易美教育宾夕法尼亚大学前招生办副主任芬顿先生为您深度解析如何在研究生申请中展示最优秀的你

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面对疫情后名校学历越发稀缺的时代，名校申请的内卷还将继续。近两年受疫情的冲击，名校的录取方式与偏好正在悄然改变，多样化与个性化占据的比重显著增加，这也导致大批硬性条件高、却缺乏差异化的中国留学生被瞬间淘汰，再想通过“拼标化”“凑实习”进名校，恐难以实现。究其原因，认知的差异、东西方文化的差异、教育系统的差异、表达方式的差异，横亘在我们中国留学生与美国名校之间，造成彼此极深的误解。

易美教育招生官顾问委员会成员、宾大前招生官芬顿先生受邀参加易美教育易讲坛，为准备申请美国留学的学生们点明了研究生项目申请最容易被学生忽视的因素。在易美教育主办的易美教育招生官线上讲座，易美教育的宾大前招生官芬顿先生详细阐述了在申请顶尖名校研究生的时候需要弄清楚的三大根本问题，为什么要申请研究生项目，要申请哪里的研究生项目，要申请什么研究生项目。这三个问题看似简单，实则对于在申请中如何展现自己至关重要，让我们看看宾大前招生官是如何给我们支招的。

嘉宾介绍

宾夕法尼亚大学研究生院

前招生办副主任芬顿先生

• 6年宾大招生办副主任工作经验；

• 曾任宾大信息中心副总监；

• 曾任布朗大学招生评估员；

• 曾参与管理宾大研究生申请系统，审阅招生系统周报与月报；

• 曾参与设计并创建近20个线上硕士项目

很多学生在准备自己的研究生申请时，往往会忽略一个最简单也是最根本的问题，为什么要申请研究生？当招生官在审核你的申请材料，试着从中找到你申请的初衷，但是却无从得知的时候，那你离被拒就不远了，因为有大把的学生招生官认为比你更加需要这个研究生项目的学习。试想一下，如果招生官在面试中对你申请研究生的原因进行灵魂拷问的时候，你回答说因为我不知道我现在可以做什么，所以想读研究生，你觉得学校可能把录取的宝贵机会白白浪费在你的身上吗？哪怕有的时候你拥有更优秀的成绩和更丰富的经历。那么读研到底是为了什么？

易美教育的宾大前招生官芬顿先生举了几个例子：“Why are you applying to graduate school?Is it for career advancement? For example, you know you'll need an advanced degree to move up in your chosing career, or perhaps you are required to have a higher degree for certain positions in your current company? Is it for career choice? Perhaps most positions in the field you would like to enter require an advanced degree. Or is it for educational opportunity? Is it maybe a chance to study more specific topic than what you studied in your undergraduate school? Or it isn't an opportunity to do research or continues doing a topic that you began studying during your undergraduate education? Maybe you have an interest in an area that you didn't get to explore during undergrad. Perhaps you have difficulty settling on a career or job that you want to do after graduation. Maybe you detest the subject that you majored in and wanna finally explore your passion now that you finished that undergraduate degree, or perhaps you literally have no idea what to do with your life. While all these may seem like relevant reasons to apply to grad school. I believe the last one is that you don't know what to do after college is probably the least effective reason.”

简而言之，提升职业发展，拓宽职业选择，获得更加深入的研究机会，这些都是非常棒的回答，但是一定要加入自己的思考在里面，才能赢得招生官的信任。

研究生项目本身是我们需要考虑的头等大事，同时还有很多其他的因素会影响我们最终的抉择，比如项目时长，学校位置，项目人数，校外生活等等，因为研究生项目不仅仅只有学习，还有很多我们可以去探索体验的方面，尤其是对于两年的项目，很多时候研究生项目的位置会极大的影响我们毕业后的工作和未来的生活。所以在对比研究生项目本身的同时，

易美教育的宾大前招生官芬顿先生建议我们多多综合考察其他方面的因素，他进一步解释道：“Once you've figured out why it is your plan to grad school, perhaps you should look at where you are going to apply to graduate school. What is your program that you're going to specifically attend? Is it 1 year and exam based? Or is it 2 years? And ultimately thesis based? Is that a 2 year thesis based program can often be a great introduction to ultimately applying for and completing a doctorate? Other things to consider when you're applying to grad school and try to figure what schools you will actually apply to the location. This can be very important. Are you looking at an urban school? Or are you looking for something in a rural area? In addition to thinking about that specific program or programs that you were applying to, we also like to think about the type of size of the institution that you would be going to and attending. Taking into account the signs of the overall student population can be very important in the opportunities that you ultimately have when you are at the institution. You might want to get up to outside the classroom. Do you plan to be active in student organizations? Do you plan to be active in any service organizations at the university or in the community at large? While the program itself will ultimately be the most important factor, all these other factors can definitely impact the type of experience that you will have when you are in graduate school.”

像大城市交通更加便利，人口更加多元化，非常适合那些喜欢到处社交的学生，像小城市交通不发达，人口也少，很多时候项目学生也不多，但是机会就会更多，适合那些喜欢静下心来钻研学术的学霸们，所以说萝卜青菜，各有所爱，地理位置很大程度上会影响不同学生的选择。

在易美教育的宾大前招生官芬顿先生看来，所有的研究生项目都可以分成三个类别：冲刺学校，目标学校，保底学校或者安全学校，冲刺学校一般是前30的学校，然后目标学校是30-50名的学校，保底学校是50-75名的学校，这个是他基于US NEWS排名来划分的大概分类。申请多少学校取决于学生，但是他建议不管申请多少学校，这三个分类里面最好都能选择其中一所。当然很多学生对于保底学校都嗤之以鼻，

易美教育的宾大前招生官芬顿先生也非常能够理解，他换了一个角度解释道：“If you believe that you might need to compromise, what you can think about which areas you believe are most important to you outside of the specific program. Begin to revisit those, we think about if there's a 1 or a 2 year program, think about the location. We also think about the size, the climate and the outside the classroom experience. Many of these things may ultimately leave you with a better overall experience at a probable or quote unquote, safety school. Then if you went to a reach school that does not meet the rest of the criteria. Ultimately, it is up to you in terms of how many schools you would like to apply to, and how many in each of those categories. But it is specifically something that you should very much take into consideration. One other thing to note is that if the program you are planning to apply to is very research heavy, then it may be a good idea to have a relatively heavy research background. ”

也就是说，保底学校存在的意义不仅仅是能够保证你有一个成功率极大的选择，同时也能满足你对于其他方面的要求，比如地理位置，课外生活，气候等等。另外对于很多冲刺学校，特别是那些偏重学术研究的学校，你最好能有比较丰富的学术经历，不然这很有可能是你最后被拒的原因。