雅美之途
教育，人文，社会
最近我帮助过的一位学生在今年的2月份被耶鲁录取，消息令人振奋，也引来不少朋友的问题。该学生没有申请耶鲁早期录取计划（SCEA, 单个选择的早期行动)，而早期录取的通知书已经在12月中旬发放了，那么她为什么会在2月5日这么早就收到耶鲁的录取通知书呢？
我们首先必须弄清楚什么是likely letter, 暂时把它翻译成“预先录取信”吧，这位优秀学生正是收到的耶鲁的此类信，经允许分享文章上面的截图。二月份正是发放预先录取信的时候，所有收到预先录取信的学生在正式录取通知书发放的3月底或4月初来临时，都会被耶鲁录取。下面这些英文段落是我在六年前写的对“预先录取信”的解释，现尝试让谷歌翻译后自己再润色成中文，核心内容应该还适用，录取人数或其他数据可能有变化。
"三年前，我们当地的一位学生几乎被她申请的所有大学接受。该申请人还在名牌大学公布它们的正式决定的前几周，收到了耶鲁大学的预先录取函。这封信最终帮助她在宾大，耶鲁和哈佛之间做出选择。我说这个顺序的原因是，因为她在交叉录取的决定过程中比较早的时候就排除了哈佛。现在我们得知她在耶鲁大学的课外活动中再次显示她的领袖能力，她担任耶鲁每日新闻（YDN）的发行人，这是该份美国大学最古老的无中断的校园报纸的最高商业运营官员。 YDN的主编，像William F. Buckley，通常是耶鲁骷髅会和其他耶鲁秘密组织在大学三年级的招募对象。在一些像阿默赫斯特或威廉姆斯等文理学院也出具“early write" (早通知）等通知，起到预先录取信的同样作用。那么倒?什么是预先录取信？
我们都知道，常春藤盟校的内部协议禁止常春藤各校向有潜力成为职业选手的学生运动员发放奖学金。基于这个明显的原因，她们的篮球或橄榄球与杜克和斯坦福完全不在一个级别上。与体育奖学金的发放相似，常春藤联盟还有一个规则，那就是他们必须在3月下旬或4月初的一个非常狭窄的时间窗口，公布他们的常规录取决定信。耶鲁大学本科生招生的院长Brenzel是这样描述预先录取信的：“...我们希望学生有充分的时间了解到他们想知道的关于耶鲁的一切...”。预先录取信为招办人员在不违反规则的情况下采取的竞争策略之一，这样他们能给被录取的优秀学生最早的美好印象。这封信基本上会说，如果你不会在学业上遭遇重大挫折，你会预期在4月1日收到我们的官方录取信。伴随预先录取信带来的惊喜和兴奋，该信会增强录取学生最终选择去耶鲁和其他名校读书的可能性。
每年耶鲁大学会在25,000的申请人中，发放大约100封预先录取信。在经常两轮的申请评审后，预先录取信由耶鲁招办的院长亲自决定。预先录取录信确实是封幸运的信，为申请人在常规申请过程中不指望但是梦想拿到的东西。网上可以搜到耶鲁的预先录取信的模板，那将会丰富你对预先录取信的认识。
Three years ago, a local kid was virtually accepted by every colleges she applied. The applicant also received a likely letter from Yale several weeks prior to the typical dates when the elite colleges released their decisions. The likely letter eventually helped her make a choice between Penn, Yale and Harvard. I made this order since she ruled out Harvard in the previous round of her cross-admit decision process. And now she shows her leadership ability again on the Yale campus, particularly in her extracurricular activities, by serving as the Publisher of the Yale Daily News (YDN), the highest position on the business side of this oldest college news in the United States. The editor-in-chief of YDN, such as William F. Buckley, was usually a target to be tapped during junior year by the Skull and Bones or other secret societies. In some small liberal arts schools like Amherst or Williams, “early write” notification serves the same purpose of likely letter. So what is a likely letter?
We are all aware that the agreements of Ivy League schools have prohibited Ivies to offer athletic scholarships to the top student athletes with potentials to become a professional. This is an obvious reason why their sports teams are basically not in the same level as state universities’ as well as Stanford or Duke’s basketball or football. Similar to the sports scholarships, Ivy League also have a rule for them to disclose their admission decision letters in a very narrow window of time in late March or early April for the regular decision process. Yale undergraduate admissions dean Brenzel described the likely letter as “…we want this student to have ample opportunity to see everything they can see about Yale…” But the likely letter is one of the few strategies by the admissions office to gain competitive advantage over their rivals by providing the first positive impression to their top applicants on the condition that no rules were violated. The letter basically would say that if you are not going to have a major setback on your academic performance, you will be expecting an official admitted letter from us on April 1. The surprise and excitement coming along with the arrival of likely letter would have enhanced the chance of top applicant to matriculate.
Each year Yale issued approximately 100 likely letters from over 25,000 applicants. After the regular two reviewers’ reading of the files, the decision on likely letter has to be made by Yale dean himself. The likely letter is really a lucky letter that an applicant would not expect but dream to have it in the regular round of competition. The following materials, including a real likely letter that student disclosed, will be enriching your knowledge on how likely letter works."
耶鲁在很多年前就确定了重振耶鲁理科的辉煌计划，他们花10亿美元建工学院大楼，新的生物楼也将会完成。耶鲁现在摆出一付姿态与理科名校斯坦福和麻省理工学院，竞争美国和世界的科学杰出本科申请人。大家不要忘了，以获得诺贝尔奖的校友计算，耶鲁摇摇领先于斯坦福。上次我数过，斯坦福至今只有一位本科校友获诺贝尔奖，耶鲁恐怕有十几位。科学做到精致程度同样能体会到自然世界的美，耶鲁的难以匹敌的戏剧和音乐等人文环境，正是吸引拥有人文情怀的未来科学家的地方。当然我也必须指出，耶鲁太吸引人的人文学科使得科学学生进耶鲁后有背叛的可能。
从2011年开始，为了吸引科学方面的优秀申请人，耶鲁实施了一个被称为YES-W（Yale Engineering and Science Weekend)的招生竞争计划。耶鲁每年邀请80-100名学左右，旅行和吃住全免费，通常在二月中旬，在耶鲁度过三天的周末，这些学生全部收到了耶鲁的预先录取信。他们在耶鲁聆听包括著名科学家的讲课，有次耶鲁动用了耶鲁本科校友出身的诺贝尔医学奖得主James Rothman。他们当然会参观精美的耶鲁校园，特别是科学校区，以及亲历耶鲁本科生的科学展览。Rothman是这样描述他的耶鲁经历的：“耶鲁的一个了不起的并且永远没有改变的地方，就是她的学院系统，亲密的环境无人能复制。大部分我的朋友不是科学家，但是在耶鲁与他们结识的友谊是我一生的财富”。
耶鲁的YES-W计划不需要特别申请，因为在普通申请表和耶鲁辅助材料里，他们很容易发现热爱STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）的学生。以前一位我们高中的学生是以得了西门子高中科学AP奖而令人印象深刻，也就是修了很多AP科学课程并且成绩优秀，但这个奖项现在被西门子取消了。耶鲁永远在我们心中的特别地方，希望这位收到预先录取信的学生最终会选择耶鲁。
参加YES-W的学生。照片来自网络。
获得诺贝尔医学奖的耶鲁校友和教授James Rothman。
早己投入使用费资三千万美元的耶鲁工程大楼。
计划中的耶鲁新Gibbs科学大楼。
