美国研究生申请指南：文书修改与润色

学生在美国研究生申请时，文书的写作非常重要。

文书两个原则：

第一个：不要过分追求文字达到native speaker的水平

PS是用来展现自己优秀特质或经历的，本来就该用中文，只是对方没法看懂，只有翻译成英文了。记住，PS不是让你修英语实力的，你的语言实力已经用托福证明了。

著名的升学指导专家 Ana Ivy （曾经在法学院做过amissionofficer），针对这一问题，她的看法是：

It's your application, so ultimately it's your call. But I can tell you, from my own experience as an amissions officer, that any essays that soun 'too perfect' from an ESL applicant willraise re flags, an then the amissions officer will come to oubt the authenticity of the rest of your material too.

You run the risk that they'll suspect your essays were written by someone else, or that the essays have been 'scrubbe' to the point where not even the content is your own. An that's a huge mark against you, so you are much better of submitting the writing in your own voice.

Noboy will hol against you that your English oesn't soun totally native. Authenticity is a big part of what makes application essays successful, so you've actually mae your essays worse by having them worke over by native speakers to get the English 'perfect.'

大意是：你的第一语言不是英语，文书写的和美国人一样，招生官是不大信的；你文书写得那么好，其它材料却明显跟不上，这摆明就是想让招生官怀疑你找人代写。

不地道不要紧，没一个招生官吃饱撑得要求一个非母语的申请者写出完全地道的ESSAY。

第二个，不要写的太多。

耶鲁大学给出的ESSAY写作建议：

When you write your essays an “short takes” for the Common Application an Yale-specific questions, write about something that matters to you. Use your own voice. Do not worry about making a special effort to inclue impressive vocabulary wors or overly complex sentences. If you soun like yourself an iscuss something you care about, your essay will be more effective.

We know that no one can fit an entire life story into two brief essays, an we on’t expect you to try. Pick two topics that will give us an iea of who you are. It oesn’t matter which topics you choose, as long as they are meaningful to you. We have rea wonerful essays on common topics an weak essays on highly unusual ones. Your perspective – the lens through which you view your topic – is far more important than the specific topic itself. In the past, stuents have written about family situations, ethnicity or culture, school or community events to which they have ha strong reactions, people who have influence them, significant experiences, intellectual interests, personal aspirations, or – more generally – topics that spring from the life of the imagination.

Finally: proofrea, proofrea, proofrea! Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well – such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or frien – an ask for feeback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, an your essays shoul retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you misse an help suggest areas to cut if you are over the wor limit.

大意是：你要自己写，别纠结于那些没用的词汇与句型。

要有重点，不要想着用一两篇文章把波澜壮阔的一生都写出来，这谁也做不到。

话题无所谓平常与新奇，平常的话题可以写出很棒的ESSAY，新奇的话题也可以写得狗屁不是。

所谓的文书不是要写一篇偏难怪的甲骨文，文书不是写一篇你看不懂的东西，因为很有可能你看不懂的，招生官也看不懂，他不知道你要表达什么，实在没把握的话，去找机构吧，我们的文案老师在业内都是八年十年的这种工作经验，都是海外的毕业的英语本专业而且都是这种北外、上外的老师，非常有经验，他们非常知道怎么去表达，能够让招生官喜欢你。