Nomad
发贴: 1982
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2002-01-14 06:57
各位: 谨就在下的个人经验,跟大家聊聊: 1。一定用推荐人自己单位的letterhead,不用就不好了。国外的letterhead都是标明单位的名称及推荐人的身份的,例如上面印着University of Pennsylvania, Department of Landscape Architecture, James Corner, Professor and Chair。下面签名之下就写James Corner,再下一行写Professor and Chair。这样人家的身份就非常明显了。信件里绝对不会提到推荐人自己的工作成就的,太胡闹了。推荐人的可信度不是他知名度的副产品,关键是两人的工作关系及推荐人的个人经验和分辨力。信件一开始就应该说明推荐人和申请人认识多久,相方是什么关系。例如:Mr TMD Wang has been known to me as a student of excellent ability since 1998. I was his supervisor for his graduation design project and he has worked as a member of a design team that I directed during 2000-2001. 目的是说明推荐人士对申请人的评价是什么情况下形成的。一般来说,导师或建筑设计老板是比较好的推荐人,如果你上过某个老师的几门课,他也是很合适的推荐人。推荐人一般是教授、副教授(这一般是因为他们教学经验比较多,而不是职位高低的问题),不过更底职称的教员也能助学生进哈佛的。 2。一般来说,国外学校都不认识国内的名建筑师,连名字都不知道。所以我觉得大家还是不用梦想靠大师的名气考进学校了。 国内对院士很推崇,可是国外学校一般不知道这是什么一会事,嘻嘻!博士也没用,哈佛大学设计学院很多教授都不是博士,不玩这一套。系主任或副主任、教研组主任,经验比较多和视野比较广,都是写推荐信的挺好的人选。 3。推荐信的英语应该没有文句问题,给人家一个好印象。应该用MS Word的grammar check,检查一下。 4。推荐人如果认识美国某校的一个学生或已毕业的校友,下次推荐另外一个学生去那个学校时,应该把两人稍为比较一下。美国学校特别喜欢这一招。王方戟老师在同济跟Yale的老师学生搞过联合设计课,可以利用这个经验,做一些比较,从而肯定申请人的设计能力。 5。推荐人应该说明申请人的学习特徵和工作态度。学生在班上有什么特殊的表现,有什么出人头地的成就,都要说清楚。例如:Mr Wang is one of our finest students in history and theory in the last ten years that I have taught here. "Last ten years"就说明推荐人对学校的情况比较了解,分辨力强,不管他是教授或讲师,这人有发言权。(如果是建筑历史教研组主任或教授说这一句,效果比较棒。) 如果学生不是十年最佳的人才,不过在自己班里表现特出,可以说:Mr Wang has been an outstanding student in history and theory. His studies of modernist architecture has been especially detailed. 这就糟糕了!(第二个has应该改为have,嘻嘻!) 或者:Mr Li has gained excellent graphic skills during his time here. He is especially proficient in freehand sketching and model-making. 推荐人的任务是provide comparative perspective and highlight special characteristics。推荐人也可以汇报学生在校的口碑:Ms Wang is known among my colleagues as a strong student in architectural design. Her graduation project was one of the 5 best submissions in her year. She has a strong interest in steel detailing. (如果是这样说,作品集最好能有些steel detailing,嘻嘻!)学生的态度是论点之一,例如:Ms Wang works consistently on her design projects. When she encounters heavy criticism, she was often able to adjust her pace of work and ask questions to specify the nature of her difficulties. It has been a special pleasure to see that her perseverence invariably paid off. 或者:Mr Wang works well under pressure. When he is pressed for time, he sets up priorities effectively. 一帆风顺是没味道的,克服困难才是英雄嘛,大家看看Harry Potter吧,嘻嘻! 6。推荐人可以说明学生对学校活动的贡献,例如:Mr Li has made a welcome contribution to our school by designing posters for our special lecture series in recent semesters.或者:Mr Li has been a student representative during 2000-2002. He was very involved in editing the students' magazine, Sicheng. As one of its editors, he showed excellent leadership potential.学校活动本身不重要,重要的是学生的表现(设计海报的技巧、公德心、编辑能力、关注学校整体文化、leadership)。 7。如果学生的英语口语特别好,推荐人应该交代一下。如果考托成绩比较好,推荐人也应该加一句:Mr Wang has a relatively good grasp of spoken English. I expect that he will adjust well to life in an American institution. 8。推荐信不能夸张。如果作品集水平不高,而推荐人说学生是班内第3名,那就是骂自己学校水平特底。如果推荐人说学生设计好,那就是骂自己没眼光了。请有国际视野的老师评自己的设计水平应该比较好,说话有分寸,学生乱吹不妙。 9。推荐信不是八股文,笼统的、俗套的,给人一个boring的感觉,对学生不利。 10。美国的推荐信语气比较重,欧洲的比较含蓄。英国人说:I am pleased to recommend Mr Li very warmly.点到即止,意思是这个学生很好,说的太明显反而不雅。美国人就觉得这一句语气比较平淡了,他们会说 I would like to recommend Mr Li very strongly. 11。正如白菜兄楼上帖子所说,美国学校有表格,这个不填不行,不填就是不乖,不乖就不可取,不可取就没戏,comprendre? 一般是用手填,不用打字机。主要部分是推荐人对学生的评语,这里可以手写See attached letter. 用订书钉把推荐信和表格钉起来,放入信封里;信封封口、表格、和推荐信都应该签名。 12。推荐人亲自签名,是应该的,表示自己认真支持这个学生。宾大教授百忙中还能亲自干这事情,国内老师如果不能亲力亲为,这怎么说呢?如果老师同时把两个学生推荐去某学校,而学生自己胡乱签推荐信,万一人家发觉签名有分歧,效果就不好了,应该避免。 Nomad
Nomad edited on 2002-01-14 08:40
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