第1节
麻省理工的招生标准

麻省理工学院（Massachusetts Institute of Technology，简称MIT）建立于1861年，它的师生队伍里面曾经有76人获得诺贝尔奖、50人获美国国家科学奖（National Medal of Science）、35人赢得麦克阿瑟奖（MacArthur Fellows），大名鼎鼎的费曼、丁肇中、贝聿铭、钱学森等都曾在这里工作或学习过。几乎每一个对自然科学着迷的学生都把麻省理工学院作为理想的圣地。

麻省理工曾经被人们的传言给搞得妖魔化了，比如“教室里的学生个个睡眼惺忪，几乎从来不睡觉”，“能进麻省理工的不是天才就是疯子”，“你在校园里随地吐一口痰，唾沫星子都能溅到几个诺贝尔奖或者奥赛金牌得主的脸上”……传言总是越传越神，人们也愿意给遥远的事物增添神秘感。

而事实上，当你走进麻省理工或者其他任何一所世界名校，里面的学生和教授都是实实在在、有血有肉的人，他们除了高负荷的学习和研究以外，也会享受平常的一切生活乐趣。离他们越近，就越发感觉所谓的“天才”其实并不神秘，通过自身的努力和适当的方法，结合各种机遇，人人都可以做出和“天才”一样优秀的成绩。

曾经有一位刚被麻省理工录取的女生惴惴不安地写信给录取委员会副主任麦克•杨（Mikey Yang），她担心麻省理工学院会有太多的天才和疯子而跟不上别人的步伐。麦克很热心地做了答复并将回信贴在了麻省理工的录取博客上面。

 

学生写道：

此时此刻，我因麻省理工（的录取）而倍感兴奋。但考虑到和我未来一起学习的同伴，我也有一些其他的顾虑。在申请之初，我就深知麻省理工吸引着全球最优秀、最聪明的学生，我有点担心不如他们那样光彩夺目。比如，几乎所有和我交谈过的人都曾参加过国际数学奥林匹克竞赛，至少也是美国数学奥林匹克竞赛，或者曾在一些科学竞赛中崭露头角（“西屋奖学金”、“本田青少年科学奖”、“英特尔科学奖”，随你挑），要不就发过专利或参加过校级乃至国家级的科学俱乐部。而我却从未有过类似经历，我就是一个单纯地喜欢数学、猫咪、植物和一些水管装置的孩子，只知道麻省理工是个很棒的地方，那里的每个人都在不停地创造自己的杰作。

我担心自己赶不上这些孩子，因为缺乏科研、缺少大型数学竞赛的经历等，我会远远落后于其他同学。我必须拼死挣扎才能取得好的分数（我知道分数并非一切，但我依然想考取体面的分数以便日后申请研究生院）或是找到研究机会，至少也能向教授表明我有拿得出手的东西，可事实上，我不确定相比2011级的其他同学我能拿出来什么。

我一度做好了心理准备奔赴战场，不管未来的课业负担会有多重、有多繁忙，我确信我会热爱学习（其实我很享受这样的状态，比如我能从解决化学计量学问题和数学问题中获得乐趣，但是我真的没有天赋，我只是学生中的“农民”，而不是“诗人”，希望这种类比能说得通），然而此时我非常纠结。如果您认为我这种人也能在麻省理工有不俗表现，那自然很好，但如果您不这么认为，请尽量坦白地告诉我。

您在麻省理工的感觉怎样呢？如果不介意，能告诉我一些关于您的亲身经历吗？比如，您也曾是美国数学奥林匹克竞赛的选手吗？

感谢您百忙之中阅读我的来信，希望我的语言不是很狂躁。

 

Mikey的回复：

别担心。

在来到麻省理工之前，我从没听过“英特尔科学奖”、“西屋奖学金”、“本田青少年科学奖”，更不知道什么“美国生物奥林匹克竞赛”、“美国化学奥林匹克竞赛”或者“美国物理奥林匹克竞赛”。我甚至连科学展览和研究竞赛都不知道。没有开玩笑，我参加了美国高中数学竞赛的预赛，成绩还不错，之后就没有更进一步的活动（我听说过美国数学邀请赛，但从没想过要参加）。在我申请麻省理工之前，也和你有同样的感觉。“麻省理工的学生比我可牛多了，我进来绝对是个意外，我估计是这里最菜的学生了。”这真的是我当时自言自语的内容。我也完全理解你的“诗人”和“农民”的比喻。他们会讨论“那个数学证明是多么迷人”、“这道物理题的解答优雅而有趣”，而我只能坐在那里说：“哦，至少我把单位写对了，是吧？”或者用笨办法花20倍的时间解一道题，然后说：“嘿，起码答案是对的。管我用了两个小时还是两分钟。”哈哈。

但不管怎样，我们言归正传。来到麻省理工之后，我找到的乐子比我想象的要多（和朋友外出、兜风，参加派对，看电视、电影，玩电子游戏，虽然不是一直这样，但大多数时间是这样的。别告诉我家长哦）。在4年的本科生活中，我参加了一个无伴奏声乐俱乐部，制作过两张唱片，在一个古典乐队唱歌，做过一个宗教俱乐部成员，定制了一个本科研究生机会计划，有了很多值得终身结交的朋友和难忘的回忆。

但是，等等，那学习呢？我以4.8的GPA（满分5.0）顺利毕业，并且玩得很开心。（不是我自大，我只是想让你知道你可以边玩边拿高分。）

相信我，确实是有很难的课业的（不全是玩乐和游戏）。但事实上，如果你不认为自己能够在繁重的压力下挺过来，并且在学业、社交、情感、体魄、思想等各方面“挺”得很好，那么你是不会被录取的。麻省理工讲究的是培养完整的学生，而不是学习机器，校园生活也不只是课堂，而是一切。在被录取之前，你至少经过了5轮不同的筛选：“她不仅能做得很好，而且能在其中十分享受，她将成为校园社区的一员，她能交到很棒的朋友，尤其是——她与麻省理工十分匹配。”情况基本上都是这样。

麻省理工的确有很多天才，有的甚至超越了麻省理工对天才的定义。我4年的大学生涯中见到过很多。但你知道吗？有些朋友，直到认识他们两三年，我才知道他们的特长和天赋（比如，我是大三还是大四才知道我的朋友中有加州任天堂游戏比赛冠军、儿童节目明星，有的去非洲帮助过视觉受损儿童，有人多次在普特南数学竞赛中名列前茅，有的参与过人类基因组计划，有人拥有自己的设计公司……），但是当人们到了这里，很多人都把天赋收敛了起来（除非在特定的时间和地点）。他们就是普通的学生，渴望认识陌生人，并且对拥有和自己相似特质的朋友而感到超级兴奋。

所以不要担心。我知道你即将要经历的磨练，就像那些已经经历过全部并且已经登陆彼岸的人们一样，我知道你是一定一定没有问题的。☺

 

附原文

学生来信：

So, mainly at this point I am very excited for MIT, but I am having some second thoughts. Concerning my peers. When I applied, I was well aware of the fact that MIT attracts the best and brightest... and I'm a bit worried that I'm not as bright and shiny as the others. For example, almost all the people I've talked to have been to the IMO or at least the USAMO or have won some science competition or another (Westinghouse, YES, Intel, take your pick) or have patented something, or have taken their school's science club to nationals. And I've never done any of that... I'm basically a kid who likes math, cats, plants and some plumbing and thought MIT seemed like a cool place because everyone was always building one thing or another, all the time.

But now I'm worried that I won't be able to catch up to these kids and as a result, coming in with no research experience or major math competition experience or etc. will pull me far behind my classmates and I'll struggle to get good grades (I know grades aren't everything, but I'd like to get decent enough grades to apply for graduate school) or find research opportunities or basically show professors that I have something to offer... when in fact I'm not sure I have anything to offer in comparison to the rest of the class of 2011.

 

I was really psyched to go despite the notoriously huge workload because I was pretty sure that I'd love doing the work, no matter how much there was (I really enjoyed, for example, doing stoichiometry problems and math problems... they're fun for me, but I don't have any true talent for them... I'm a "peasant" of a student, not a "poet" if that makes any sense at all), but now I'm more worried than anything. Please feel free to be honest... if you think that my sort of person can still do well at MIT, that's great... but if not, be as brutally honest as necessary!

 

So how was your experience at MIT? If you don't mind, can you tell me a bit about yourself? Like, were you one of those USAMO kids?

 

Thanks again for your time, and I hope I don't sound too hysterical:)

麦克的回复

Don't worry.

I had never heard of "Intel", "Westinghouse", or "IMO" before coming to MIT. I did not know a USABO, USNCO, or USPhO existed. I didn't even know science fairs and research competitions existed. No joke. I took the "pre-AMC" (back then it was called the AJHSME, and the AMC was called the AHSME - American (Junior) High School Math Exam), did okay on it, and never went any farther (I had heard of the AIME but wasn't even close to being considered for that test). And I felt exactly like you even before I applied to MIT. "MIT students are way smarter than me... I must've gotten in by accident... I'll be like the dumbest one there" is what I seriously told myself. And I totally get your "poet" vs "peasant" analogy... people would talk about how "elegant" a math proof was, or how "neat and interesting" the solution was to that physics problem, while I would just sit there and say "heck, did I at least get the units right? " or use brute force to solve the problem in a way that took 20x longer than it should have and said "hey, I still got it right in the end, who cares if it took 2 hours instead of 2 minutes? " Haha.

But anyways, back to the original point. I came to MIT, and seriously, I probably had way more fun than I was supposed to. (Hanging out with friends in my living group, going on road trips, having spontaneous parties, watching TV shows and movies, playing video games... Not all the time, but most of the time. Don't tell my parents.) Over my four years, I sang with an a cappella group, helped record and produce 2 CDs, sang in a classical group, was part of a religious club, did a UROP, and made many lifelong friends and memories.

But wait... what about the academics? ? I graduated with a 4.8 GPA (out of 5.0) - and I honestly had a blast. (I hope that didn't come off as arrogant - I just wanted to let you know that you can have a lot of fun and still get good grades in your classes! )

Believe me, there was definitely hard work involved (it was not ALL fun and games) but really, you wouldn't have been admitted if you didn't think you could not only survive but THRIVE here academically, socially, emotionally, physically, mentally (and every other "lly" way). MIT is about educating the entire student, not *just* the academics, and the college experience is not *just* the classes - it's EVERYTHING. You literally passed through *at LEAST* 5 different rounds of screening before you were definitively admitted to MIT; we said "not only can she do the work, but she's going to have fun, she'll add to the campus community, she'll be able to make great friends, and above all, she's a great match for MIT." Or something to that extent.

Yes, there are geniuses at MIT, even for MIT standards. I met plenty of them throughout my four years. But you know what? I couldn't even tell for most of them - I had plenty of friends where I didn't learn about their special and unique talents until after having known them for 2-3 years (examples: I didn't learn until junior or senior year that some of my friends consisted of: California State Nintendo Champion... a child TV show star... placed in the Putnam for more than one year... went to Africa to help vision-impaired children... worked on the Human Genome project... owned his own design company... etc... etc... etc...). But when people get here, everyone pretty much leaves a lot of that at the door (unless it comes up specifically). They're all students just like anyone, eager to meet new people... and it was incredibly exciting to have friends like them.

So don't worry. I know exactly what you're going through, and as someone who's been through it all and is on the other side now, I know you'll be juuuuust fine. :)

 

麦克提到的“与麻省理工十分匹配”，正是麻省理工录取学生的标准。具备这些“匹配”素质的学生已经将一只脚迈进了麻省理工的大门，其中包括：

1．肩负与麻省理工共同的使命——让世界变得更好

请注意，让世界变得更好的方法很多——我们并不期待哪个学生能在他们15岁时就会治疗世上所有的疾病，但可以辅导一个小孩学数学能够改变世界，说服一个参议员修改苛政也能改变世界……这样的例子不胜枚举。

2．与人合作的精神

这里的核心精神就是合作：在校园中随处可见。麻省理工很多的难题集（我们对家庭作业的爱称）都是需要小组协作来完成的；跨院系实验室非常普遍；麻省理工一直以跨学科研究著称；资源开放活动在这里开展得轰轰烈烈；出版和分享成果是学术研究的中心。营造合作的氛围是麻省理工社区的重要组成部分。如果你喜欢独立工作，那也很好！不过在这里你可能不会特别开心。

3．自发主动的劲头

研究项目、种子基金、有趣的讲座不会自动上门。在麻省理工机遇很多，就看你能不能抓住。对于那些积极主动的学生——能充分利用自己身边优势的人，麻省理工能提供的资源是无可比拟的。

4．敢于冒险的精神

麻省理工希望招收的学生不仅有能力取得成功，更要有勇气直面失败。人们在冒险的时候会学会坚韧——因为风险导致成功与导致失败的几率相当。最具创造力的成功人士（在麻省理工比比皆是）都明白：失败是生活的一部分，只要保持专注不言放弃，最终一定会达到目标。

5．实践创造的能力

麻省理工是个活跃、需要动手实践的地方。创新过程有风险而且很麻烦！让污渍沾满你的双手，去尝试新的东西往往是获得成功的最好方法。我们在这里运用理论去解决现实生活的问题；我们拉丁文的校训翻译过来是：勤于思，敏于行。换句话说，你不能只沉迷于动脑，更要善于动手。

6．精力集中、富有求知欲和激情

将我们录取的重点简而言之：你应当全身心投入那些对你意义重大的事情（至于具体什么事我们不会介意），要勇于探索，但探索的领域宁缺毋滥，质量远高于数量。就申请大学而言，你不需要做过很多的事情，只要潜心做好几件你真正在意的事情就足够了。

7．麻省理工的集体精神

麻省理工的集体是由好人组成的。我们彼此呵护，相互扶持。我们互相激励，取得超越潜能的成绩和梦想。我们期待录取那些自发的、能维系麻省理工集体精神的人。

8．平衡生活与学习的能力

努力学习，尽情玩耍。不管以前你听到过什么传闻，在麻省理工不只是学习。想在这里吃得开，你必须安排一些时间让自己“停工”，放飞身心。因此我们也希望你能在高中时期偶尔给自己放个假。我们申请表格里的第三个问题是：“请告诉我们一件你做过的单纯出于喜欢而做的事情。”这不是陷阱，请动脑回答。

9．最后请牢记，不存在能够与麻省理工“完美匹配”的类型

当我们录取一批学生进入麻省理工，就如同组织一个1000人的队伍去攀登崎岖而秀丽的大山。诚然我们期望大家都是训练有素、体力充沛的队员，但我们也希望每个人能为团队增添有用、有趣的元素。比如迷人的气质、幽默感、奇特的个人经历，以及各种天赋、才能、兴趣爱好或成就。再次强调，我们不是招收一批量产的完美登山队员，而是寻觅一群能够互相支持、相互启迪与激发灵感的人才。

 

附原文

● Alignment with MIT's mission to make the world a better place.

Remember that there are many ways to make the world better - we're not looking for applicants to have cured all infectious disease in the world by the time they're fifteen. Tutoring a single kid in math changes the world. Lobbying a senator to change bad policy changes the world. There are thousands of examples.

● Collaborative & cooperative spirit.

The core of the MIT spirit is collaboration and cooperation: you can see it all over the Institute. Many of the problem sets (our affectionate term for homework) at MIT are designed to be worked on in groups; cross-department labs are very common; MIT is known for its interdisciplinary research; the Open Source movement is powerful here; publishing and sharing of results is the center of academic research. Fostering a collaborative environment is an important part of the MIT community. If you enjoy working alone all the time, that's fine! But you're probably not going to be particularly happy here.

● Initiative.

Research projects and seed money and interesting lectures aren't simply handed to students on silver platters here. Opportunities abound at MIT, but they must be seized. For those students who take initiative - who take advantage of what's around them - MIT's resources are unparalleled.

● Risk-taking.

MIT wants to admit people who are not only planning to succeed, but who are not afraid to fail. When people take risks in life, they learn resilience as a result -because risk leads to failure as often as it leads to success. The most creative and successful people - and MIT is loaded with them - know that failure is part of life and that if you stay focused and don't give up, goals are ultimately realized.

● Hands-on creativity.

MIT is an active, hands-on place. Innovation is risky and messy! Getting your hands dirty and trying something new is often the best way to achieve success. We apply theoretical knowledge to real-world problems here; our latin motto means "Mind and Hand." In other words, you shouldn't just enjoy thinking, you should also enjoy doing.

● Intensity, curiosity, and excitement.

(We used to summarize this as simply "passion" before various components of the college admissions machine turned it into a buzz-word and stripped it of its meaning.) In a nutshell: you should be invested in the things that really mean something to you (we're not particularly picky as to what). Explore! Choose quality over quantity - you don't have to do a million things to get into college. Put your heart into a few things that you truly care about and that will be enough.

● The character of the MIT community.

Our community is comprised of good people. People who take care of each other and lift each other up. People who inspire each other to work & dream beyond their potential. We're looking to admit people who by nature will sustain the qualities of this community.

● The ability to prioritize balance.

Work hard, play hard. Despite what you may have heard, this place is NOT all about work. To be successful here, you must prioritize some measure of down-time. Therefore we like to see that you've prioritized some down-time in high school as well. Question #3a (Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it) is not a trick question. Answer it wisely.

● Last but not least, remember that no one profile - no matter how impressive -represents "the perfect match".

When we admit a class of students to MIT, it's as if we're choosing a 1,000-person team to climb a very interesting, fairly rugged mountain - together. We obviously want people who have the training, stamina and passion for the climb. At the same time, we want each to add something useful or intriguing to the team, from a wonderful temperament or sense of humor, to compelling personal experiences, to a wide range of individual gifts, talents, interests and achievements. We are emphatically not looking for a batch of identical perfect climbers; we are looking for a richly varied team of capable people who will support, surprise and inspire each other.

 

第9条会让那些期待标准答案的人读着很恼火，麻省理工录取的人没有标准类型！那这些原则究竟有什么用？

“到底我该怎么做才能进入麻省理工？”曾有学生向我吼。

对于这么急切的问题，我只能先答一句说了等于没说的话：“当你能够被麻省理工录取时，自然就进去了。”呵呵，听我慢慢分解。

其实看似不可控制的第9条——麻省理工招生没有固定的标准类型，实际上是可以被把握并攻破的。很简单，就是“做你自己”！每个人的天赋、经历，以及由经历影响的思想、个性都是不可复制的，做真正的自己就能做到独一无二——必然能成为任何集体中独具色彩的一员。

所以关键的是，你能不能做到麻省理工要求的前8条：胸怀世界、与人合作、自发主动、敢于冒险、善于平衡……那么，究竟怎么做才能达到这8条标准呢？

我们一起来求证。

首先，这些“与麻省理工匹配”的“看点”是招生委员会总结出来的。站在他们的立场来看，每年要在4个多月的时间从20000多名申请者中挑选出2000多个最佳人选，只能尽量去关注那些能够体现学生优秀本质的表象——比如是否乐于助人，是否发表过专利，是否会玩、会学习、善于合作和领导等等。

但是，作为表象的东西是不能够用来指导行动的，不然就会显得很假。比如一块瑞士手表，其优秀的质量体现在机芯的打磨程度和发出的声音、标志与表盘的制作、雕刻等方面。如果你想要做一块好表，不能只是肤浅地让机芯发出类似的声音或者模仿劳力士雕刻的字体，而是一定要在根源上研究机芯的工作原理与制造工艺，且要选择货真价实的材料。赝品模仿得再像也远远不如真品。

真正优秀的人可以做到“一直被模仿，从未被超越”。

所以，我们必须站在一个申请者的角度，挖掘出藏在名校录取原则（表象）背后的理论——优秀学生的本质。

当你具备了一个优秀的人应该具有的特征，你的所作所为、言谈举止自然能够展现出录取官员看中的标准，这也正是名校招生的本质——录取那些在本质上优秀的人，而不是装得优秀的人。

废话了这么多，那么到底什么叫“优秀的本质”？

这，正是本书第2章到第8章所讲述的：

超越年龄的眼界、深入执着的探索、独立思考的习惯、分步实现的战术、影响世界的魅力、与“牛”共舞的经历、系统思考的智商。