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This can be a confusing and anxious time for both parents and students. Application season is the culmination of years of hard work and preparation and this can all be undone by mistakes on your application. In a recent article published on the US News & World Report admissions officers from some of America’s top colleges offered the following advice regarding mistakes to avoid. While some of these officers’ positions may have changed since the publication of this article, applicants are well advised to consider their advice as it remains insightful.
对于家长和孩子来说，申请季是一个充斥着困惑与紧张的时期 ，数年来的努力和准备都是为了这一冲锋时刻，而它的成败如何，往往会被你在申请中所犯的错误影响，甚至有可能导致你与名校失之交臂。在《美国新闻与世界报道》(US News & World Report)最近发表的一篇文章中，美国一些顶级大学的招生官就应该避免的申请错误给出了以下建议。虽然自这篇文章发表以来，其中一些招生官的职位可能已经改变，但申请人最好考虑他们的这些建议，因为这些建议仍然是很有见地的。
Leigh A. Weisenburger, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, Bates College
Leigh A. Weisenburger——贝茨学院（Bates College）招生和助学金主任
Submitting a lengthy resume: At my stage in my career, I shouldn't have a three-page resume. So no 17-year-old should be submitting a three-page resume.
提交一份冗长的简历：以我目前所处的阶段以及事业来说，我不应该有长达三页的简历。所以，一个17岁的孩子不应该会有一份长达三页的简历来提交。
I know many college counselors encourage students to write one as a process to help the kid recognize all she's accomplished, but we don't need to see it if you've filled out the application properly. It just rubs me the wrong way when students submit a resume rather than filling out the activity portion of the application.
我知道很多大学升学顾问鼓励学生在写简历时把它当作一个过程来写，从而帮孩子认识到自己所取得的所有成就。但如果你把申请表填好了，我们就不需要看这份简历了。当学生选择提交一份简历，而不是去填写申请表中的活动部分时，这会让我很恼火。
Debra Chermonte, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Oberlin College
Debra Chermonte——欧柏林学院（Oberlin College）招生和助学金主任
Hitting submit without proofreading: Using spell-check isn't enough – you have to proofread. Julie Taymor, who wrote and directed "The Lion King," is a graduate of Oberlin, and we had a student who was really passionate about [Taymor's] work and wrote a really well-done essay about it. But she neglected to proof it, and throughout she referred to the musical as "The Loin King."
没校对就点击提交：只使用拼写检查是不够的----你必须去校对。“狮子王”的作者和导演，Julie Tayor毕业于欧柏林学院，有一个学生对Taymor的作品真的很感兴趣，充满激情，并且她为此写了一篇很好的论文，但她却忘记校对它，整篇文章她都把这部音乐片称之为“The Loin King”.
She didn't get in. It wasn't just because of that; it didn't help, though. It was a really good essay, but that just put the pause button on it.
她没有被录取，当然不仅仅是因为这个问题，但确实它也没有起到帮助，那真的是一篇很好的论文，但没有校对让一切都戛然而止。
Julie Shimabukuro, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Washington University in St. Louis
Julie Shimabukuro——华大圣路易斯（Washington University in St. Louis）本科招生主任
Waiting until the last minute: Many students who submit on the date of the deadline assume that everything transmitted and was received. But sometimes things are lost in cyberspace.
等到最后一分钟才提交申请：在截止日那天提交申请的许多学生认为所有的东西都已经发送出去，并被收到了，但是有时网上也会丢失一些东西。
By the time we process the thousands of pieces of information that come in on the final day, the actual deadline has come and gone, and it's possible that something is still missing. We try to give a few days' grace period, but colleges and universities expect you to confirm that your application has been received and that it is complete.
当我们处理最后一天收到的成千上万条信息时，真正的截止日期已经来了又走了，而此时可能还有东西是丢失的。我们尽量给几天宽限时间，但大学还是希望在截止日期前你确保自己的申请是已经被收到了的，而且是完整的。
Amy Jarich, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of California—Berkeley
Amy Jarich——加州大学伯克利分校（University of California—Berkeley）助理副校长兼本科招生主任
Repeating yourself: When I keep hearing the same thought over and over, I really feel like it's a missed opportunity. In the application, real estate is so valuable!
重复自己：当我不断重复地听到相同的想法时，我真的觉得这会错失机会 的。申请表中每个部分都是很有价值的！
Each part of it should be telling us something new ... If you've told us in one essay how you live with your extended family and how important that is in your life, don't tell us in the second essay about how the person you most admire is your grandmother ... You want us to think: "That brings a new piece to this puzzle. I like that."
所以每个部分都应该告诉我们一些新的东西······如果你已在一篇论文中告诉了我们你是如何与你的大家庭一起生活的以及这在你的生命中是如何重要的话，那么就不要再在你的第二篇论文中告诉我们你最钦佩的人是你的奶奶······你需要让我们有这样的感觉：这让拼图又完整了一块，我喜欢。
Henry Broaddus, Dean of Admission, College of William and Mary
Henry Broaddus——威廉玛丽学院（College of William and Mary）招生办主任
Giving colleges what you think they want: Please, please don't give us the personal statement that opens with a couple of minutes left in the game and ends with how winning isn't everything or how you learned the value of teamwork!
发给大学你自己认为他们需要的东西：请不要发送这样的个人陈述给我们——以“比赛只剩几分钟了”这样的内容来开头，以“胜利不是一切或者你如何学会了团队合作的价值”这样的内容来结尾。
Or the classic service trip essay that's about how everyone can make a difference. Or how if everyone just rolled up their sleeves and worked together we could solve everything. We're a lot more interested in the rough edges. Tell us something original.
或者是关于如何让每个人都有所作为的老生常谈的服务旅行类文章，或者是如果每个人都卷起袖子一起工作就可以解决所有问题这种内容的文章。我们其实对那些艰难时刻更感兴趣。请告诉我们一些原滋原味的事情。
Chris Muñoz,Vice President for Enrollment, Rice University
Chris Muñoz——莱斯大学（Rice University）负责招生的副校长
Writing a one-size-fits-all essay: If you write an essay for a university, and then you write that essay again and it's just a matter of changing the name of the university, then it's probably going to be a poor essay. And yes, we have gotten students who forget to change "Northwestern" to "Rice."
用一篇相同的文章去申请所有大学：如果你为某一所大学写了一篇论文，之后你申请另外一所大学时又用了这篇论文，只是把大学的名字改了一下而已，这样的话你的这篇论文可能就不是一篇合格的论文了。我们确实有遇到过在其论文中忘记把“西北”替换成“莱斯”的学生。
It's not just about name-checking a faculty member or academic program, either. How does a faculty member's work speak to you as an applicant? Why, specifically, have you chosen us? Demonstrating true interest and care can make a difference on the margin. And when you're talking about universities that admit under 20 percent of applicants, you may need it.
同时，申请也不仅仅是查一个教职员工的名字或者学术项目的名称。作为一名申请人，你如何看待一位教员的工作？具体说明为什么你会选择我们？表现出真正的兴趣和关心会让事情有所不同。当你在谈论录取率低于20%的大学时，你可能需要它。
Kelly A. Walter, Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Admissions, Boston University
Kelly A. Walter——波士顿大学（Boston University）副校长兼招生执行主任
Failing to check curriculum requirements: Students today often begin their college searches during freshman and sophomore year, and they do an exceptional job of learning about majors and general admission requirements. But they don't dig down that extra level, to specific curriculum requirements – it's the one area of the application process students pay the least attention to, in my experience.
未检查课程要求：现在的学生经常会在高一，高二时就开始他们的大学搜索研究，他们在了解大学专业和一般招生要求方面做得很出色。但他们不会去深入挖掘额外的要求，关于具体的课程要求方面——根据我的经验来看，这是学生在申请过程中最不关注的方面。
For example, we expect students wanting admission to our engineering program to enroll in physics and calculus in high school. There's nothing more disappointing than to review an application of a student who might otherwise be competitive for admission and realize she is ineligible because she didn't take the required courses.
比如，针对申请我校工程项目的学生，我们希望他们在高中阶段有学习物理和微积分课程。没有什么比当审查一个学生的申请表并觉得她有竞争力可能被录取时，却发现她因为没有上要求的必修课程而没有资格申请时更令人失望的了。
Karen S. Giannino, Senior Associate Dean of Admission, Colgate University
Karen S. Giannino，科尔盖特大学(Colgate University)高级招生副主任
Forcing colleges to fill in the blanks: If there's something on your transcript or in your activities list that would raise a question, answer the question. If maybe you've gone all the way up to Honors French 3, and then you're not taking a language senior year, that's a question for an admissions officer: Why didn't she continue to take French?
让大学招生官产生疑问：如果你的成绩单上或者活动中有存在让人疑问的地方，请自己解答好这个疑问。比如你一直学习法语，学到了Honors法语三级的水平，却在12年级时不再学习任何一门语言，这时招生官就会产生这样的疑问：为什么她不继续学习法语？
Maybe it was a scheduling conflict. Tell us, so we don't just assume you decided to take it easy senior year. And get some adult – not your parents – to look at the file you've put together and invite them to ask you questions about it. It doesn't have to be an adult in the know. Sometimes naive questions are the best ones.
这也许是规划安排上的冲突。但请告诉我们原因或答案，这样我们就不会认为你是决定在12年级过得轻松或容易一些。找一些成年人——而不是你父母——来看看你的申请文件，并邀请他们向你提一些关于它的问题，这个成人未必是业内人士，有时天真的问题可能是最好的。
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News "Best Colleges " guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
本文摘自《美国新闻与世界报道》的“最佳大学”指南，该指南以深度文章、排名和数据为特色。