美国大学申请,尤其是名校招收新生,要考察方方面面,要看各种统考成绩(SAT,ACT,SAT II,AP),平时成绩(GPA),各种竞赛表现(奥数等),领袖才干(组建俱乐部等),社区服务, 文体美才艺,推荐信以及面试表现。还有一项,就是 college essay,升学顾问强调说,学生写好 essay 对于申请名校尤其重要,因为别的指标大都是死的,而 essay (还有面试)则是你表现自己个性和特点的自由空间。因此在有限的字数限制中写出最具特色的essay,最能看出学生的功力。 甜甜说,我一定要让升学官看到我essay就记住我的申请,在他们冗长烦闷的学生选拔过程中得到一些幽默和惊喜。我不是一个 ID,我是一个活生生的有性格人,我的essay就是我的化身。甜甜原本就特别喜欢舞文弄墨(但不擅长应用文和说理文),有一股语不惊人死不休的精神,因此这几个月来为各个报考学校的 essays 自己跟自己死磕。如今deadlines要到了, 简直走火入魔,改啊改啊,昨天又是一夜未睡,结果实在太累了,编了一段自嘲的故事。 Last night again, Tanya stayed up almost all night to give final touches to the college essays. Born nocturnal, she only has inspirations after mid-night, but 4am was really too late and she was exhausted. As always, I accompanied her to observe and share her sweat, pain as well as joy. Tanya said, Dad, I am tired, but let me write you a quick story. In no time she made this up: Quote once upon a time there was a bunch of crap and then someone came by and said oh poor you, you shouldn't stay crap forever, that's sad and stinky and then that magical man turned the crap into college essays She was so proud of the fun in her story that she insisted that I share with family and friends. 她白天没效率,没灵感,只有到了午夜之后才行,也只好任她熬夜了 essay 总是随着灵感,初稿很长,然后 修改的时候,就很心疼,不舍得切割她认为有特色的文句和幽默。 老师给她的essay修改准备了一个墓地(graveyards),说,甭心疼,每一次修改稿并没有随风飘去,都埋葬在这里,什么时候想搜索挖掘作为新的素材都可以。 即便如此,这个删改的过程还是耗时耗心力,但是每次改到了限度以内,就欢呼雀跃。