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启明星大学升学顾问参加融贯东西会议

9月18日，我们的大学升学顾问Melissa Meltzer Warehall与来自世界各地的103位大学招生官和大学升学顾问一起，在线参加了第九届“融贯东西会议”和之前的一场聚会。

本届会议以“标准化考试非必需时期的入学招生”为主题，聚焦于美国高校不再要求SAT或ACT分数的政策带来的影响。这样的政策首先是基于现实因素的考量——由于全球疫情，各项考试被迫取消、考场被迫关闭；其次，招生委员会更倾向于审核学生能否证明自己拥有符合学校要求的软技能，而不是那些仅能反映申请者4小时生活缩影的分数。候选人是怎样的一个人，他们能够给学校带来什么，而不是SAT/ACT高分，才是证明候选人最适合一所学校的有力证据。正如耶鲁大学的招生顾问所说：“申请者应该追求的是一所特定的学校，而不是某个特定的排名。”

这正是Melissa老师在每周一次的“大学申请工作坊”上教授给11年级学生的理念：如何通过自我介绍在竞争激烈的候选人群中脱颖而出；如何证明他们申请的大学符合他们的价值观、激情和目标；如何在申请表上生动地展示他们的批判性思维和对兴趣进行探索的真实例子。

 “融贯东西会议”只是Melissa今年秋天要参加的若干场相关活动之一。在非疫情时期，秋季是大学前往高中与学生和升学顾问见面，并为家长举办宣讲会的季节。由于新冠疫情的限制，现场宣讲已经不可能，这些项目已经转移到线上举行，大学仍然可以与大学升学顾问和学生建立联系，沟通新的政策和程序。

传播博雅教育价值的同时，会议还有一个持续的主题是，帮助中国家长了解美国大学非常看重学生对自身的认知。正如西北大学的招生代表所说，申请者“需要知道他们是谁，他们想学什么，以及学习在特定的校园是如何展开的。”他们需要对自己申请的大学进行研究，而不是利用声誉或排名来推动申请过程。”所有的大学招生官都同意，他们希望学生在进入学校后就有动力、积极参与到社区当中，能够感到快乐，并充分利用每所学校提供的独特机会。

正如一位大学招生主任所说，学生在申请大学时都应该问一下自己：“哪所学校将有幸拥有我的才能?” 这样的理念是启明星大学升学辅导课程的目标之一：通过一系列的经历、课程和练习来指导学生，在此过程中，他们将学会表达自己的价值观和热情，再加上启明星IB课程的优秀学术记录，他们将能够获得被最适合自身的顶尖大学录取的机会。

Our College Counselor Attended 

East Meets West Conference

College Counselor Melissa Meltzer Warehall joined 103 college and university admissions counselors from around the world online on Saturday, September 18th, for the 9th Annual East Meets West Conference and a relative gathering. 

Exploring the theme “Admissions in a Test Optional World,” sessions focused on the impact of American colleges and universities moving away from requiring SAT or ACT scores, first due to practical considerations when the pandemic forced cancellation of tests and the closure of testing sites, and then because admissions committees prefer to examine soft skills that demonstrate fit to their institution rather than a score which indicates a snapshot of four hours in the applicant’s life. It is who the candidate is as a person, and what they bring to campus, not high SAT/ACT scores, that provides evidence of fit best. As the admissions counselor from Yale said, “It is a particular school, not a particular selectivity,” that applicants should pursue.

This philosophy is exactly what Melissa teaches Daystar’s Grade 11 students in their weekly Junior College Workshop Class: How to differentiate themselves in a competitive applicant pool by communicating who they are; by demonstrating that the university they are applying to fits their values, passions and goals; and by coming alive on the pages of their application with authentic examples from their lives of critical thinking and pursuit of interests.

East Meets West is just one of several conferences and workshops that Melissa is attending this fall. In non-pandemic times, fall is the season for colleges to travel to high schools to meet with students and counselors and to conduct information sessions for parents. Since that is not possible due to Covid restrictions, these programs have moved online, which means that schools still can communicate new policies and procedures (for example, standardized testing requirements) and can connect with high school college counselors and students (via webinars and online chats).

Along with spreading the word about the value of a liberal arts education, a persistent theme on Saturday was the need to educate Chinese parents on the importance American universities place on students knowing themselves. As the admissions rep from Northwestern University said, applicants “need to know who they are, what they want to learn, and how learning unfolds on a particular campus. They need to do their research on the colleges they apply to and not use prestige or rankings to drive their application process.” All of the college admissions officers agreed that they want students to arrive on their campuses motivated to get involved, to be happy and to be take advantage of the unique opportunities each school offers.

As one admissions director said, students should approach their college applications by asking themselves, “Which school will be lucky enough to have my talents?” That precise philosophy is a goal of Daystar’s College Counselling curriculum: Guiding students through a series of experiences, lessons and exercises, where they learn to articulate their values and passions, which, along with a strong academic record in Daystar’s IB curriculum, will result in offers of admissions from the best colleges that are best for them.

感谢 Melissa Warehall老师对本文的贡献。With special thanks to Ms. Melissa Meltzer Warehall, for her contribution to the post.

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