星爸星妈学院 | 面对大学招生官，孩子们该怎样展示课外活动？

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近期，启明星的星爸星妈学院举办了一场关于大学升学的讲座：课外活动在大学申请过程中扮演什么角色？

启明星的大学升学顾问主管Melissa Warehall从自己曾经担任芝加哥大学招生副总监、德保罗大学戏剧学院招生总监和美国优秀私立学校大学升学顾问的经验出发，通过展示3个真实的大学申请案例，为家长们带来满满干货——学生怎样通过活动展示自己的兴趣、热情与个性？填写大学申请平台的课外活动信息时，又该注意什么？…….

Melissa Warehall

1. 大学招生官更期待看到学生参加某一类课外活动吗？

不，事实是，任何课外活动都可以是好活动——只要这种活动对学生来说是有实际意义的。活动可以是某项运动，也可以是志愿者活动，或者艺术类活动……

所以，盲目地参加竞赛是不对的。衡量是否要参加竞赛的标准是学生对竞赛主题有没有兴趣或动力。

既然任何活动都是好活动，那么这些活动可以是个人性的，也可以是和他人合作的活动。

向大学招生官展示课外活动信息的意义是，让他们更多地了解你，了解你在睡觉、吃饭、课堂学习之外会做些什么，是什么样的人？

——Melissa Warehall

2. 大学怎样评估标准化考试的成绩和课外活动呢？

对于母语不是英文的学生，拥有具有竞争力的托福、雅思或多邻国这些标准化英文测试的分数，以及优异的学业成绩都很重要。

获得优秀的标准化考试成绩的最佳方法是在启明星的课堂上好好学习。家长们送孩子去昂贵的托福或SAT课程的心理是可以理解的。然而，在大学招生官看来，学业成绩单最重要，然后他们会通过课外活动和文书来更全面地了解学生。大学录取的是"人"，而不是分数。因此，要想被一流大学录取，学生最好是通过在校好好学习，练习阅读、写作和英文听说，从而在申请中具有竞争力。

换句话说，大学关心的是你是谁，你做了什么，你在校园里是什么样的人？

所以，我们欢迎启明星学生参加我们新的实习项目。我们有两种实习项目可供选择：Inno-Sprint 和 Inno-Ready。通过 Inno-Sprint，10 年级和 11 年级启明星学生可以在某些公司短时间实习，帮忙解决有关社会创新的问题。Inno-Ready 专注于学生的职业兴趣，为他们提供更长时间的实习，例如，用3到4个星期在某个公司或非营利组织接受专业的辅导。

两项实习都可以加入学生的课外活动清单，向大学展示自己高效利用了时间，选择了与自己兴趣相关的活动。

—— Melissa

3. 申请系统Common Application的活动信息怎么填？

Common Application 是申请几乎所有美国大学会用到的平台，学生的活动信息也要填写在这里。

Melissa通过3个真实的案例，也就是她辅导过的3个学生的案例说明了填写过程中要注意什么，我们扼要摘录如下：

（1）Student A 乔治城大学国际关系专业学生

1.     对这位学生来说，最重要的是模拟联合国的活动，所以填写的时候放在第一位。因此，填写活动时，从最重要的开始。

2.     描述相关的活动时，A学生没有描述做了什么，而是用有限的篇幅描述这个活动的重要性，也就是解答了为什么参加这个活动，并且反映了这和自己申请的大学专业相关。

3.     A同学也做了3年年鉴，担任主编，对金融有兴趣，热爱体育运动，去巧克力店打工，有志愿者经历。所有这些信息让人更丰富地了解A同学，她的兴趣和经历是相关的，不怕尝试多种活动。另外，我们可以看到，A同学不一定必须是各个活动的领导者。

 （2）威斯康辛大学攻读教育及西班牙语专业的B同学

1.     B同学很喜欢篮球，把篮球列在活动的第一位。所以，填写时不一定非要把学术类活动放在第一位。

2.     B同学去过西班牙2次，和当地家庭住在一起，所以他这一项的活动时间是每周168小时，和后面每年参加学校公平周每年只做6小时，以及每周用1小时教低年级学生西班牙语形成鲜明的对比。在招生官看来，B同学乐于助人，因为其中两项活动是志愿服务，包括为无家可归者提供食物。此外，B同学投入不同活动的时间对比强烈展示着，这是一个愿意为大学专业相关的活动大力付出的人。

（3）密歇根大学攻读工程及医学预科的C同学

1.     我们可以看到，C同学很喜欢体操，这方面的成绩很出色，另外他也喜欢科学、数学、音乐，说明他是个兴趣广泛的学生。

2.     他提供的信息能让人感受到他鲜活的形象和幽默的个性。比如说到自己喜欢音乐时，他提到很乐于为大家聚会做表演。他还说自己喜欢烘焙，拿手的是巧克力蛋糕。另外，他是印度裔，表示自己正在学习印地语，练习印度的乐器，展示了他在文化上和印度是有链接的。然而，他大多数的时间还是投入在参加体操运动中，这让他最终被吸收进密歇根大学体操队，要知道这是对体育精英（当然也是学术精英）的认可。

Common Application系统里能填写的字数是有限的，所以要好好利用，写成精炼的小陈述。

有一点特别要注意，要诚实、精确。填写活动周数的时候，除非你确信真的每周都做，不然不要把时间填满。

——Melissa

大学申请促动学生个人和家庭反思自我需求，是成长揉合自我认知的过程，对学生个体和家庭都殊为重要。

未来，星爸星妈学院将组织更多支持家庭共同成长的活动和课程，欢迎关注！

Recently, Daystar Parents Academy held a lecture on university counselling: What are the purposes of extra-curricular activities in the college application process?

Melissa Warehall, our college counselor, shared her experience of working as the Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago, as the Director of Admissions at DePaul University’s Theatre School and as an college counselor at a top American private school by discussing three actual students and their activities while in high school in the US. She shared her insights by addressing the questions, “How can students show their interests, passions and personality through the activities they choose to do? And what should they pay close attention to when filling in the activities section on university application forms?”

Melissa Warehall

1. Do university admissions officers prefer certain kinds of activities?

No. In fact, any activity is good—as long as it is meaningful to the student. It can be a sport, or a volunteer activity, or an artistic activity…

So, it’s wrong to sign up for competitions just for the sake of competing. Whether to take part in a competition should be decided by whether the student is interested in or motivated by it.

Since any activity is good, it can be an individual activity or one that involves a team.

The point of showing the activities you have participated in to university admissions officers is to help them better understand you, to tell them what you like to do “when you are not sleeping, eating or sitting in class”, and to tell them what kind of person you are.

—Melissa

2. How do colleges evaluate scores and activities?

For students who are not native English speakers, having competitive TOEFL or IELTS or Duolingo scores are important, along with having excellent grades on your transcript. 

The best way to get a high English test score is by getting good grades at Daystar. I understand parents send children to expensive TOEFL or SAT classes, however, from the college admissions point of view, it all starts with the transcripts, and then they want to know who the child is by looking at their activities and essays. Colleges admit whole students, not scores. Therefore, students are best prepared to be competitive for highly selective universities by doing well in school, and by practicing reading, writing and speaking English.

In other words, universities care about who you are and what you have done and who you will be on their campus?

Yes, which is why we are happy that Daystar students are participating in our new internship programs. We have two internship options: Inno-Sprint and Inno-Ready. 

Through Inno-Sprint, Daystar students who are in Grades 10 and 11 spend a short period of time with a company working on a social innovation problem that they help to solve. Inno-Ready is the internship option that focuses on students’ career interests and places them for longer periods of time, for example, three to four weeks, at a company or not-for-profit organization where they are mentored professionally. 

These internships become part of the students’ activities lists, demonstrating to colleges that they spend their time productively and choose opportunities related to their interests.  

 —— Melissa

3. How should activity details be entered on the Common Application platform?

The Common Application is a platform used for applying to nearly every university in the United States. Information regarding student activities is submitted through the application. 

Melissa shared three actual cases in which her former students used the Common Application. These examples were provided to show everyone what we should pay close attention to when filling in the activity details.

(1) Student A majoring in International Relations at Georgetown University

1.   For Student A, the most important activity is Model United Nations, so she put it at top of the list. Students should start with the activity that is most important to and list them in order of importance in their lives.

2.  When describing relevant details, she didn’t really go into the details of the activity itself. Instead, she explained why it was important and why she decided to take part in it. She also explained how it is related to the university major she applied for.

3. Student A also was on staff of her school’s yearbook for three years, including being appointed Editor in Chief. She was interested in finances, so she was active in her school’s Finance Club, and she loved sports, which was evidenced by her participation in her school’s Track and Field and Soccer teams. Finally, she worked in a chocolate shop one summer, for fun, and she served as a volunteer at her school, giving tours and helping with school events. All this information gives universities a better understanding of who she is, shows that the activities she chose are related to her interests, and that she is not afraid of trying different things. It also demonstrates that she doesn’t need to be the leader of every activity.

（2）Student B majoring in Education and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin

1.  Student B really liked basketball, so she put it at the top of her list, demonstrating that academic activities do not need to be prioritized.

2.  Student B went to Spain twice and lived with local residents. During her time in Spain, she was immersed in Spanish 168 hours per week, which is quite different from her participation in her school’s Social Justice Week (for only six hours per year) and the one hour each week that she devoted to tutoring a younger student in Spanish. From the admissions officer’s point of view, Student B has a passion for helping others because two of her activities were volunteering with those who are less fortunate than her, including serving food to homeless people. This time comparison also demonstrates her devotion to the activities she is interested in that were related to her future college studies in education and Spanish.

（3）Student C studying Engineering and Pre-Medicine at the University of Michigan

1.  We can see that Student C really loves gymnastics. He is good at it, and he also likes science, math, and music, which means that he has a lot of diverse interests.

2.  The information he provided shows that he is a lively and fun person. For example, he says that he likes music and likes performing at parties. He also likes baking and is very good at making chocolate cakes. What’s more, he is Indian, speaks Hindi, and learned to play Indian musical instruments, showing that he is connected with his family’s culture. Most of his time, however, was spent practicing gymnastics and competing at a high level, which resulted in him being recruited to join the University of Michigan’s gymnastics team, an accomplishment that is available only to the most elite athletes (who also are strong students academically).

The number of words we can use when filling in the Common Application Activities Section is limited. So, make the most of it and write concise statements that are informative.

One thing we need to be careful about is being honest and accurate. When filling in the number of activity weeks, don’t count every week of the year, unless you are sure you really took part every week. It is rare that a high school students actually does something 52 weeks of the year.

——Melissa

University applications encourage students to reflect on themselves and their needs. It is a process of growth and self-recognition, which is extremely important to both students and parents. 

In the future, Daystar Parents Academy will hold more activities and lessons for students and their parents to join and grow together. Please join us!  

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启明星学校是一所使命驱动的学校，致力于支持每位学生培养改变和激励的勇气。启明星北京的三个校区共同构建了一个由 1.5-18岁学生组成的多元成长型社区。 

Daystar Academy is a mission driven school committed to helping every student develop the courage to change and inspire.  We have a diverse student body of children aged 1.5-18 at three campuses in Beijing.  

泉发校区 为6岁以下儿童提供早期教育服务

三里屯校区 面向1-5 年级学生

北皋校区 涵盖 K-12 各年级

Our Daystar Early Center, serving our youngest students

Sanlitun campus accommodating 

children grade 1-5 and our Beigao campus 

serving children grade K-12

启明星学校是艾毅教育集团的重要成员。请扫描二维码或拨打招生电话，了解学校详细信息：

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