“Let me tell you something. Everyone wants to look brilliant and versatile. I mean who doesn't want to tell the admissions officer that they are everywhere in the community and have taken a phenomenal amount of interest in extracurriculars.
我告诉你，每个人都希望自己看起来多才多艺，比较谁都想告诉招生官自己热心社区活动，并且课外活动有着异乎寻常的热情。
The plan to talk about specific ec's rather than all of them is still much more efficient. Here's why. An admissions officer simply has to look at your ec files in order to determine whether or not you have been involved in the community. You don't need to write an essay and specifically tell him about your numerous community activities in order for him to butter him up about your “versatile” skills.
比起对自己所有的课外活动都泛泛而谈，着重描写某几个特别的活动相对来说更有用。让我来告诉你为什么。招生官只需要看一眼你的课外活动总览表就知道你有没有参与社区活动，你根本不需要写篇文再把自己的活动如数家珍的说一遍来让他相信你的“多样化能力”。
Almost everyone who applies to these top schools has pages and pages of extracurricular activities. You’re not the only one who has been extremely "versatile" as a high school student. Thousands of students clearly want their ec's to stand out; they are all going to be indicated them in an essay and have their counselor’s recommendation include those numerous activities they have done outside of school.
几乎每一个申请名校的学生的课外活动列表都有好几页，你绝对不是唯一一个极富“多样性”的。成千上百的学生想要突出他们的活动，他们必须在一篇文章里使自己的活动印象深刻，并在顾问推荐信里囊括其他数不清的校外活动。
This conveys a message to the admissions officer that you are certainly involved in the community. So the admissions officer will say “this kid right here is not someone who limits himself to school and academics. He certainly takes part in the community and that is a good thing.”
这些会让招生官觉得你确实实实在在地融入了社区，觉得“这孩子不仅在校表现、学习成绩好，他确实融入了社会并且在贡献自己的一份力。”
However, if you really want your admissions officer to ADMIRE you (in other words want your folder to truly stand out); you've got to show your personality as not just involved, but truly passionate and real. What this means is that you won't seem like just a application folder anymore; instead you seem much more animated and creative - in short, much more human and real. This is what separates you from that other kid who also had the same, long list of ec's.
然而，如果你真的想得到招生官的欣赏（换言之让自己的申请材料鹤立鸡群），你必须让自己表现出不仅仅是参与，而且对所做的事的情感是热烈且真是的。这样招生官看到的就并不只是一份申请材料，而是更生动和富有创造性的 — 简言之，更有血有肉。这是让你从众多有着同样多ec的申请者中脱颖而出的关键。
How does one do this? How does one show their personality like this?The only real choice that you have is through your essay. Some might say interview. Well, most schools actually place much more importance on your essay than your interview.The reason is simple: Your essay is your only communication medium inside that committee room. Only one person interviews you but everyone reads your essay. It is the only way that you speak and show your feelings and creativeness. Your essay can be an amazing asset.
怎样才能做到这点呢？怎样才能这样展现自己的个性呢？只能通过你的文书。有人可能会说面试，事实上很多学校对文书的看重远远大于面试。理由很简单：文书是你与招生委员会的唯一交流媒介。只有一个人给你面试，但是每个招生委员都会读你的文书。这是唯一一个展示你情感和创造性的方式。你的文书可以是决定你申请的极其重要的砝码。
By picking specific ec activities and talking about them; your writing prose and content go much deeper and beyond the superficial areas.
选取特定的活动并叙述，你的行文和内容都会更深入而不是浮于表面。
As a result, you won't seem like a kid trying to impress an admissions committee about how versatile you are. Instead, you will convey something deeper and more meaningful to them: your livelihood and passions. When you focus and narrow down on a topic and speak about yourself very experiences very deeply; it shows your feelings, thoughts, and ideas so much more. It makes you seem so much more human and real; not just as an application folder sitting in front of their eyes out of the thousands! It makes you more unique and real in front of their eyes.
因此你就不会像是个急于和招生官证明自己能力的小孩儿，而会传递更多深层次的东西：你的生命力和热情。当你将一个主题集中，深入地讲述自己的经历，就会展现你的情绪、思维、想法甚至更多的东西，这会让你看起来更真实，更独特，而不仅仅是招生官面前上千份申请材料之一！
I have had many friends with tons of ec activities and 4.0 GPA along with a very rigorous curriculum and a good SAT score get rejected from places like Dartmouth, UPenn. After all these years (I'm now at one of the top engineering schools in the country), my friends and I realize why we got rejected from certain places we tried to get into back then. We just never conveyed ourselves enough to the admissions committee.
我有很多朋友，他们有很多课外活动，4.0的GPA，上高难度的课程，考了很高的SAT，但还是被达特茅斯，宾大这样的学校拒了。这么多年过去了（现在我在全国最好的工程学校之一），我和我朋友渐渐明白了我们那时为何被惨拒：我们没有对招生委员会足够地展现自己。
Here's the deal. Think of it as two different cases.
这儿有两个案例可以对比一下。
Case # 1) This kid named Jill has her list of ec activities and talks about how she is very versatile and yada yada.... She also relists most of his ec activities in an essay of its own.
案例一: Jill有一份近乎完美的课外活动列表，展现了她的多样性啊什么什么。她还在一篇文书里又列举了大部分活动。
Case #2) This kid named Jenny has the same list of ec activities. Instead of listing all the activities over again in another essay, she picks one activity that she felt the most passionate about. Jenny then goes very in depth and talks about her feelings and experiences about that one activity. She even talks about how it has helped her be a slightly different person in life. How it has helped her to look at things in a different and more optimistic perspective and then Jenny backs this up by listing the specific events in that one activity that really impacted her.
案例二： Jenny的课外活动列表和Jill相似。然而她选择了自己最有热情的一个活动，而不是在文书里重新列举一遍所有的活动。Jenny还深入地描线了她对这一活动的情感和经历。她还写了这件事怎样改变了她，怎样帮助她用另一种更积极的态度看待事物，并用对自己影响很大的具体事件充实了文章。
To me, Jenny shows much more of his personality than Jill. I really didn't need Jill to re-list all her ec's and I feel that Jill is trying to FORCE IT. She's trying too hard to get the admission's admiration and that is just pathetic. Goodbye Jill.
对我来说，Jenny比起Jill展现了更多的个人特色。我根本不需要Jill在文书里再列一遍她的活动，这让我感觉她在用力过猛。她有近乎谄媚地想要争取招生官的欣赏，反而有点可悲。拜拜Jill~
Jenny on the other hand has done a superior job of conveying her personality and experiences. She did not seem like she was forcing it across. It is clear that Jenny is not trying hard to capture anybody's attention; she is simply speaking about who she is and how she feels about life. This person has much more of an impact on me than Jill.
而Jenny更好地展现了个人特点和经历。她没有很明显地将自己的优点硬塞给招生官，她只是简单地在讲述自己和对生活的感触。她对我的触动比Jill更深。
Jill is just one of the thousands of applicants who seem like they really, really want in this college. That's all I can say about her other. She may have good grades and good test scores but thousands who apply to these top schools have those same credentials; Jill just is not standing out in her application to me.
Jill只是数千名看上去很想进入这所学校的学生中的一个，这就是我能看到的全部了。她可能有过硬的在校成绩和考试分数，但是其他同样优秀的名校申请者也有。对我来说Jill的申请并没有什么突出的地方。
Jenny is someone who I can visualize as a real person outside of her material application file that I'm holding. That coupled with good grades and SAT scores and recommendations presents a MUCH stronger file than Jill's. She isn't perfect but she is someone who the admissions would take very seriously. Chances are in her favor that they will take her. Get the point?”
我可以从Jenny的申请材料把她作为一个人的形象立体化。这样的一份材料加上优秀的在校和SAT成绩比Jill的有说服力得多。她并不完美，但她能得到招生官的重视。更大程度上招生委员会会倾向于录取Jenny。懂了吗？
Derived from College Confidential
【智梦简介】
智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。
我们的使命：
“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”
我们的愿景：
“智梦教育将成为一所发掘学术兴趣，培养学术能力，塑造具有公民意识的新时代留学生的学校。”
