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发表于 2012-3-5 08:29
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Dear Eighth Grader: So You Want to Apply to Harvard? Some Words of Advice...
DearEighth Grader:
Collegeinterview season is drawing to a close. Hundreds of thousands of high schoolseniors would like to believe that they have secured admission to prestigiouscolleges by impressing alumni like me with their sterling credentials andconversational aptitude.
Ourmeeting will not take place for four years. I hope you don't think it toopresumptuous of me to give you some things to think about now, at this earlyjuncture -- to help you prepare.
Ihave three kids of my own, including an eighth grader like you. My house willstill be pretty noisy in 2016 -- so, let's meet at Einstein's, the bagel place.I'll be the one doing the crossword puzzle.
I'vebeen conducting Harvard interviews for many years. Even though I graduated fromHarvard, I feel somewhat like a poser. I know to a moral certainty that, if Iwere to apply to the college today, the chances of my getting in would be lessthan zero. Admission standards have grown more rigorous over the last quartercentury. Sometimes, it's good to be older.
Iinterview applicants because it's fun. I like hearing about what's going on inyour youthful world, one that is now largely foreign to me. And, unlike my ownkids, when I ask questions, applicants have to answer. I like that, too.
Afriend recently asked me whether I interview because I like to wield power --like Commodus in Gladiator,whose "thumbs up" gesture in the Coliseum meant life or death.
Butmy powers are hardly imperial. I am not a gatekeeper. A lot of kids about whomI write enthusiastic recommendations do not get in to Harvard. Some people saythat the whole interview process is just an elaborate ruse intended to increasealumni donations. Still, my reports must count for something, because, whenthey are late, I receive testy emails admonishing me.
Thefirst thing you should know is that great test scores and grade point averagesdo not, standing alone, excite me. If I had one candy-coated chocolate forevery kid I've interviewed with an ACT score of 34, I could fill anindustrial-size bag of M&Ms that Costco sells for $8.99. High grades? Thesedays, in this era of hyper grade inflation, who doesn't get a four pointgazillion GPA?
Youcan leave at home the curriculum vitae printed on bond paper. I know you'll bewell rounded. You'll play midfield on the varsity soccer team, clarinet in thesymphony band and Benny Southstreet in Guysand Dolls. The exhortations of guidance counselors, over-invested parentsand the authors of CollegeAdmissions for Dummies will guarantee that.
Giventhat so many candidates have outstanding credentials, you may think that itwill be impossible for you to stand out. Not true. The special kid announcesherself boldly, unmistakably; she can't be missed -- like a flare streakingacross a starless nighttime sky.
Whatdo I look for? Qualities that are hard to spot on admissions applications, butones that scream out during probing conversation: passion, intellect, curiosityand mettle.
So,when I ask you to explain why you say you dislike the president, it'd be bestfor you to do more than mimic the political prejudices of your parents. Pleaseshow that you've given issues like that some independent thought.
And,if the conversation happens to turn toward your belief in God, I would love tohear the basis for that belief, that you've wrestled with questions of faithand that you've developed an intellectual construct that takes into accountdoubt and opposing points of view.
I'llwant to learn whether an exciting idea has ever overtaken you, whether you'veever had an epiphany, a "eureka" moment.
Howdid the universe begin? What are your most troubling personal weaknesses? Doesyour high school have a caste system, and, if so, how do you fit into, and feelabout, it? Where does morality come from? What's more important, reason orpassion? What's the last book you read outside of school that changed the wayyou think about something important? What did you do to motivate yourself tomake the varsity tennis team?
Doyou have answers to these questions? Have you even thought about them?
Inhis recent book, TheSocial Animal, David Brooks describes how a high school studentmight transform himself into a prodigious thinker, a generator of originalideas, a traveler on the road to wisdom. The journey is one that will bedefined by struggle, by reading and re-reading books that may be hard tounderstand, by challenging assumptions, by trying to harness and unify strayand random thoughts, by cultivating expertise.
Whenyou and I meet, will you have set out on this intellectual voyage? Will you beenergized or enervated by your odyssey? Or will you have forsaken the journeyaltogether, seduced by Facebook, the Disney Channel and other opiates?
And,by the way, you won't have to be an extra-curricular "superstar" toimpress me. It'll be okay if you're not elected class president or named to theall-state lacrosse team.
ButI will investigate whether you are disciplined, whether you are a dilettante,whether you know how to energetically commit yourself to something about whichyou say you care. Alternatively, I will ask myself whether your words are yourown and whether your activities are cynically calculated to win admissions toan Ivy League school.
Irecently interviewed a girl who easily won me over (she got into Harvard), notbecause her accomplishments were spectacular, but because her opinions werewell-formed but humbly-stated, because her passion for cross-country compelledher to run at least five miles almost every day since ninth grade and becauseshe waxed sentimental about polka dancing, an activity that does not appearprominently on the radar screens of most college admissions officials.
Therearen't too many kids out there like that. So, if you're one of them, you'llhave a leg up, at least in my eyes.
Iam writing to you now, years before our meeting, because I think you'll needtime to work on some of these things. Intellectual ambition, drive and zest fordiscovery can't be turned on and off like a light switch.
Weonly cultivate these characteristics slowly, and we do so only by conqueringapathy and peer pressure, by shunning minimalism and materialism and byappreciating the positive correlation between effort and reward. As Aristotleobserved, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an actbut a habit."
Frankly,it's not really that important whether you go to Harvard. There are a lot ofHarvard graduates who do not lead productive lives. And, of course, Harvard andother comparable schools have not cornered the market on success.
But,irrespective of where you go to college, I think this is true: If you preparefor our interview in the manner I have suggested, your adult life is far morelikely to be intellectually rich, rewarding and happy. The world will be a moreexciting place for you.
So,future Harvard applicant, I'm looking forward to having a great discussion withyou four years from now. In the meantime, log out of Facebook, for goodnesssake.
Warmregards,
AndyDoctoroff '85
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