【揭秘】華裔女孩用一篇Essay斬獲八所藤校Offer？! 一篇文章真的如此重要嗎？

Cassandra Hsiao（蕭靖彤）在17歲時收到了美國八所藤校的Offer，這樣開掛的人生背后沒有顯赫的家庭背景的支撐，Casssandra而是通過一篇深情滿滿的文章敲開了很多人夢寐以求的藤校大門。這時， 我們不禁開始詢問？ 一篇Essay真的如此重要嗎？

學生的大學申請文書是展示自己個性、告訴招生官自己與眾不同的最佳機會。美國大學升學委員會(NACAC)曾發現并指出，學生的在校成績、課程優勢、入學標準化考試是相當重要的考量因素，除此之外，申請文書在申請過程中也有著不可忽視的作用，會很大程度上影響學校認為該生是否符合學術水平以及標準。

換句話說，當申請者很多量化標準實力相當時，一篇有力量的、構思清晰的申請文書會給他們的申請加分。 “文如其人”，美國大學就是依靠學生的申請論文對申請人進行全面的了解，而以Liberal Arts教育為基石的美國本科教育更是如此，很多學校格外地看重申請論文，需要體現出學生的思想、追求、成長、改變等。好的文章讓人看了開頭就不自覺的想繼續讀下去。在申請程序中，為了分辨申請論文的真實性，很多大學甚至需要學生提交一份已經被老師打過分數的寫作作業。

站在招生人員的立場，他們試著透過這些像是平面影像的申請作文，將它轉化成較為真實的學生立體影像。他們希望可以透過申請作文上的文字，盡可能來了解每一位學生的狀況和真實的自我。但在此之前，學生必須先將真實的立體自我，轉化成紙上或屏幕上有意義的文字寫作。用通俗易懂的中文解釋這句話就是：讓你的形象躍然于紙上。 那么，申請論文Essay是什么類型的文章呢？英文Essay是屬于Creative Nonfiction類別，就是創作性的非小說類作品。一般而言，Essay有四個基本特點：

• Voice（聲音）通常的Essay都是用第一人稱，寫出你的心聲，不過僅僅寫出自己的體驗是不夠的，而必須寫出你獨特的視角。
• Form（形式）Essay的寫作形式是介于小說和詩之間的。Essay需要將你的體驗用故事的方式說出來，并且有詩一樣的文字技巧和語言美。
• Drama（戲劇性）Essay所描述的每一個故事都應該來自于真實的生活，同時還要讓這種生活充滿戲劇性，讓讀者好奇和產生共情。
• Truth（真實或真理）一篇小說可以沒有Truth 或Point，但一篇Essay必須有Truth or Point,即反映出你對生活的看法和你的價值觀。

那么，怎樣的一篇Essay算得上一篇好文章呢？至少這三點很重要：

第一，要寫出真實的自己。也就是說，看完這篇文章后，能對你從內到外建立起一個印象來，當然是優秀的印象。所以，文章的素材必須來自于你真實的經歷，要用心去寫，切忌假、大、空。另外，這篇文章最好能和你的特長、活動等個人其它材料有所聯系，因為要記得，這不是一篇孤立的文章，而是整個申請材料中的一部分。

第二，要迅速抓住讀者（招生官）。招生官掃視每一份申請的時間很短，所以，你的論文需要盡快吸引到他們的目光?？梢哉f，你文章中的前兩句話或第一段內容就決定了文章的品質和招生官的態度。除了開頭要抓住讀者外，優秀的申請論文還會加入一些幽默的成分或詼諧的語言。

第三，要寫出與眾不同的想法。這就是說文章的選材一定要有新意，不落俗套，或者至少要有自己獨特的視角和感悟。

▶ 文末福利◀

Cassandra Hsiao打動美國頂級名校的Essay原文在此，大家體驗一下如何通過一篇文章展現出獨一無二的自己，打動招生官。

In our house, English is not English. Not in the phonetic sense, like short a is for apple, but rather in the pronunciation – in our house, snake is snack. Words do not roll off our tongues correctly – yet I, who was pulled out of class to meet with language specialists, and my mother from Malaysia, who pronounces film as flim, understand each other perfectly.

In our house, there is no difference between cast and cash, which was why at a church retreat, people made fun of me for “cashing out demons.” I did not realize the glaring difference between the two Englishes until my teacher corrected my pronunciations of hammock, ladle, and siphon. Classmates laughed because I pronounce accept as except, success as sussess. I was in the Creative Writing conservatory, and yet words failed me when I needed them most.

Suddenly, understanding flower is flour wasn’t enough. I rejected the English that had never seemed broken before, a language that had raised me and taught me everything I knew. Everybody else’s parents spoke with accents smarting of Ph.D.s and university teaching positions. So why couldn’t mine?

My mother spread her sunbaked hands and said, “This is where I came from,” spinning a tale with the English she had taught herself.

When my mother moved from her village to a town in Malaysia, she had to learn a brand new language in middle school: English. In a time when humiliation was encouraged, my mother was defenseless against the cruel words spewing from the teacher, who criticized her paper in front of the class. When she began to cry, the class president stood up and said, “That’s enough.”

“Be like that class president,” my mother said with tears in her eyes. The class president took her under her wing and patiently mended my mother’s strands of language. “She stood up for the weak and used her words to fight back.”

We were both crying now. My mother asked me to teach her proper English so old white ladies at Target wouldn’t laugh at her pronunciation. It has not been easy. There is a measure of guilt when I sew her letters together. Long vowels, double consonants — I am still learning myself. Sometimes I let the brokenness slide to spare her pride but perhaps I have hurt her more to spare mine.

As my mother’s vocabulary began to grow, I mended my own English. Through performing poetry in front of 3000 at my school’s Season Finale event, interviewing people from all walks of life, and writing stories for the stage, I stand against ignorance and become a voice for the homeless, the refugees, the ignored. With my words I fight against jeers pelted at an old Asian street performer on a New York subway. My mother’s eyes are reflected in underprivileged ESL children who have so many stories to tell but do not know how. I fill them with words as they take needle and thread to make a tapestry.

In our house, there is beauty in the way we speak to each other. In our house, language is not broken but rather bursting with emotion. We have built a house out of words. There are friendly snakes in the cupboard and snacks in the tank. It is a crooked house. It is a little messy. But this is where we have made our home.

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