什么样的孩子才能上哈佛？

今年，除了每年例行的新生调查报告之外，哈佛校报还推介了十位2023届新生的详细背景和以及申请文书（全文/点评）。我们从中选取了一位韩国女生的资料，编译如下供读者朋友参考。

个人资料

姓名：萨曼莎（Samantha）

来自：韩国首尔

高中：私立学校，400名毕业班学生

种族：亚裔。
性别：女性。
GPA：4.0/4.0。
SAT/ACT：阅读800、数学800、写作720。
SAT科目考试：数学II级，化学，物理。

课外活动：大马蹄蝙蝠研究、野生动物生态与保护基因实验室（国立江原大学）、韩国射箭俱乐部创始人兼主席、梦想与行动志愿者俱乐部副主席、模拟辩论

奖项：学校年度最佳学生奖、韩国全国青年射箭锦标赛三等奖、全美优秀奖学金半决赛入围选手

专业：综合生物学

ESSAY

In the same way, I want to take risks in learning to communicate with other species beyond human beings and become a multilingual biologist who connects human and animal realms.

同样地，我想不走寻常路，学习与人类之外其他物种的沟通之道，并且成为一名联接人类和动物世界，擅长多种沟通方式的生物学家。

Language is not the sole domain of humans. Animals also talk, and over the last few years I have been fascinated by learning two new languages that even foreign language school students have never heard of. Studying animal languages is very different from learning Korean, Chinese, or Spanish. There are always dictionaries to refer to when I learn human languages, but when learning animal languages I don't have a Google translator to spit out satisfactory answers. In fact, I have to use my own judgment, which combines my mind, heart, and instinct to interpret what I hear.

Tree frogs, specifically Japanese tree frogs and Suweon tree frogs, use songs not just to express their amorous intentions but to survive. While these two species may look physically identical, they are sexually incompatible. So in order to lure the right female, male frogs sing serenades that are distinguishable from other species. Analyzing these serenades at an ecology lab with spectrograms and waveforms, I decoded every pulse of sounds emitted by these ravenous tree frogs into the patterns of numbers to let humans understand their lyrics.

Unlike frogs' mating songs, bats use language not only to communicate but also to navigate and locate insects at night. While flying, bats shoot out biosonar sounds and listen to the echoes that bounce off obstacles to grasp the world around them. Visualizing a world just with sound, I was enchanted by their invisible language when I studied the Greater Horseshoe bat's supersonic echolocation at a wildlife conservation lab. When bats cast nets of invisible words every millisecond during free flight and ziplining experiments, we captured and revealed their dialogue that had neither conjugations nor grammar.

After eavesdropping on tree frogs' and bats' conversations, I discovered that they use languages for survival. The language of the frogs exemplifies power — the stronger and bigger a frog is, the louder it can sing, scaring off all its prey and bravely exposing itself to predators. And for bats, their invisible language is their vision. They silently scream out for help and listen carefully as nature's echoes guide their path. In a sense, animals communicate with other species and with nature.

On the other hand, humans have developed esoteric words, convoluted sentences, and dialects to express their sophisticated ideas and feelings. This amazing evolution has, I believe, isolated us from nature. Now we prefer to live away from wildlife, tending to communicate only among other Homo sapiens sapiens through texts, tweets, and e-mails. Taking a page from Dr. Dolittle's pocket diction, I hope that my work helps us broaden our anthropocentric minds and understand animals who also share our biosphere. If our souls are reconnected with nature, maybe we could hear Mother Nature whisper some secrets about her mysteries that we are too wired or unaware to heed.

Early explorers boldly left the comforts of their homeland to learn the languages and traditions of other cultures. Due to their dedication, these self-taught bilinguals were able to bridge cultures and share values between different communities. In the same way, I want to take risks in learning to communicate with other species beyond human beings and become a multilingual biologist who connects human and animal realms. I wish to venture into the animal kingdom and become a pioneer in mastering and sharing nature's occult dialects with our species. When we finally learn to comprehend and harmonize with nature, we humans might become more humane.

点评

通过申请材料的其他部分描述动物语言研究，萨曼莎要找到一种恰如其分的表达方式颇为不易。不过，在描绘动物和人类语言之间存在深度联系的同时，她的文书向读者阐述了这种独一无二的学术兴趣。

在申请文书中过度探讨学术研究绝非明智之举。然而，萨曼莎将学术知识和自我反思有机结合在一起。除此之外，她没有过多渲染自己对科学或生物的兴趣，而是结合学术背景，描述了一个非常细分的科学领域；同样地，她既专注于提供该领域的真知灼见，又深入解读这一主题的学术细节。

萨曼莎对于自己兴趣入木三分且有条不紊的描述读来兴致盎然。她对动物语言给予人性化适配，例如她从“连词和语法”角度讨论蝙蝠语言，使得这篇文书显得格外与众不同。在文章结尾处，她进一步深化这种类比，就人类和动物互相脱节展示真知灼见，并表达未来加强两者联系的心愿。尽管这个独特主题本身相当引人注目，萨曼莎颇具感染力的思考和继续研究该主题的强烈愿望，更令读者欲罢不能。

备注：

除了删除身份细节外，本文按照申请提交版本复制，即使存在任何瑕疵也予以保留，以期原汁原味地展现文书。

结语：

作为一名国际学生，萨曼莎获得哈佛录取的原因可能在于：

1、成绩很重要，这个女孩GPA和标化双双满分，实在无可挑剔；

2、课外活动丰富，涵盖生物研究、运动、领导力等方面，尤其是射箭获得韩国全国性奖项，殊为不易；

3、文书出色：详见点评，不再赘述；

4、创意无限：她选取的生物研究的维度异常独特，研究野生动物这一类课外活动比比皆是，不过聚焦人类和动物的沟通别出心裁。无论她怎样从拟人化的“连词和语法”解读蝙蝠语言，还是将自己的目标升华为“成为一名连接人类和动物世界，擅长多种沟通方式的生物学家。”，从常识判断都令人难以置信。这是一个极难验证研究成果的细分领域，即使这位女生与蝙蝠的沟通结果是后者称自己血族化身，旁人也无从质疑。无论生物研究水平如何，单靠萨曼莎这份创意（或者说忽悠能力），就值得哈佛将其延揽门下！

从这一案例中，我们也不妨反思一下究竟什么样的课外活动（及其展现方式）才能赢得名校的青睐。

参考资料：

https://www.thecrimson.com/topic/sponsored-successful-harvard-essays-2019/

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作者：Pearly，本文经授权发表，归属作者所有。

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