哈佛 Rejection Letter 一共有4段,除了假惺惺的同情和几滴鳄鱼的眼泪之外,它倒确实说了一句实话: "Past experience suggestes that the particular college a student attends is far less important than what the student does to develop his or her strengths and talents over the next four years." 但是,实话归实话,你相信吗?
今天的华尔街日报书摘版介绍了前 Dartmouth 招生官员 Ms. Joie Jager-Hyman 的新书《 Fat Envelope Frenzy 》,注意,不是 Fat Wallet 哦。那什么是 Fat Envelope 呢,看看下面的图您就知道了(图片版权归 WSJ ):父亲拿这喇叭,母亲拽这绳子,干什么呢?把身上挂满了奖牌,手里满是奖杯证书的儿子往大学申请信封里装。对了,那孩子另外一个手上拿的什么呢?好像是地球, OMG ,全球化,你得在非洲扶过贫,印度看过孤儿 。
Ms. Jager-Hyman 的书与众不同的地方在于她跟踪了5个具备哈佛资质的高中生(其中一个是家在宾州的老中 Flex Zhang ),从申请,面试直到 Happy or Unhappy Day 的全过程。说起这5个学生,能把人吓死,华尔街日报用 Perfect Kids 来描述(注意,不是 Gifted Kids )。仅举一项 Felix 的吧:
"In his spare time, he does research at the local medical school."
这 research 可不是一般的 research , "He was even named as the lead author on a paper that the lab recently submitted to a prestigious peer-reviewed journal, a distinction that is usually reserved for hardworking graduate students or professors themselves. "
在《 Fat Envelope Frenzy 》的最后,除了介绍了一些"密技"之外, Ms. Jager-Hyman 附了一封完整的哈佛 Rejection Letter 。