Brown University, 作为常春藤联盟大学之一，正如大家所知，历史久远，学术领先。这个学校不同于其他常春藤大学的地方有三点：

非常注重本科教育

没有核心课程，换句话说，就是没有必修课，可以自己选任何自己想上的课

宗教信仰和政治观点Fr/EE/Dom，Min/Zhu的气氛很浓

布朗的地理位置非常好，在一个海边的古老小城普罗威登斯，建筑风格大多为意大利式，很有艺术文化气息。与布朗相邻的是美国最好的美术学院，罗德岛设计学院（Rhode Island School of Design），简称RISD。布朗大学和RISD的学生可以在两所大学间交叉选课。08年开始试行一种Brown-RISD dual degree program，即同时在两所学府学习五年，毕业后同时获得两所大学的双学位。这样的项目对很多有艺术爱好的人极其有吸引力，但是这个项目每年只招收２０人。想要参加这个项目，必须要同时被布朗大学和罗德岛设计学院同时录取，而这两所学校都以每年极低的录取率和极高的申请难度闻名。

下面是我申请并被布朗大学的全过程，如果有对这个dual degree program 感兴趣的，也可以特别关注一下罗德岛设计学院的portfolio和original drawings的要求，我会在另一个帖子里具体介绍申请美国艺术类学院的过程。

第一步，提高英语能力，完成标准化考试。考好SAT和托福不仅仅为了申请大学的几个有力的数字；标准化考试是用来证明一个学生的英语水平的。可以这么说，一个SAT考的很高的人，英语不会差的，但是，一个SAT考的不高的人，英语也不一定就差。对于大多数的国际申请者来说，critical reading部分和writing部分的essay无疑是最大的障碍，而我认为，往往这正是美国大学考察的重点。记得曾经波士顿大学的 International Admission Officer对我说，“我们知道亚洲学生的SAT数学都很高。”鉴于中国基础教育的突出，很多中国申请者的数学部分往往都是接近满分。因此AO对数学得分可以ignore了。Writing部分的语法往往可以通过培训机构教授的技巧，在短时间内突破，而且美国人相比较来说不太注重语法。得出的结论就是，critical reading和essay是无比重要的；它们较好地反映了一个申请者的真正英语水平。

我的critical reading考了630分，essay 部分12分满分。前者在我周围的人中不算特别高。对于前者大家唯一可以借鉴的是我的复习效率，我的词汇量十分有限，我考之前，由于时间有限，我选择了只背 Baren词表的high frequency vocab list，即出现频率最高的几百个单词，但是我把这个词表过了很多遍，每个词都确保记住，而且理解，这比背几千个词，但是过一阵子就全忘了要好。对在短期内要考试的同学们，如果没有太多时间复习，可以采用这种方法。背透这几百个词，你再看填空部分的时候，就会发现选项里有很多熟悉的词。只背这么点单词，需要与之相结合的阅读方法，那就是忽略大部分不认识的词的意思，直接看文章，求大体的意思。当然，如果能在充足的时间里好好复习，多背单词，将会获得更好的成绩。

对于essay，我一直都挺喜欢写作，没事的时候，经常用英文记日记，或者写blog，长年下来，就发现越写越顺手，脑子里想的，就在笔下，或在键盘上flow了。另外，平时经常看在手边的一些经典英文美文集，也给我提供了很多很有哲理的好句好段，熟记于心后，考试的时候很自然的就能流露于字里行间。这些句子，一旦出现，就会给改卷子的老师带来极大震撼，对你佩服不已，自然给你高分。

我的toefl考了108分。Toefl其实没什么好说的，就是一个过关测试，只要过了线，考多少分都没有太大关系。

第二步，积累自己的学术优势。简单点说，就是让自己的学术实力变得很强，并且看起来也很强。学术实力的强弱主要看以下三点：

1. Transcript

2. 竞赛

3. Teachers’ evaluations: (我有三封美国老师写的推荐信，分别是我的AP physics, AP calc, 和art 老师。) 下面以AP physics老师的推荐信作为例子。

May 14, 2007

whom it may concern,

It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Ling Zhou. Ling was a foreign exchange student from Nanjing, China. She is fluent in English as well as her native Chinese. She selected a very demanding schedule of classes that included AP Physics, AP Calculus and AP Chemistry. As a student at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional HS, she has distinguished herself in both academic and extracurricular activities.

I have known Ling for about one year. She was a student in my Advanced Placement Physics class during the year that she was in the United States. In the classroom, Ling who has a solid A average, proved to be an able student. She tacked difficult problems with enthusiasim and presented solutions that showed a well developed capability for critical thought. Her comments and questions were insightful and often triggered interesting in-class discussions. As a very organized worker in the laboratory, she displayed professionalism in analyzing date, in drawing conclusions, and in writing reports.

her year at Dighton-Rehoboth, Ling was a member of the mathematics team , the speech team, and the girls’ volleyball team. She also participated in a student ambassador project where she did a presentation of Chinese culture at the Carpenter Museum in Rehoboth, Massachusetts and the local girl scouts troop. She won a Gold Key Scholastic Art Award from the Boston Globe and was a top scorer on our math team. She enjoys playing piano and playing table tennis.

Finally, I believe Ling possess the honesty, responsibility, dedication and insight characteristic of the most successful college students. She is well-liked and respected by all who know her, students and faculty alike. She sets the highest standards for herself and works tirelessly to achieve them. I feel that Ling would be a welcome member of any college or university community. Her creativity, intellect, and strong work ethic are enhanced by an even temper, a positive outlook on life, a pleasant sense of humor, and a sincere concern for others. She is truly a pleasure to have in class. She faithfully completes assignments, accepts constructive criticism without complaining, and never makes excuses. I have been teaching honors and advanced placement students for thirty-six years. In that time, I have known many talented and highly motivated young people. I would rank Ling well within the top 2% of that highly select group. For both personal and academic promise, I believe Ling to be a most worthy applicant for admission to your institute. She has my most enthusiastic support.

Sincerely,

David. H. Harwood B.S.,M.S, N.B.C.T Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School

Counselor’s evaluation(这个挺麻烦，要高三的counselor.，主要是自己写的)

To whom it may concern,

Ling has been a student of mine for three years since she entered our high school, Nanjing Foreign Language School in Sept 2005. She is a bright, dedicated and well-rounded student who always has enthusiasm for challenges, and is one of the hardest workers I know of. I am honored to write this letter of recommendation to Dartmouth for Ling’s undergraduate studies.

As Ling’s counselor, I had many contact with her throughout the years on different matters. Ling first came to me and told me about her interest in the Academic Year in America Exchange Student Program; she asked me for some advise. In the end, as a mature, determined and careful young lady, she made a decision as well as a plan, for her education and future, by which I was truly impressed. She eventually became one of the 12 students selected from our school among hundreds, to go to America as an exchange student. Ling came back to us in August, 2007. In two months, she has already caught up with her peers at school even though there was a great deal of difference between what she had learned in the US and what other students had learned in China. It was her determination and desire to be challenged that contributed to such achievements.

Ling is also an excellent leader. She was one of the elected student leaders for her homeroom class of 58 students during the 2005-2006 school year. In the fall of 2006, she was in charge of graphic designing for the Art Festival in NFLS, which came out a great success.

Undoubtedly, Ling has consistently demonstrated a strong desire for challenges together with careful planning, an incredible determination on her work and impressive abilities as a leader. I am sure she will be a great college student and eventually a great achiever in the future. Therefore I strongly recommend Ling to your institution.

Sincerely,

School Counselor

Oct 1st, 2007