兄长相助 如愿进哥大

 「大学」，单单提起这个字眼就足以使每个高中生脊柱发凉，这曾是17岁少年宏远的梦想，如今却只能使人联想到锁喉般激烈竞争的场景，机遇不佳的人只能等待着梦碎。为什麽申请大学竟然变得如此「磨人」?我愿以自己申请大学校的过程来抛砖引玉。

 我家是典型依靠辛勤工作以维持小本生意的移民家庭，对於在美国申请大学，过去家里成员从未有人经历过，我大哥在申请大学时完全凭藉自己的力量。

兄长失败经验 最佳参考

多数人对哥哥有种特殊情结，我也不例外，我尊敬大哥，他以95分的平均成绩从纽约市史岱文森高中（Stuyvesant High School）毕业，拥有极高的SAT成绩，并曾参加田径校队。他几乎申请了所有常春藤盟校，而结果却令我们难以置信，他申请的7所学校中，只被一所常春藤大学和纽约大学史登商学院（NYU Stern）录取。全家人都不解其中缘由，但我哥哥只是耸耸肩，微微一笑。史登商学院名誉好，并给予他全额奖学金，我哥哥也认定自己的商科兴趣，所以他顺理成章地进入纽约大学，那时读9年级的我第一次了解到申请大学的不易。
 
提早申请 获哥大青睐

接下来的三年过得飞快，很快轮到我申请大学了。我与哥哥有着相似的条件，毕业於汤森哈里斯特殊高中（Townsend Harris）、平均分数为97分、是击剑校队队长，但我知道这些远远不够。不过，我很幸运，哥哥自上大学后与朋友贾可布（Jacob）每周末於「先锋教育」（Herald Education）担任义务辅导，帮助高中生准备大学申请，他们也为我的作文、选校、暑期活动及标准化考试等出谋划策。
 
他们协助我打造了一份完整的大学申请材料，修改作文，创建有竞争力的简历，并确认好需要特别强调的地方，如个人强项和区别於其他数千名申请者的个人特色。整个过程耗时三个月，不过最终我们将所有申请材料集合起来，并讲述了关於我的「完整」故事。
 
我递交了哥伦比亚的「提早决定」（Early Decision）申请函，并参加了学校的信息交流座谈会及校园参观。我特别强调哥伦比亚是我心中「仅有的唯一」，并确认这一想法始终贯穿我的申请过程。一个多月后，我得到答覆是，哥伦比亚大学决定录取我。按照我申请过程中的经验，可看出大学录取已不再仅是看重优异成绩，因为提出申请的学生都有着傲人的平均成绩和考试分数。另一方面，竞争已超乎国界，今日的大学生来自世界各地，包括中国、新加坡、印度和其他国家。
 
突显特色 推销自己

如何与其他7000人竞争，并在申请类似哈佛这类一流大学时取胜呢?答案十分简单，大学市场科系都教授过下列案例，数年前，所有品牌的麦片都装在类似的盒子里，第一眼看上去，消费者无法区分它们的不同。而后有一天，家乐氏（Kellogg’s）决定在盒子上印一只鸟，仅是这小小的改变，却转变了整个营销策略。直至今日，不管是哪种麦片品牌，无论是幸运护身符（Lucky Charms）还是糖霜燕麦片（Frosted Flakes）都各有独特标识。
 
每位学生在填写大学申请��时都应该将自己品牌化，成功的绝招是劝说招生办公室，不论统计数据显示如何，你就是和其他申请者不同。你必须向招生办公室推销自己，并使招生专员在浏览过数千申请材料后仍对你的申请函过目不忘，而非「亚裔」、「高分」、「高绩点」等传统印象，而是如「曾去过西藏并帮助穷困生的亚裔学生」的独特方式。
 
我不特别 但我努力

最重要的是不要将自己局限在几所学校之中，我哥哥没去成哈佛，现在却是与华尔街前50的金融公司打交道的成功顾问。我母亲周燕霞从未上过常春藤盟校，但目前正竞选纽约州众议员。每个人的最终结局与就读大学无关，而是取决於你有多努力来实现自己的目标。(王宪译)
 

Solving Maze By Following Brother’s Footsteps

By Edward Chen College. Just the mere mention of the word sends shivers down the spine of every high school student. What used to be a grand dream for 17 year olds now conjures up imagery of intense cut-throat competition where dice are rolled and dreams are shattered. So why has the process to get into college become so, dare I say, torturous? Let me begin with my own story of the college admission process.
 
My older brother was the first in our family to run the college admissions gauntlet. We were the classical hard-working small business-owner immigrant family, and we had no experience when it came to applying for college in the United States. That was why my brother had to take care of the applications himself.
 
Near Perfect Credentials

I always looked up to my older brother. And who wouldn’t have? He went to Stuyvesant High School, had a 95 average, got a perfect score on his SATs, was on the track team, etc. He applied to nearly every Ivy League school, When the results came back, we were shocked. Out of the 7 schools he applied to, he was accepted by only one Ivy school and by NYU Stern. It made no sense to us, but my brother just smiled and shrugged it off. NYU Stern had a good reputation, offered him a full scholarship, and my brother knew he wanted to study business. This was my first taste of the college admission process, as a high school freshman.
 
The next three years went by very quickly, and soon it was my turn. On paper, I had everything my brother had. I was graduating from Townsend Harris, had a 97 average, and was captain of the fencing team. But we knew that was not enough.Luckily for me, since college, my brother and his best friend, Jacob, had volunteered their time at Herald Education every weekend to help high school students with their college application struggles. They offered advice on essays, choice of colleges, summer activities, and standardized testing. So naturally, I turned to them for help.
 
The “Complete” Story

Together, we crafted a “complete” college application package. What do I mean by “complete”? I mean we spent hours refining and polishing my essays and creating a strong resume. We made sure what I wanted to emphasize about myself, my strengths and what made me different from the thousands of other applicants. It took us three full months, but we finally put together an admission package that told the complete story about me.
 
I submitted an early decision application to Columbia and went to the school’s information sessions, as well as attended the campus tours. I demonstrated that I wanted Columbia with all my heart, and made sure that was apparent throughout my application. In a little over a month, I got a reply. Columbia had accepted me.(What did I learn from this experience and what lesson should you take away from my story?) That the college admissions process is no longer just about merits. For every outstanding student with a spectacular grade-point average and test scores, there are hundreds more with the same or better qualifications. And the competition is no longer domestic. Today’s colleges are globalized, and applicants must compete against a slate of outstanding students from China, Singapore, India, and a dozen other countries.
 
Packaging Yourself

So how exactly do you succeed in an admissions process to top-tiered schools like Harvard when you are competing with “7,000 people just like you”? The answer, though simple, carries great implications and can best be conveyed in another story – a story they tell all marketing majors in college.
 
Years ago, cereals of all brands were sold in similar boxes. At first glance, a consumer could not tell what was different from one box of cereal versus another. Then one day, Kellogg’s decided to put a bird on their box, and with just that, the company changed the whole marketing approach to selling cereal. To this day, whenever we think of any cereal, be it Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, we have a specific image, i.e., Lucky the leprechaun, Tony the tiger, Cornelius the rooster.
 
To extend the metaphor, every student needs to do the same thing on their college application and brand themselves. The only way to succeed is to convince the admissions office that, despite all statistical evidence to the contrary, you are not like any other applicant.
 
You need to sell yourself to the admissions office and you need to do it so uniquely that an admission officer looking through your application will remember you after looking through thousands of other applications. And it can’t be “Asian student, great test scores, and great average” – it has to be “Asian student who went to Tibet to work with impoverished students.”
 
Don’t Limit Yourself

Most importantly, do not limit yourself to just a handful of schools. My brother didn’t get to Harvard, and he is a very successful consultant working with top 50 finance companies on Wall Street. My mother, Yen Chou, never attended an Ivy League and now she is running for the New York State Assembly.In the end, where you end up depends on how hard you try.
 
Edward Chen graduated from Columbia University. He is currently an investment banking analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

资料来源：世界日报教育专刊