申請文書里的角色塑造，文書里的你是“圓”的還是“扁”？

　　美國大學(xué)申請，無論是本科，轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)還是研究生，一個最大的特色就是：文書多！雖然面對各種文書問題童鞋們一開始總是感覺一籌莫展，但是我們知道，申請文書既是機遇又是挑戰(zhàn)。搞不好一篇優(yōu)秀且有效的申請文書就能讓你成為那個萬人羨慕的“黑馬”。但是文書不像數(shù)學(xué)一樣有一個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)答案，那么到底什么樣的文書才是好文書，我的文書要怎么入手才能把同樣的經(jīng)歷和故事寫出不一樣的精彩呢？

　　今天我們就從創(chuàng)意文學(xué)寫作當(dāng)中的 “round character”這個概念入手來聊一聊申請文書里 “我”這個角色的塑造。

　　首先，無論是個人陳述(personal statement)還是各種的why essay  (why major, why school, why transfer, and ect.) 其實所有的申請文書 都是不是學(xué)術(shù)寫作(academic writing)而屬于(creative non-fiction). 也就是說我們不是在寫學(xué)術(shù)報告或者批判性評論，而是，說白了，在講故事，講述自己的故事。既然是故事就離不開“角色”或者“人物”，我們申請文書的主角自然就是申請人我們自己啦！在創(chuàng)意寫作里，評價一個作品的好壞的重要標(biāo)準(zhǔn)之一就是主要角色是否是“round character”（有的作者翻譯成“圓形角色”其實我覺得更像是豐滿角色）。所謂“round character”是指角色具有復(fù)雜性和多面性，就像一個球，無論從哪一個角度觀察都看不到全貌。比如說《史瑞克》的主角Shrek說道“Ogres are like onions,” （怪獸像洋蔥一樣），外表不能代表他們的全部，他們的內(nèi)心是非常豐富的。Round character不僅在表象上具有復(fù)雜性，在情感上也并非一成不變，而是具有深層次的情感和熱情，這樣的角色能讓讀者(也就是招生官)跟能產(chǎn)生共鳴和共情，從而更具有吸引力。與之相對應(yīng)的就是“flat character”（扁平角色）啦，那flat character 就是那些一成不變，一個標(biāo)簽到底，完全從屬于某個刻板印象或者陳詞濫調(diào)的角色。這樣的角色可以作為次要角色在故事里出現(xiàn)，但是如果連主角都是扁平角色的話，這個作品注定是無法打動人的。

　　這么一說，大家肯定都知道我們希望通過文書展現(xiàn)在招生官面前的自己是 “round character” 而非扁平角色。但是說歸說，做起來其實很容易有些童鞋就只想著給自己“貼標(biāo)簽”：我得向招生官展示一下自己多牛逼，我得告訴招生官我很有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力，或者我得讓招生官知道我科研能力很強，我很熱愛數(shù)學(xué)… 于是乎寫出來得文書里自己給“壓扁”成了flat character了。有些童鞋這時候可能就要跳出來說了：老師，不是說要鼓勵給自己“貼標(biāo)簽”，這樣才能給招生官留下深刻印象嗎？

　　其實標(biāo)簽不是不能有，而是不能讓標(biāo)簽覆蓋了自己得全部，而且這個標(biāo)簽要貼的巧妙，并且標(biāo)簽本身也需要具有復(fù)雜性。 如果只是“領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者”或者“數(shù)學(xué)達人”這樣得標(biāo)簽，那么是很難使你和其他具有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力或者數(shù)學(xué)能力強得學(xué)生區(qū)分開來的！但是“從來沒有當(dāng)過 ‘領(lǐng)導(dǎo)’的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者”或者 “從‘不及格大王’ 到 ‘?dāng)?shù)據(jù)挖掘機’”這樣的標(biāo)簽是否更具有吸引力呢？

　　口說無憑，我們下面就舉個“栗子”讓大家感受一下申請文書里“我”這個角色的“圓”和“扁”。

　　下面是一篇哈佛大學(xué)2019年post出來的成功申請文書之一：

　　I was in 9th grade the first time I stumbled upon a copy of Newsweek. What caught my eye was its trademark title: white type, red highlight, a connotation that stories of great consequence lay beneath. Such bold lettering gave me a moment‘s pause, and I was prompted to leaf through its glossy pages.

　　To my surprise, I was instantly hooked.

　　A new world unfolded before me. Biting social commentary. World conflicts that weren’t dumbed down. Piquant reviews of best-selling books, controversial exposés of political figures, tantalizing tidbits on pop culture, full-page spreads of photographs.

　　And the prose was elegant, sharp, mesmerizing. It radiated sophistication and IQ. As I scanned the credentials of the authors, my only thought was, wow. The articles were written by worldly, ambitious people who were experts in their fields, people with PhDs and MBAS from world-class institutions, people who could write brilliantly, who got paid to give their opinions, who walked with a purpose and ran in the direction of their dreams. People I knew — then and there — I’d like to one day become.

　　This is what education looks like, I told myself. I was young, I was impressionable. Like a child standing on the outside of a candy store, nose pressed against the glass, I hungered to be a part of that cerebral adult world. So I read that magazine from cover to cover. Twice. And with each turn of the page I felt my small-town na?veté break into smaller and smaller pieces. I remember that day as an incredibly humbling experience. I had an awkward, self-conscious epiphany: that I actually knew next to nothing about the world. There I was, cream of the crop of my middle school, fourteen years of “smart” outwitted by a thin volume of paper. I was used to feeling gifted, to getting gold stickers and good grades, to acing every elementary examination placed in front of my cocky #2 pencil.

　　I wasn‘t used to feeling like I’d been living in the Dark Ages.

　　At the same time, however, I struggled with another realization, one that was difficult for me to define. I felt. . . liberated. I felt as though I had taken a breath of fresh air and found it to be bracing and delicious, like it was the first breath I‘d ever taken, and I’d never known that air was so sweet.

　　Talk about a paradigm shift: somehow, reading Newsweek had re-kindled my natural intellectual curiosity; it had, briefly, filled a hole in my soul that I didn‘t know existed. It had also sparked something within me-a hint of defiance, a refusal to accept complacency. One taste of forbidden fruit, and I knew I could never go back.

　　Although reading a news magazine seemed like a nonevent at the time, in retrospect it was one of the defining moments of my adolescence. That seemingly unextraordinary day set a lot of subsequent days in motion-days when I would push my limitations, jump a little higher, venture out of my comfort zone and into unfamiliar territory, days when I would fail over and over again only to succeed when I least expected it, days when I would build my dreams from scratch, watch them fall down, then build them back up again, and before I knew it, the days bled into years, and this was my life.

　　At 14, I’d caught a glimpse of where the bar was set. It always seemed astronomically high, until it became just out of my grasp.

　　Sadly, Newsweek magazine went out of print on January 1, 2013. Odd as it may sound, I‘ll always be indebted to an out-of-print magazine for helping me become the person I am today.

　　這篇文書雖然僅僅講述了自己偶然讀到一本Newsweek雜志者一件事情，但是從這篇文書里，讀者能清晰的感受到“我”的變化，作者在閱讀了這本Newsweek雜志之后，先是被雜志里文章的優(yōu)雅，犀利和迷人（elegant, sharp, mesmerizing）給驚艷到，此時我們可以感受到作者在情感上的興奮，激動和喜悅，然后作者反思自己，感覺自己之前14年的自我感覺良好瞬間被者薄薄一本雜志給否定，這里作者的情感又向負面和自我否定轉(zhuǎn)移，感覺自己像活在落后愚昧的黑暗時代。隨后作者又描述了更加復(fù)雜的內(nèi)心感受“At the same time, however, I struggled with another realization, one that was difficult for me to define. I felt. . . liberated.”感覺自己獲得了思想上的解放。最后更進一步介紹為什么這本雜志讓自己收獲了成長，是自己從少年到青年的轉(zhuǎn)折。 從這篇文章里讀者很容易和“我”這個角色產(chǎn)生共鳴，因為作者巧妙且真實的捕捉到了這種成長過程中的內(nèi)心變化�！拔摇钡男蜗笠卜且怀刹蛔兓蛘摺癗ewsweek愛好者”這樣簡單的標(biāo)簽就可以覆蓋的。

　　試想，如果這篇文書變成這樣的：

　　I’m the kind of person that would push my limitations, jump a little higher, venture out of my comfort zone and into unfamiliar territory, days when I would fail over and over again only to succeed when I least expected it, days when I would build my dreams from scratch, watch them fall down, then build them back up again, and before I knew it, the days bled into years, and this was my life.

　　I become aware of my passion for self-challenging when I stumbled upon a copy of Newsweek. To my surprise, I was instantly hooked. A new world unfolded before me. Biting social commentary. World conflicts that weren‘t dumbed down. Piquant reviews of best-selling books, controversial exposés of political figures, tantalizing tidbits on pop culture, full-page spreads of photographs. And the prose was elegant, sharp, mesmerizing. It radiated sophistication and IQ. As I scanned the credentials of the authors, my only thought was, wow. The articles were written by worldly, ambitious people who were experts in their fields, people with PhDs and MBAS from world-class institutions, people who could write brilliantly, who got paid to give their opinions, who walked with a purpose and ran in the direction of their dreams. People I knew — then and there — I’d like to one day become.

　　Reading Newsweek had re-kindled my natural intellectual curiosity; it had, briefly, filled a hole in my soul that I didn‘t know existed. It had also sparked something within me-a hint of defiance, a refusal to accept complacency. One taste of forbidden fruit, and I knew I could never go back.

　　I felt. . . liberated. I felt as though I had taken a breath of fresh air and found it to be bracing and delicious, like it was the first breath I’d ever taken, and I‘d never known that air was so sweet.

　　At 14, I’d caught a glimpse of where the bar was set. It always seemed astronomically high, until it became just out of my grasp.

　　上面這篇我是完全截取了作者的原話，但是去掉了讓原文中體現(xiàn)“我”的復(fù)雜性和變化的部分，使“我”這個角色變的更加扁平。那這篇扁平化處理后的文書，大家讀起來是不是就感覺作者更像在吹噓自己，而沒有扁平化處理之前那么能打動人呢？

　　童鞋們，你們文書里的自己是“圓”的還是“扁”的呢？