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PS怎么写?用尽洪荒之力了?

今天和大家分享下PS写作,希望能给正在如火如荼准备着申请的童鞋们一些启发。

申请材料是一个展现自我特点、重新认识自我的漫长而有趣的过程。如何把招生官从昏昏欲睡的审核状态中拉出来,在堆积如山的申请材料中对你的申请材料刮目相看,需要你为自己打造一个与众不同的申请方案,一步步地将自己的大名拉进学校的录取名单中。总体来说,在为自己设计申请方案的过程中,首先要问清楚自己三个问题,也就是通常所说的申请三要素3W:我是谁?(Who am I?)我的目的是什么?(What's my purpose?)为什么是我?(Why me?)

我是谁|你是什么样的人

在申请材料中,首先要告诉招生官:我是谁?也就是向招生官的自我介绍,需要特别注意的是:切忌为了刻意追求“新颖”和“独特”而忽略了基本信息的陈述。

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作为一个高中生,正走在成长为一个成年人的道路上,拥有极大的潜力和可塑性,但也在一定程度上形成了比较鲜明的性格特征,有自己的独特的爱好、特长,总体来说,可以将自己设计为以下几种类型:拥有领导和组织才能者、拥有强大的社会责任感和爱心者、拥有特别的才华者等等。

在个人简历、活动列表、推荐信、申请文章中,都可以回答“我是谁”这个问题,而回答这个问题除了要告诉招生官你的姓名、性别和所在的高中、城市这些基本信息以外,最重要的是要告诉招生官:“你是什么样的人?”

例如在活动列表的设计上,如果你参加了很多活动:组织班级活动、主持晚会、参加运动会等等,因为有很多同学急于想要告诉招生官“我参加了很多活动”,而不遗余力地将自己参加的所有活动都罗列出来,就容易让招生官在纷繁错乱的文字中很难界定你的基本印象。因此,在制作活动列表的时候,首先要对自己有一个清晰的认识,进而将自己参加的活动做一个总结和筛选。

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我的目的|明确自己的目标

在前面,我们分析了如何选择适合自己的学校,那么,在选择了适合的大学之后就涉及到另一个问题:选择自己的专业。为什么将专业选择这么早就提出来?首先,由于不同专业之间的申请难易程度有差异,所以选对专业进行申请就成了十分重要的一步。在这一步如果出了什么问题,那么你整个的申请都可能失败,因此千万不要忽视选专业的重要性。其次,大学阶段的专业选择还关系到未来的职业规划,只有在进入大学的时候明确自己的目标,这样在进入大学后才不会迷茫,才能更好地进行大学的学习。

从某种意义上说,大学期间是一个为将来的职业奠定基础的时候。如果不想在大学中浑浑噩噩,就需要有良好的职业规划,而专业的选择则是帮助学生去正视自己的职业规划,去确定未来的目标。

大部分的美国大学在新生申请和入学时,并不要求学生立即选择专业。即使那些要求申请者在填写申请表格时指明专业的学校,也都允许学生在一年、两年、甚至三年以后转专业。至于在填写申请表格时,虽然可以在专业一项选择“undecided”,但是我们不提倡这样的做法。因为如此一来,首先会给招生办留下一种印象:我对自己的未来很茫然,不确定自己可以或能做什么。其次,在关于专业或事业规划的申请文章的撰写过程中也无法做到有的放矢,更谈不上写出切合题目要求的好文章了。所以,选择一个合适的专业是申请过程的一个重要环节。如果没有强有力的与专业相关的文章,最好避开热门专业,可以采取“曲线救国方针”,先选一个相对冷门的专业作为申请意向,先获得进校的资格-录取通知书。

现在什么专业好就业?这是个难回答的问题。什么专业四年后好就业?就更难回答。无论是在中国还是在美国,年轻一代生存都不是问题,就读美国著名大学之后就业也应该不成问题。相反,学生的成功应该在于个性的解放,只有从事自己喜欢的工作才是理想的工作。因此在大学时期如果有机会就要试着寻找自己喜欢的专业,将来才有可能从事自己喜欢的工作。

只有确立了自己的专业方向,才会在制作申请材料的时候清楚明确自己的目的,并且在材料中有效地表现出来,使得招生官明确你的意向和目标。

为什么是我|寻找与学校的契合点

每个学生都有独特的个性和风格,每所大学也有其独特的风格和个性,寻找两者之间的契合点,即“match”,是回答“为什么是我”的关键之处。

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很多学校要求学生在申请文章中回答“为什么选择我校?”这类的问题,很多学生将回答的重点集中在“我十分喜欢贵校”这点上,极力赞美学校的环境氛围、学术力量、优质教学、人文熏陶等等,却忽略了最重要的一点“为什么你觉得你适合来我们学校接受教育?”每个招生官都对自己学校的优点十分熟悉,不需要申请者重复陈述,况且在翻阅了成千上万的溢美之词以后,招生官总会产生疲劳和不耐烦。只有将自己与学校相互适合的点列举出来,并且陈述出充分合理的理由,才会令招生官产生共鸣和喜爱。

例文分享|学习别人的成功

Looking for examples of past college essays that worked? These are some admissions essays that our officers thought were most successful.

Tufts University

Common Application Personal Statement

Bridget Collins '19

North Andover, MA

I have always loved riding in cars. After a long day in first grade, I used to fall asleep to the engine purring in my mother's Honda Odyssey, even though it was only a 5-minute drive home. As I grew, and graduated into the shotgun seat, it became natural and enjoyable to look out the window. Seeing my world passing by through that smudged glass, I would daydream what I could do with it.

In elementary school, I already knew my career path: I was going to be Emperor of the World. While I sat in the car and watched the miles pass by, I developed the plan for my empire. I reasoned that, for the world to run smoothly, it would have to look presentable. I would assign people, aptly named Fixer-Uppers, to fix everything that needed fixing. That old man down the street with chipping paint on his house would have a fresh coat in no time. The boy who accidentally tossed his Frisbee onto the roof of the school would get it back. The big pothole on Elm Street that my mother managed to hit every single day on the way to school would be filled-in. It made perfect sense! All the people that didn't have a job could be Fixer-Uppers. I was like a ten-year-old FDR.

Seven years down the road, I still take a second glance at the sidewalk cracks and think of my Fixer-Uppers, but now I'm doing so from the driver's seat. As much as I would enjoy it, I now accept that I won't become Emperor of the World, and that the Fixer-Uppers will have to remain in my car ride imaginings. Or do they? I always pictured a Fixer-Upper as a smiling man in an orange T-Shirt. Maybe instead, a Fixer-Upper could be a tall girl with a deep love for Yankee Candles. Maybe it could be me.

Bridget the Fixer-Upper will be slightly different than the imaginary one who paints houses and fetches Frisbees. I was lucky enough to discover what I am passionate about when I was a freshman in high school. A self-admitted Phys. Ed. addict, I volunteered to help out with the Adapted PE class. On my first day, I learned that it was for developmentally-disabled students.To be honest, I was really nervous. I hadn't had too much interaction with special needs students before, and wasn't sure how to handle myself around them. Long story short, I got hooked. Three years have passed helping out in APE and eventually becoming a teacher in the Applied Behavior Analysis summer program. I love working with the students and watching them progress.

When senior year arrived, college meetings began, and my counselor asked me what I wanted to do for a career, I didn't say Emperor of the World. Instead, I told him I wanted to become a board-certified behavior analyst. A BCBA helps develop learning plans for students with autism and other disabilities. Basically, I would get to do what I love for the rest of my life. He laughed and told me that it was a nice change that a seventeen-year-old knew so specifically what she wanted to do. I smiled, thanked him, and left. But it occurred to me that, while my desired occupation was decided, my true goal in life was still to become a Fixer-Upper. So, maybe I'll be like Sue Storm and her alter-ego, the Invisible Woman. I'll do one thing during the day, then spend my off-hours helping people where I can. Instead of flying like Sue, though, I'll opt for a nice performance automobile. My childhood self would appreciate that.

Why Tufts?

Gabriella Roncone '19

Windsor, CT

If my college search were a romantic comedy, Tufts would be “The One” that the occasionally cynical main character (me) falls for. Why? This quote from a student posted on Evan in Admissions' Twitter puts it quite nicely: “You have the power to make a difference. You can't tell a Tufts student no.” Tufts' very existence as this progressive community of intellectuals--a place where Jumbos can organize a Zombie 5k and then take classes like “Rise and Decay of the West”; (get it?)--disproves Thomas More's theory of the impossibility of a true social Utopia. And that's a pretty awesome feat.