看过的文书很多了，我最大的感受是学生不能站到学校的角度去思考问题。面对题目、面试，往往是从自己角度去讲。特别是遇到题目不好回答，或者学校分成几个小题目来问。一般学生“完成任务”就困难了，更缺少更高层次的思考。三个方面，“我”、学校、“我的竞争者”，都需要思考。学校的题目就是个棋局，要解开它，从高处去想，成为敏锐的观察者和思考者，就不会陷入“疲于应付”的困境。

写出来的内容，要清楚知道为什么这么写，这么写有什么好处。所以，参照模板的话，文书这步就输了。中学语文学过，叙事不单纯为了叙事。学校没问到的，但觉得重要的，也可以说。做事周全，也是踏实可靠品质的一种。

大家总想得到清晰可操作性强的步骤，但正确的观念更重要。知其然，知其所以然，递交时才会信心满满。宏观和微观问题可以千变万化，需要不同的处理方法，有了正念，就能思考出最佳的处理方法。

动态变化的东西，还是需要人来灵活把握，而不 靠一套不变的rules。

正中靶心的一篇Essay: What's your favorite book and why? (word limit: 300)

My favorite book is Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead authored by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook. The first time I knew about Sheryl Sandberg was in 2010 when I watched her inspirational TED talk “Why we have too few women leaders?”  When reading her book, I was more than excited, because what she said really struck a chord with me. Sheryl points out that most women are confined by their inner fear and lack the self-confidence in pursuing their dreams, either in or outside the workplace. She encourages women to sit at the table. It led me to think whether I did well in life and work in the past. Did I have an inner voice that kept saying I wasn’t good enough? Did I make a choice only to play safe? Or, did I really sit at the table? Finding answers to those questions was painful. I feel that I should have been bolder when making choices, especially some big ones. But it is not too late to realize this. When applying for the lecturer internship in my graduate school, I knew the competition was extremely fierce and I might lose. But I worked very hard to prepare teaching materials, earned that position and did really great. Before coming to the US, some of my colleagues kept persuading me that girls should find a job after graduation and settle down. But that’s not me. Now, I am here at xxxxx University, studying hard and making many good friends. I am happy that I am really leaning in. Life is an adventure. To lean in and embrace challenges, we can experience the joy from the unknown and never be held back by fear. book，思考，经历各占三分之一。 这篇花的时间比较久，当时素材太多，学生想表达的太多，300词容纳不下，所以取最重大的一个经历来说。有人说，正式文体不能用缩写，不能用really、but，显得太随便。这个题目本身就比较casual，而且谈到些personal的东西，稍口语化比板着脸好得多。 没用什么新颖的开头，开门见山就好，想法要比形式更重要。技巧并不总是强于非技巧，显得没技巧本身也是一种更高级的技巧，更自然，表达的信息更容易被接受。 另外，这个文章好处更在于“借题发挥”，回答了学校的concern，即学生的劣势。背景信息：学生年龄偏大，已经完成两个研究生课程学习，现在要申请第三个。文中没写原因，也没解释，只展现积极的人生态度，算是充分回答问题，剩下的留给招生官自行脑补。 这篇是按讲稿的风格来写的，符合speech的习惯，一句一顿读出来，再配合眼神交流，就是一篇小演讲。 没有长难句，没什么GRE词汇，没有复杂的表达。长难句是考翻硕的事情，文书里能不用就不用。GRE词汇，秀词汇量的时候才用，文书并不是秀词汇的空间，而且误用的机率更大。至于复杂表达，比如副词加形容词（adv. + adj）很多人喜欢。但复杂表达是“醒目”表达，想特别强调什么东西的时候才用，比如he is mentally ill（强调mentally）。但大部分时候，我们并不想强调什么。

 学生当时是独申一校，后来成功了。此篇为“助攻”文章，没讲专业知识，虽提到找实习，也并不是想说实习本身，而是想说自己的内心想法。助功文章有利于塑造良好印象，know me as a PERSON vs. know me as a CANDIDATE。两者都重要。

博士申请，当初从利兹和布里斯托之间选择，最后去了布大。CSC也拿到了，97人提名竞争中列位第8

去年还有个是本科直申美博，也是pk掉其他master竞争者，拿到几个计量经济学offer

我想说的是，申博士尽量不要找我。太操心了，从文书套词面试到心理辅导到语言学习到奖学金申请，各种小事小纠结，我真的累了