[面试填表] 面试前的不眠夜+MIT面试的一些小感悟 [复制链接]

cleverboy1112
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电梯直达

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发表于 2006-12-9 02:17:12 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

明天就要去香港面试MIT了，今天晚上特难眠。又听到有同学已经拿了Princeton的offer,一方面是替他高兴，另一方面也为自己担忧。

反正睡不着，刚好找到了一些好像对面试有用的东西，和大家分享一下，希望对要面试的同学有帮助。

"Thoughts On The MIT Interview"First and foremost: I am an EC, and EC's don't make admissions decisions. We are just people who once went to MIT (maybe in a time when it was easier to get into MIT than it is now) and have insights into the Institute (or how it was thirty years ago; in our internet age you might know more about it than we do now).

We don't make admissions decisions, but we do send notes on your behalf to the admissions team so they know a bit about what it is like to meet you. We hope this creates an opportunity for a more personal admissions process, that, after all, shouldn't be summed up on a few sheets of paper.

And I get to meet lots of young and interesting people who want to go to MIT. For me, it's a fun and special thing to do, and I really have enjoyed meeting everyone I have had the privilege to interview.
OK, you are probably scheduled for an interview, and would like to prepare. Here is my advice:
You of course know exactly what it is that we are seeking. Gleaned from countless sources now available, you realize we are seeking gifted students with both breadth and depth. We'd like you to be clearly destined for that next breakthough discovery (assisted of course by the double major you'll finish in three years here), but we also hope that you have side interests in archaeology, music, history and, oh yes, almost forgot... of course you are an excellent athlete (...have we told you how many people at MIT play sports?) Then just sprinkle in charm, humor, and, oh yes, leadership skills. You are a leader, aren't you? Well, AREN'T YOU??

Don't fall for it.

Yes, yes, there is a disappointingly low admit rate. Believe me, meeting all of you, it breaks my heart and I believe also breaks the heart of the admissions readers that we can't take a considerably larger number than we do. But the numbers are the numbers.

What we may realize more than you at this point is that the mythical person described above just does not exist. If they did, they would probably be an insufferable bore. Now maybe some of you think I just described you perfectly. If so, you should consider the fact that when I say insufferable bore, I might be talking about you.

Don't let the low admit rate psyche you into packaging yourself. In my opinion, it will work against you. Remember that should you go to this challenging school and become all that we hope you can, that you will have failures along the way, have lulls in your progression, pauses that slow you down but also get you to think, to introspect, and possibly to learn.

In your life so far, you have of course also found things that don't work for you and things you don't like and things that don't like you. Just like the marks in leather, these flaws make you YOU, give you character, make you unique, and bestow on you your humanity. (BTW, the dirtiest secret is that all of us are ourselves quite flawed, and if you appear perfect it is liable just to piss us off.)

So relax when you prepare to meet us, and when you fill out your essays. Preparing is not for now, you have been preparing for seventeen years. Suggesting that you "be yourself" is not a trick just to lower your guard, uncover your flaws, and deny you admission. But lowering your guard might be a good idea. I've talked to lots of candidates - and the ones who are just themselves, who can laugh at their mistakes and struggles, who seem comfortable in their own skin - inevitably show a bit more maturity, and inevitably make the best impression. Just my two cents.

Just be yourself. It's not a trick.

And check out the thoughts on the interview posted by Matt, Mitra, and Stu.

Let me know what you think...

MIT面试的一些小感悟

昨天去香港参加了MIT的面试，感悟确实不少。

首先，说说为什么我面试前那天晚上很紧张，主要是因为我在那天晚上才真正看到了他约我面试的地点：R66 Restaurant, 62/F., Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen's Road East, HK。

先说说这个Hopewell Centre，中文翻译叫做合和中心。合和創辦於一九七二年，同年上市，公司當時是房地產公司；其總部合和中心建成時，是當時亞洲最高的大廈。大廈於1977年動工，1980年建成，樓高64層。現在已被其他建築物所取代。合和中心也大大方便了來往皇后大道東和堅尼地道的市民。

合和中心內裏設有一個商場，除一般的商店外，更有很多獨特的家具店鋪。商場以上為辦公室。但論到最特別的地方，要算是合和中心的最頂層，這裏開設了一間可360度旋轉的高級餐廳R66旋轉餐廳酒廊，整層餐廳會不停慢慢地轉圈，約60分鐘便會環繞一圈，即是說，你在這裏用餐一小時，便會看見窗外不同角度的景色，那種感覺非常特別，坐在這裏用餐，不但可飽覽附近一帶香港美景，更有一種君臨天下之勢。

所以，面试的地点就是定在这个香港唯一的360度旋转餐厅，所以当我面试前一晚知道后难免就会变得非常紧张。

好了，之后开始说说我的面试官。

他是一个从MIT毕业，非常厉害的青年，我想能见到这些人本身就是一种荣幸。原来他的好朋友就是这栋合和中心的三大股东之一，难怪……但是他为人非常地Polite和Friendly,我和他尽情地说了我的研究经历以及从小到大的一些事情，而他也非常毫无保留地和我分享了他在MIT的经历，他在MIT读了undergraduate和graduate，之后还到过日本工作过几年，会好几种语言（真是太牛了，他还只是20多岁啊）。我们聊了不够两小时，因为他说有点volunteer work要去做，所以先走了。

关于语言，虽然他是香港人，但他说因为这是interview，所以鼓励我们用英语。我们就一直都是用英语交谈，其间他说我英语不错，问我是从哪学的。我说大部分还是靠自学的，当然也要感谢自己出生在广州的缘故。

总的来说我对这次面试没有特别大的信心，因为我觉得自己和他相差太远了。但他的spirit确实inspire了我很多，他说无论结果如何，我们都不应该放弃对生活的希望。当我说到我担心自己可能会因为SAT分数太低而被MIT拒掉时，他用自己的经历告诉我任何事情都不能轻易放弃。就好像他当时英语分数其实也不高，但其他方面很优秀，而且人生总是时时刻刻充满了意外和惊喜。我被他深深地鼓舞了，我相信这是真正MIT的精神，做实验难免会遇到很多失败，但关键是要永不放弃。

以上是我这次面试的一些小感悟，希望对大家有用，也期待大家能在留学的道路上找到自己的希望之路。

[ 本帖最后由 cleverboy1112 于 2006-12-10 14:59 编辑 ]

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[面试填表] 面试前的不眠夜+MIT面试的一些小感悟 [复制链接]

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