Columbia for their first time.

So, as long as you are willing to work hard, the opportunity will come to you, you just need to keep trying and keep pushing.

这是一个非常重要的问题。

我认为每个人都有一所学校。

你可以采取几条不同的路线，学生可以在18岁时申请到较低层的大学，也可以在几年后转学，或者也有社区大学路线，学生可以上课在一个非常便宜但通常非常高质量的本地学校学习一年或两年并获得大学学分，并使用该经验申请到更高层次的大学。

我有过高中毕业的学生，但成绩并不好，但他们非常愿意花费精力在社区学院努力工作，并能在一两年后转入更高层次的大学。

我想说的是，如果你愿意努力，你可以在你生命中的任何时候就读一所好大学，可能不是你18岁的时候，但可能是20或22岁的时候，我上哥伦比亚大学的时候已经30岁了。

所以，只要你愿意努力付出，就会有机会来到你身边，你只需要继续努力并不断前进。

主持人: 感谢Chris今天的演讲，我们从八点半开始到现在九点半，一个小时的时间，Chris带给了我们很有帮助的信息，我相信很多家长也从中受益了。

再次感谢Chris的讲授！

Chris: Thanks so much everyone, please let me know if you have any further questions.

感谢所有人！如果大家还有任何问题，欢迎与我联系。