New Vision的主申请负责人致家长一封信

John:New Vision的主申请负责人

亲爱的家长们:

首先请允许我表达我们团队的感谢，谢谢你们将孩子的大学申请信任的交给我们。作为一位家长，我理解孩子的教育对家庭的影响，同时理解将这样重要的事情依赖于申请老师和咨询师的协助，家长有多少焦虑。当我的儿子Caleb申请大学的时候，我帮助他选择学校和修改申请文案。我的妻子会每天到我办公室问我“John，别错过申请截止时间”，“John，我听说某某学校比你给Caleb选择的学校好”。当时我已经成功帮助很多学生申请到了顶尖的大学，而对于我的这些经验，我的妻子仍然感到紧张，很容易被外界影响。为什么？不是因为她对自己的丈夫的能力不信任，而是因为她对儿子非常关心和爱护，当你爱你的孩子，就会伴随着有很多的顾虑。我的意思是，作为家长，我理解要去信任别人对自己孩子未来的设计需要多少勇气,会有多少担忧,这就是为什么我真心的感谢你们给予的信任。

Dear Parents!

First and foremost, please allow me to express our team's appreciation for putting your trust in our hands for your child's application.  As a parent, I understand how much children's education means to family and how much concern parents have when relying on teachers and consultants to direct and assist the entire application process. When my son Caleb was applying for college, I helped him to choose schools and corrected his applications. My wife would come up to my office everyday and ask "John, don't miss the deadline!" or "John, I heard that ***** College is much better than the college you picked for Caleb ". At that time, I already successfully helped many students attend top schools and with all my experiences, my wife still gets nervous and easily influenced. Why? Not because she does not trust her own husband's skill, but simply because she cares and loves our son very much, and love comes with lots of concern. My point is, being a parent myself, I understand how much it takes to trust someone else's judgment about our own child's future and how much worry parents have in our heart. And that is why I truly appreciate all of the trust I've received.

有很多的老师，咨询师和公司提供相同的服务给相同的承诺。教育不是简单的到超市购买生活用品的过程。如果你去超市遇到不好的服务，这对你的人生不会有很大影响。但是如果你错误的信任了一个不负责任没有能力的人去帮助你孩子做申请，这个后果将是严重的。我见过仅仅为了让家长觉得高兴而给予过大承诺的人，我也见过给学生布置很多工作自己却没做什么的人，相信我，我讲过各种这样的丑陋。这就是为什么在职业生涯中我一直遵守两个原则：第一，少说话多做事，第二，绝不因为收获短期利益而过度承诺什么。我的语言可能会是严厉的，我也是非常实际的人。我相信父母值得了解真实情况而不是虚假的词语。让我们来面对这个：2006年当我帮助学生申请大学，我能够帮助SAT1700，托福90的学生进入前50名的大学。而现在，几乎每所前50的大学都要求“疯狂”的分数。竞争是剧烈而公平的。作为家长我们知道我们非常了解自己的孩子，我们知道他们有多好，但是可惜的是学校并不能看到每个人的所有特点而做出一个公平的评价。他们只能通过学生的分数，文章和奖项来评卷学生。当你的孩子成绩不不够好，我会说“没有很大机会能够进入前20名，我会尽力，但是机会非常小”。我宁愿家长因为我诚实和专业的意见而走出我的办公室，也不愿意对他们说“你的孩子绝对有机会进入这个学校！”“机会”是一个有趣的词，它被很多人错误的利用了。但是我们说的是教育，某个学生的未来，它不应该允许人们把这个当做一个和家长，学生们的文字游戏。

There are any teachers, consultants, and companies that offer the same services and give the same promise. Education is not as simple as picking up groceries. If you went to a supermarket with bad service, it wouldn't affect your life so much, but if you mistrust an irresponsible and unskilled person to help your child for an application, the consequences are significant. I've seen people who over promise just to get parents excited and I've also seen people who give students so much to do and give themselves so little to work on. Believe me, I've saw all kinds of ugliness. That is why I have always followed two principles in my profession: 1. Less talking, More action. 2. Never over promise things to receive short-term benefits. My words can be harsh and I'm very realistic. I believe that parents deserve the truth than fake hope. Let's face it: In the year 2006, when I helped students to apply for college, I could help them get into a top 50 university with SAT 1700 and TOEFL 90. Now almost every top 50 school asks for "crazy" grades. The competition is heated and it is totally fair:  this is to say, as parents we all know our children very well and we know how wonderful they are, but unfortunately schools can not see everything to make a fair judgment. They can only judge you by their grades, essays and awards. When your child's grades are not good enough, I would say "there is not much of a chance to go to top 20, I will try, but the chance is very slight". I'd rather have parents walk out of my door because of my honest and professional opinion than say things such as "Your child definitely has a great chance to get in!” "Chance" is a funny word. It has being abused by many people. But this is education, someone's future; it should not allow people to play words games with parents and students.

那么你会问，我们的工作是什么？创造奇迹？不。尽管奇迹在我们团队确实发生着，（我们曾经帮助SAT1800的学生申请到Rice大学，没有托福成绩的学生申请到马凯特大学），但是奇迹背后是大量的研究，计划，打电话给学校，找关系，修改文案。而且，每个例子都是特殊的，这就是为什么我们需要时间去完成一个完美的计划。我见到过个人文书（PS）的模版。修改几个内容，加减几个内容，这太容易了。你看，我已经改好了你的个人文书。这种材料也许会欺骗到家长和学生，但是它不会欺骗到学校专业的招生办公室。那么现在我们来谈一下申请时间安排：是的，申请时间安排是能让人觉得很有安全感。尽管我们的团队对于一切事情和各种可能的情况都有计划，我知道家长们会有在黑暗中等待的感觉。事实上我的妻子让我明白了这种感觉，记得吗？当我们的儿子申请大学的时候。我会根据不同事情的进展给每个学生不同的时间安排，但是我现在就可以给你一个大概的时间安排：大多数学校秋季入学的申请期限是一月到二月之间。我们强烈建议学生在11月份之前完成各项工作，最晚不要超过11月中旬。换句话说，我们的团队和我将会在11月中旬完成大多数学生的申请。但是我必须强调一点：要能够完成这个目标，我需要学生们全力支持，这意味着，当我需要关于申请的更多信息的时候，Jessica或者我必须能够马上找到学生们拿到材料。我知道你可能会想那么在我没有问学生们问题的时候，我在做什么呢？我在研究每个学校的申请过程，学生招生质量，为学生们做好深思熟虑的安排。有些人也许会说，拜托，这只是一个学校申请，一些文书，一些信件，为什么你把它说的好像是一件大事一样？我的回答是：当你看到中国学生申请美国前一百名大学的数量在每年增长百分之五以上的数字，是的，我们当然要把它当成大事来完成！
Then what are your jobs? Create miracles? No. Though there are miracles happen all the time, (we helped students with SAT 1800 get into Rice University, students with no TOEFL grades got into Marquette University...etc) But behind the miracle, is tons of research, planing, calling schools, finding connections, and correcting essays. And, each case is uniquely different. This is why it takes time to create a well planned strategy. I came across personal statement templates before. It is very easy to change a few things, add and delete a few pieces of information, and there you go: I got your recommendation letter and personal statement all ready. This kind of material may fool innocent parents and students, but it won't fool the school's professional admissions office. So now we are talking about timelines: Yes, timelines are much more assuring. Although our team has a plan for everything and every situation, I know how it feels to just wait in the dark. Actually my wife told me how it feels, remember? When our son was applying for college. I will give each student a different timeline based on how things are moving, but I can give you a general timeline right now: Most schools' deadline for Fall semester is between January and February. We strongly  suggest students to finish everything before the beginning of November and no later than the middle of November. In another words, my team and I will be able to finish most of our students' applications before the middle of November. But I do have to emphasize that: In order for me to achieve this goal,  I will need full support from our students, which means, when I need more information about the application, either Jessica or I need to be able to find them right away. I know you may be wondering what I am doing when I did not ask any questions and help from our students. I'm doing research on each schools' admission process, students' quality, and making thorough plans for them. Some people may say, oh come on, just a school application, a few essays, some letters, why are you talking as if it is a big deal? Well, when there has been more than a 5% increase of Chinese students applying for American colleges, when such a large population of Chinese students are applying and competing to get into top 100 universities, yes, we'd better treat it like a big deal!

我同时也想用一点时间来解释一下我对于学校选择的想法。当我申请学校的时候，（上帝知道那是多少年之前了），我的成绩和经验让我被哥伦比亚大学等一些前十名大学录取了，但是我决定去范德堡大学。学校的环境，教师的研究方向，学生阅读社团。我现在仍然非常感激自己当时的选择。我想要对学生说的是，有太多的优秀文理学院和大学，但是你需要选择的是适合你的学校。你将会是那个在大学呆两年到四年的人，不是你的朋友，你的亲属，不是你的邻居。你真的需要喜欢这个大学！

我理解因为语言和地理位置，我们和家长沟通的时候可能会有些小问题。但是我们有优秀的双语教师，我可以向你保证家长和学生们给的信息会完全无误的高效传达给我。我希望我这封信去掉了家长们的一些忧虑，也传达了我诚恳的想法。我不能够保证一个排名或者一个学校，但是我能够保证敬业的，勤奋的，高效的，有责任心和专业的工作！
I also would like to take some time to explain my thoughts on picking schools. When I applied for colleges, (only God remembers how long ago it was), my grades and experience got me into Columbia University and other top 10 colleges, but I decided to go to Vanderbilt University. The school environment, the professors' research direction, the students reading club... I am still very grateful of the choice I made. What I am trying to say is, there are many outstanding colleges and universities, but you need to choose one that is a good fit for you. You will be the person who will have to stay in a college for two or four years, not your friends, your relatives, not your neighbors. You need to like it!

I understand that there may be communication issues because of then language and location, but we have excellent bilingual teachers and I can assure you that all of the information will be delivered to me correctly and efficiently. I hope that my letter has cleared some concerns and delivered my sincere thoughts. I can not guarantee a grade or a ranking, but what I can guarantee is dedicated, efficient, responsible and professional work.

Re gards,
J.W.