新申请季已经开始，每年我们都会在文书工作开始前，给学生分享一些往届优秀文书，帮助学生打开思路，今年也提前给大家分享下。
今天分享的是5篇约翰霍普金斯大学招生官推荐的2030届申请者的优秀文书，同学们可以收藏一下，以便随时查阅。
第一篇：The Secret Ingredient is Connection
By David M., ’30
An authoritative voice bellows my name in the crowded school cafeteria: “MATZ!” My freshman year track coach advances towards me, each stride squashing surrounding chatter and closing the distance between us. I know exactly what awaits me.
“Remember,” he says, standing in front of me with eyes fixed on mine, “the lemon squares.” He adds with a grin, “And could you put a smiley face on top?”
Wanting his birthday treat to be memorable, I make a note to pick up raspberry jam for drawing the image.
I am known as “The Baker” by countless teachers and peers. Throughout high school, I have shared hundreds of my homemade delights for special days and ordinary days, individuals and groups, and friends and strangers. Baking is incredibly meaningful to me as a way to strengthen my relationships with myself, others, and cultures around the world.
In the kitchen, I transform from student into both chemical engineer and principal investigator. Each creation involves a dance of chemistry on a macro and micro scale; I pour in a bit of extra flour and knead, knowing it will strengthen the dough, and I ponder the reactions that will caramelize its sugars. Following recipes suffices, for it allows me to practice technique. It is winter, so I am making a classic: sugar cookies. I want my cookies to be homogenous, so I beat the butter and sugar vigorously. But my curiosity often takes over. An enthusiast of using creativity, innovation, and sugar in equal parts, I decide to close the recipe book. I form the dough into large, rectangular sheets and do some trigonometry in my head to determine their measurements. Once the cookies emerge from the oven, I arrange them meticulously into a 3D structure using icing as glue. After adding Hershey’s chocolate bar windows and powdered sugar snow, the sugar cookie house is complete and sure to wow at the school holiday bake-off!
However, not all my experiments turn out this way. I chuckle as I recall failed explorations of yore: granulated sugar icing that tasted like sand and improperly leavened sourdough that required a saw to slice. Successful or not, each hour spent as a scientist provides fun and new knowledge.
From my experience, I can ascertain that there is a strong, positive correlation between the promise of a baked surprise and club meeting attendance. Thus, after removing cornbread from the oven, I note on the agenda for tomorrow’s Tri-M Music Honor Society meeting: “Treats!” However, my baking is far from over. I find a clean whisk and start on a second batch, although this time, it is vegan. Butter and oil trade places. Eggs give way to their flaxy brethren. The batch is smaller—I know my dietary demographics—but rich in care. Though not fortune cookies, I intend for each sweet to contain a message: Welcome. Join us. I made these for you.
In every mixing bowl lies a ticket to faraway lands. Seizing this opportunity, a friend and I chart a voyage around the globe. We first travel two thousand miles to Mexico where he shows me how to make polvorones, a traditional cookie served during weddings and holidays. Feeling inspired, I fly us across the Atlantic Ocean to Israel. There, I teach him how to braid babka, forming beautiful, overlapping connections between lengths of dough and between my Jewish heritage and me. When ready to return home, we simply leave the kitchen.
I knock on the classroom door, my smile mirroring the one made of jam on the lemony surprise I hold in my hands. My former track coach invites me in, grabbing a couple of chairs and happily accepting his birthday gift. Even sweeter than the lemon squares is the opportunity they provide; together, we reminisce about the past and discuss future plans, catching up after all this time.
The secret ingredient in each baked good I make is connection.
译文
学校食堂里熙熙攘攘，一声权威而洪亮的声音叫出了我的名字：“马茨（MATZ）！”我高一时的田径教练向我走来，他的每一步都压过了周围的喧闹，缩短着我们之间的距离。我准确地知道等待着我的是什么。
“记住，”他站在我面前，双眼盯着我说道，“柠檬方块蛋糕。”接着他咧嘴一笑，补充道：“顺便能在上面画个笑话脸吗？”
为了让他的生日甜点令人难忘，我默默记下要去买点覆盆子果酱来画这个图案。
无数的老师和同学都称我为“烘焙师”。在整个高中期间，无论是在特殊的日子还是平淡的日常，无论面对个人还是群体、朋友还是陌生人，我都分享过成百上千份自己亲手制作的美味。烘焙对我来说意义非凡，它是我加强与自我、他人以及世界各地文化联系的方式。
在厨房里，我从一名学生转变为兼具化学工程师与首席研究员身份的角色。每一款作品都蕴含着宏观与微观层面上的化学交舞；我倒入少许额外的面粉并加以揉捏，知道这能增强面团的筋度；我也在思考那些能使糖分焦糖化的反应。照着食谱做固然足够，因为这能让我练习基本功。正值寒冬，所以我正在做一道经典甜品：糖饼干。为了让饼干质地均匀，我卖力地打发黄油和糖。但我的好奇心常常占据上风。作为一个热衷于将创意、创新和糖等量结合的人，我决定关上食谱。我把面团擀成巨大的长方形薄片，并在脑海里运用三角学来计算它们的尺寸。当饼干出炉后，我用糖霜作为粘合剂，精心地将它们组装成一个三维结构。在用好时巧克力块装点窗户、撒上糖粉作为积雪后，这座糖饼干小屋便大功告成了，绝对能在学校的假期烘焙大赛上惊艳全场！
然而，并非我所有的实验都能有这样的结果。回想起过去的失败探索，我禁不住会心一笑：尝起来像沙子一样的细砂纸口感糖霜，以及需要用锯子才能切开的发酵不当酸面包。无论成功与否，作为“科学家”度过的每一个小时都带来了乐趣与新知。
根据我的经验，我可以断定：一份烘焙惊喜的承诺与社团会议的出席率之间存在着强烈的正相关关系。因此，在把玉米面包从烤箱中取出后，我在明天Tri-M音乐荣誉协会会议的议程上写下了：“有甜点！”不过，我的烘焙工作还远未结束。我找来一个干净的打蛋器，开始制作第二批，只不过这一次是纯素的。黄油与油脂互换了位置，鸡蛋则让位于它的亚麻籽亲眷。这批的量较小——我很清楚我消费者的饮食习惯——但却饱含关怀。虽然这不是幸运饼干，但我希望每一份甜点都能传递出一条信息：欢迎你。加入我们吧。这是我特意为你做的。
在每一个搅拌碗里，都藏着一张通往远方的机票。抓住这个机会，我和一位朋友规划了一趟环球之旅。我们首先飞行了两千英里来到墨西哥，在那里他向我展示了如何制作“Polvorones”——一种在婚礼和节日期间供应的传统饼干。受到启发后，我带他飞越大西洋来到以色列。在那里，我教他如何编织巴布卡面包（Babka），在条状的面团之间，以及在我与我的犹太传统之间，编织出美丽而重叠的纽带。当准备回家时，我们只需离开厨房即可。
我敲了敲教室的门，脸上的笑容与我手中柠檬惊喜上用果酱画出的笑脸遥相呼应。我以前的田径教练邀请我进去，拉过几张椅子，高兴地收下了他的生日礼物。比柠檬方块蛋糕更甜美的，是它们所带来的机会；时隔许久再次聚首，我们共同回忆过去，畅谈未来规划。
在我制作的每一件烘焙品中，那道秘密配方就是——连接。
招生官点评
戴维的文书以烘焙为视角，展现了他对卓越的追求、对社区建设的投入以及解决问题的思维模式。这篇文书之所以优秀，是因为它向招生委员会展示了戴维如何将自己的热情融入课外活动并与他人建立联系。
戴维讲述了他如何跳出既定食谱，凭借自己的创新意识制作出完美的甜点与团队分享，从而展示了他尝试新事物时的状态。通过将烘焙的艺术与科学同个人生活、日常活动及核心价值观紧密结合，戴维的文书生动地刻画了对他而言至关重要的事物。这让我们能够想象出他作为我们校园社区核心成员的模样。
学生自评
对于正在准备此类文书的申请者，我最重要的建议是保持真诚与坦露自我。如果你喜欢开玩笑，就展现出来；如果有某种非常小众但对你至关重要的爱好，一定要聊聊它。通过生动的故事和鲜明的个人声线来展现个性，向招生委员会呈现真实的自己，而不是试图迎合你以为他们想要的形象。这不仅能让你脱颖而出，还能确保你最终选择的地方真正契合你的兴趣。
第二篇：The Two Sides of America
by Gillian H., ’30
Lucedale’s population is about 3,000. Its claim to fame is the Rocky Creek Catfish Cottage, the best place to get fried catfish in all of Eastern Mississippi. The residents have still not entirely mastered the four-way stop sign that was installed five years ago. There is little to no cell service, and the only place to shop is Walmart. Lucedale is the antithesis of Chicago. But still, it is my home away from home. The red clay from the dirt roads has seeped into my blood; I will forever be connected to the rural farmland of Mississippi.
My first summer job on the farm was simple: pick up the pinecones that fell from the giant pine by the horse pasture. They were notorious for getting stuck in the lawn mower, so PawPaw made me a deal: five dollars if I cleared them. I spent my days picking up pinecones. No matter how many I picked up, more would fall. By the end of the summer there were still countless pinecones on the ground, but PawPaw still gave me that five dollar bill.
As I got older, picking up pinecones turned to cleaning out the horse stalls turned to bush hogging. The summer that I turned 14, my brother put me on the John Deere and left. I was terrified. Driving the tractor is a major responsibility– it is easy to break and harder to fix. But, I turned it on and went back and forth in straight lines, cutting the thick, rye grass of the horse pasture.
When I was 16, I was finally old enough to work with the cows. I became an employee of SPH Cattle Co., my family’s cattle company. I learned how to herd the cows into the catch pen, which rope tightens the gate and which loosens it. The calves need all of their immunizations, the older ones only need some, and they all need to be sprayed to prevent flies. It’s a process that repeats about 50 times until all of the cows have been pushed through the pen. The work started off as a burden, something that I thought no 16-year-old girl should endure, but by the end of the summer, I found joy in it.
Even 900 miles away, Mississippi is still a part of me; the red dirt, and the lessons, will never leave my blood. Yes, I learned about responsibility and hard work. But the most important thing my summers on the farm gave me? Perspective.
I have listened to people complain at a steakhouse serving $75 ribeyes, but I’ve also experienced the hard work that goes into raising cattle. I call myself a city kid; I have grown up living in high rises, attended private schools. Yet, I have spent my summers in a farmhouse, working in the mud, trading in a golf club for a shovel. I have seen the beauty in rural life. What I value and what I believe comes from this unique perspective that I’m privileged to hold. It’s easy for my Chicago friends to write off rural life, to confine farmers to a stereotype: simple and unaware. My Lucedale neighbors think of folks in Chicago as crazy radicals. I’m unable to make these assumptions. I see the kindness and morality of urban folks. I don’t agree with everything they believe, but that does not make me respect them any less. And I also have so much respect for people from rural communities. They are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met, willing to give the shirts off their own backs to a stranger. My worldview, what I value and what I believe, comes from this rare viewpoint. The beauty of our country, what makes it so great, is these two contradicting sides. And I know first-hand that we wouldn’t survive without both of them, no matter how different they might seem.
译文：
鲁斯代尔（Lucedale）的小镇人口大约只有3000人。它最出名的是“落溪鲶鱼小屋”（Rocky Creek Catfish Cottage），那是整个密西西比州东部吃炸鲶鱼最好的地方。那里的居民至今还没完全掌握五年前安装的四向停车标志的通行规则。镇上几乎没有什么手机信号，唯一能购物的地方就是沃尔玛。鲁斯代尔与芝加哥截然相反。然而，它依然是我心灵的栖息之所。土路上的红泥早已渗入了我的血液；我将永远与密西西比的乡村农田紧紧相连。
我在农场的第一个暑期工作很简单：捡起从马场旁巨松上落下的松果。这些松果极易卡在割草机里，所以外公（PawPaw）和我做了一笔交易：只要我清理干净，就给我五美元。那些日子我全在捡松果。无论我捡起多少，总会有更多的落下来。到了夏天结束时，地上依然有数不清的松果，但外公还是把那五美元钞票交到了我手里。
随着年龄增长，从捡松果变成了清理马厩，再变成了用大型割草机除草。我14岁那年的夏天，哥哥把我放上一台约翰迪尔（John Deere）拖拉机后就离开去了别处。我当时吓坏了。驾驶拖拉机是一项重大的责任——它很容易弄坏，而且极其难修。但是，我启动了引擎，开着它走直线来回穿梭，割着马场里厚厚的黑麦草。
16岁时，我终于到了可以和牛群打交道的年龄。我成为了我们家族的肉牛公司——SPH Cattle Co.的员工。我学会了如何把牛群赶进抓捕栏，哪根绳子能拉紧栅栏门，哪根能解开。小牛需要接种全部疫苗，大牛只需要打一部分，而且所有的牛都需要喷药以防苍蝇。这个过程大约要重复50次，直到所有的牛都被推过围栏。这项工作起初是个负担，我觉得这不是一个16岁女孩应该忍受的事情；但到了暑期结束时，我却从中找到了乐趣。
即便身在900英里之外，密西西比依然是我的一部分；红土和那些教诲，永远不会离开我的血液。是的，我学到了责任感与勤奋。但农场的那些夏天带给我最重要的东西是什么？是视角。
我曾在供应75美元一块肋眼牛排的牛排馆里听过人们抱怨，但我也亲身体验过养育肉牛背后的辛勤付出。我称自己是个城市孩子；我在高楼大厦中长大，就读于私立学校。然而，我也在农舍里度过了许多暑假，在泥泞中劳作，把高尔夫球杆换成铁铲。我看到了乡村生活的美好。我所珍视的和所信仰的一切，都源于我有幸拥有的这种独特视角。对于我芝加哥的朋友们来说，抹杀乡村生活、将农民归类为“简单粗鄙、孤陋寡闻”的刻板印象很容易；而我鲁斯代尔的邻居们则认为芝加哥的人都是疯狂的激进分子。但我无法做出这些假设。我看到了城市人的善良与道德感，我不完全同意他们的所有观点，但这并不妨碍我尊重他们；同时，我也对乡村社区的人们怀有极大的敬意，他们是我见过的最善良的人之一，甚至愿意把自己的衬衫脱下来送给陌生人。我的世界观、我所珍视的和所信仰的，都来自于这种罕见观点的碰撞。我们国家的美丽之处、使其如此伟大的原因，恰恰在于这两个看似对立的侧面。我亲身体会到，无论它们看起来多么不同，如果没有这两者，我们都无法生存。
招生官点评
吉莉安借助她在鲁斯代尔度过的夏天，展现了韧性、责任感以及对各种形式社区的深刻理解。她提供了诸如饲养肉牛、向家人学习等农场生活的细节，生动地勾勒出一位懂得劳动价值、管理责任与相互依存的学生形象。
最突出的是她能够超越刻板印象，认识到乡村与城市社区尊严的能力。她在芝加哥与密西西比之间的生活经历，将她塑造成为一个能够与不同背景的人建立联系、并珍视每个社区优势的人。这正是那种能为我们校园带来有价值视角的学生，因为她懂得如何通过尊重、同理心和共同责任来建设社区。
作者自评
“当我刚开始起草个人陈述时，我就知道我想写鲁斯代尔。我觉得它展现了我性格中在申请材料其他部分无法显现的一面。在密西西比度过的夏天真正塑造了我看待世界和周围人们的方式。它赋予了我一种独特的视角，这是我在申请的其他板块中无法表达的。”
第三篇：Clean Closet
by ruoni t., ’30
My to-do list always had one unfinished task. No matter how much time passed, I could never check off “clean closet.”
My closet is a time capsule going on eighteen years. It’s packed with favorite toys, plush animals, retired gymnastics leotards, and grandma-sewn dresses that once decorated my childhood. Shelves are adorned with art projects I once was so proud to showcase and yearbooks scribbled with notes from teachers and friends. The rest includes attempts to discover personal style, cheerleading uniforms, and several memory boxes filled to the brim. The closet holds who I was and who I’ve tried to be.
Every attempt to clean became an excavation. Picking up Littlest Pet Shop figures brought back late nights spent creating storylines. Canvases following painting tutorials showed attempts at being worry-free like Bob Ross. Trophies and medals reminded me of how I learned to flip, terrified and exhilarated at once. Every corner echoed a moment that shaped me.
As I started high school, my collection of memory boxes did too. Boxes with charming designs hold every award, letter, trinket, and photo booth strip. Another box is dedicated to flowers from friends and family that I dried. My cheer bag holds well-used pom poms and cheer shoes. All of them remind me of people I learned from and laughed with. Getting rid of them would feel bittersweet. These feelings were exactly why I could never bring myself to clean my closet before. To accommodate the future, I had to do it. One Saturday morning this spring, I sat cross-legged surrounded by piles and committed to completing the task. For years, I always put everything back in the usual place, too sentimental to let anything go. This time, I set aside what I no longer needed in a donation pile, figuring the clothes, books, and toys could benefit others rather than remain stagnant in my closet. I cleared the shelf of childhood books and old art to make space for nail supplies and more memory boxes. It felt weird. But the longer I sat, the more I valued moving toward the future. I can donate books while remembering what made me love them. I can recycle trophies without forgetting my hard work. I don’t need objects to know I’m loved. I still adore and appreciate the sentimental, but I’ve come to see it as a reminder to cherish growth rather than dwell on the past. The memory boxes are my reminders. The things I’ve let go of have grown with me: painting became nail art, gymnastics became cheer, creating storylines became exploring people.
Since then, I’ve acted on that mindset beyond my closet. I stopped constantly worrying about the past and overthinking interactions and choices. Instead, I began saying yes to things that were previously met with hesitation. The same sentimentality I reserved for objects spread to people, and I developed a love for talking to those I once just observed. I started pouring into my nail hobby and volunteering at the hospital. Through these, I get to know clients, patients, and children. I use my love for art and design to reflect personalities on fingers. I celebrate in the rehab ward when patients are going home. I teach kids to be creative and kind. Though they don’t contribute physical objects to my memory boxes, I treasure their smiles. These moments remind me that my childhood self, who loved stories and color, is still within me.
My closet is not spotless. It grows and cycles out, just like life. As I step into new chapters, new memory boxes will start for college, new people, and new milestones. And with the upcoming growth, I’ll have to leave some things behind; the difference is I now recognize that letting go is part of growing.
The next time I’m tasked to “clean closet,” it won’t take eighteen years.
译文：
整洁的衣橱
我的待办事项清单上总有一个未竟的任务。不论过去了多久，我永远无法在“清理衣橱”这一项上画勾。
我的衣橱是一座沉淀了十八年的时光胶囊。里面塞满了曾经最爱的玩具、毛绒玩具、退役的体操紧身衣，以及外婆缝制、曾装点了我童年的连衣裙。搁板上摆满了曾经让我自豪不已的艺术作品，以及印满了老师和朋友涂鸦留言的年鉴。剩下的部分包含了探索个人风格时的尝试、啦啦队队服，还有几个装得满满当当的纪念盒。这个衣橱藏着曾经的我，以及我曾试图成为的样子。
每一次尝试清理都变成了一场发掘。拿起“最喜欢的小宠物”（Littlest Pet Shop）玩偶，会让我想起那些编造故事梗概的深夜。跟着绘画教程完成的画布，展示了我像鲍勃·罗斯（Bob Ross）那样尝试无忧无虑的努力。奖杯和奖牌提醒着我曾如何学会翻跟头，那种既恐惧又亢奋的感觉历历在目。每一个角落都回响着塑造了我的瞬间。
当我步入高中，我收集纪念盒的习惯也随之延续。图案精美的盒子里装着每一项奖项、信件、小饰品和自拍亭的照片纸条。另一个盒子专门用来装亲朋好友送的、被我做成干花的花束。我的啦啦队包里装着磨损严重的花球和啦啦队鞋。这一切都让我想起那些我曾向其学习、与其一同欢笑的人们。丢掉它们感觉会苦乐交织。而正是这些情感，让我以前无论如何也下不定决心清理衣橱。但为了拥抱未来，我必须这么做。今春的一个周六早晨，我盘腿坐在被成堆物品包围的地面上，决心下定决心完成这项任务。多年来，我总是把所有东西放回原处，感情用事得舍不得放下任何东西。而这一次，我把不再需要的东西整理到一个捐赠堆里，想着这些衣服、书籍和玩具可以造福他人，而不是停滞在我的衣橱里。我清空了放着童书和旧艺术品的搁板，为美甲工具和更多的纪念盒腾出空间。这种感觉很奇妙。但坐得越久，我就越珍视迈向未来。我可以捐出书籍，同时铭记让我热爱它们的原因；我可以回收奖杯，而不忘却自己的辛勤付出。我不需要用实物来证明自己是被爱着的。我依然珍视并感激这些寄托情感的物品，但我逐渐明白，它们是珍惜成长的提醒，而不是沉溺过去的理由。纪念盒就是我的提醒物。那些被我放手的东西其实一直与我一同成长：绘画变成了美甲艺术，体操变成了啦啦队，编造故事梗概变成了探索人群。
从那时起，我将这种心态延伸到了衣橱之外。我不再时刻担忧过去，不再对人际交往和选择过度反思。相反，我开始对以前犹豫不决的事情大胆说“好”。我对物品的这份深情扩展到了人身上，我开始热爱与那些曾经我只是默默观察的人交谈。我开始全身心投入美甲爱好并在医院做志愿者。通过这些，我结识了客户、患者和孩子们。我用我对艺术和设计的热爱，将个性展现于指尖之上；在康复病房里，当患者准备出院回家时，我与他们一同庆祝；我教孩子们保持创造力与善良。虽然他们没有为我的纪念盒贡献实体物品，但我珍视他们的笑容。这些瞬间提醒着我，那个热爱故事与色彩的童年的自己，依然在我心中。
我的衣橱并非一尘不染。它在成长、在新旧交替，就像生活一样。当我迈入新的篇章，大学、新认识的人以及新的里程碑将开启全新的纪念盒。随着即将到来的成长，我势必要留下一些东西；不同的是，我现在认识到，学会放手本就是成长的一部分。
下一次当我被安排“清理衣橱”的任务时，就不会再花上十八年了。
招生官点评
洛妮将一项普通的日常任务转化为了对身份认知、记忆以及学会如何在不丢失珍贵事物的前提下放手的深刻反思。她的文书包含了生动而具体的细节，使故事显得真实可信，并通过行动展现了改变：捐赠旧物、为新兴趣腾出空间，以及对人和新经历表现得更加开放。
她的文书突出了她的创造力、同理心以及通过服务带来的成长。洛妮还展示了我们在霍普金斯大学非常看重的一点：探索文化。清理衣橱的过程展现了她探索自己是谁以及自己珍视什么的过程，这恰恰映射了霍普金斯大学通过紧密的人际关系、住宿生活和实践机会所支持的那种成长。
总体而言，这篇文书展现了一位准备好在霍普金斯这样的地方去探索并不断突破自我的学生。
作者自评：
“我的申请材料列出了我如何分配时间：在管弦乐队演奏、领导我的啦啦队、在医院做志愿者以及与孩子们一起工作。在拆解衣橱的文书中，我想通过短暂而甜美的小故事来描绘我的性格以及对保存记忆的热爱。这些微小的细节填补了申请材料中仅能列出十件事项所留下的空白。我希望我的文书能让招生官更好地了解活动列表背后的这个人——我的价值观、我的思考方式以及我的处世态度。”
第四篇：Developing Roots
By Etina R., ’30
Flipping over rocks under the imposing maple tree in my front yard, I was looking for two things: roly pollies to stash in my Roly-Poly Playground and earthworms to feed the forever hungry chickens roaming my backyard. Looking at these invertebrates that could easily fit in the palm of my hand, made me feel almost as large, strong, and invincible as the maple tree looming above me. But a maple tree isn’t the strongest, largest, or most resilient tree that exists; I wanted to be a Giant Sequoia.
If maple trees seemed to touch the clouds, Sequoiadendron giganteum trees seemed to enter the mesosphere. Not only are they larger than any other tree species, but they have also evolved a thick, fire-resistant bark allowing growth to continue even after a ravaging fire in their ecosystem. In math and science, I am and always have been a Giant Sequoia, able to withstand countless derivatives, integrals, organelles, and principles blowing my way. In humanities classes, subjectivity covers all three hundred feet of my trunk and limbs in Pueraria, and my likeness to a sequoia is proven through the resilience needed to strip the vines of uncertainty off and see the beauty of the tree beneath.
Being in high school, I often feel like a cottonwood with a pliable, shallow root system that hasn’t yet evolved to withstand the storm that is life. I am held upright largely due to the interconnection of my root systems with like-minded peers and friends I have found through orchestra, classes, and school clubs. However strong the power of community is, in college I long to develop a deep root system of both knowledge and self-sufficiency that can keep me upright, regardless of what happens to the connections that, right now, are crucial to my survival.
The Castanea dentata, the American Chestnut, taught me to value individualism through the permeation of a fungus that ran rampant and eliminated most of the formerly populous species in the United States. Being a lone tree can limit the stresses of altruism, having each effort contribute to just myself rather than spreading through a group, making it incredibly easy to exist as a lone tree in class, absorbing nutrients accumulating ring after ring of knowledge. However, if the Giant Sequoia’s sprawling, intertwined root systems taught me anything, it was that collaboration, feedback, support, and the melding of ideas allow my community and I to have a strong foundation that can resist even the strongest of winds. I am seeking to integrate into an environment in which I can continue to live in that delicate balance between my community and individual development.
While I may aspire to be like a Giant Sequoia, my confidence more closely resembles a Fraxinus tree, of whom millions have been slain by tiny Agrilus planipennis, better known as Emerald ash borers. The strong scores that made me rise to the top in high school should imprint a sense of confidence, but confidence is easily eroded by self-doubt and a focus on the tiny mistakes that remain and drive me to keep improving myself. Only by acknowledging such vulnerabilities and working within a community of friends and mentors can I improve upon them and grow from a sapling filled with hope and potential to become the well balanced contributor to my communities that the seedling who stared at the maple leaves looming above longed to be.
译文：
扎根生长
翻开我家前院那棵高耸的枫树下的石头，我当时在找两样东西：存放在我的“西瓜虫乐园”里的西瓜虫，以及用来喂养后院那些永远吃不饱的母鸡的蚯蚓。看着这些能轻易放在掌心中的无脊椎动物，让我感到自己几乎和头上笼罩着的枫树一样高大、强壮且无坚不摧。但枫树并不是现存最强壮、最大或最具韧性的树木；我想成为一棵巨杉（Giant Sequoia）。
如果说枫树看起来能触及云端，那么巨杉（Sequoiadendron giganteum）似乎能深入中间层。它们不仅比任何其他树种都要庞大，而且还进化出了厚实、防火的树皮，即使在生态系统遭受毁灭性火灾后也能继续生长。在数学和科学领域，我一直以来都是一棵巨杉，能够抵御无数向我袭来的导数、积分、细胞器和科学原理。然而在人文课程中，主观性就像野葛一样缠绕包覆着我整整三百英尺高的树干与枝干；而我与巨杉的相似之处，正体现在剥离这些不确定性藤蔓、看到下方树木之美所需的韧性上。
身处高中，我常常觉得自己像一棵美洲黑杨（cottonwood），根系脆弱而浅薄，尚未进化到能够抵御生活这场风暴的程度。我之所以能直立不倒，很大程度上归功于我与那些在管弦乐队、课堂和学校社团中结识的志同道合的同伴及朋友之间紧密交织的根系网络。尽管社区的力量如此强大，但在大学里，我渴望建立起一个兼具知识与自立能力的深厚根系，无论那些眼下对我生存至关重要的联系发生什么变化，这个根系都能支撑我屹立不倒。
美洲栗（Castanea dentata）通过一种真菌的蔓延向我阐释了个人主义的价值，这种真菌曾肆虐并消灭了美国大部分这一曾经繁盛的物种。成为一棵孤树可以减少利他主义带来的压力，让每一次努力都只为自己贡献，而不是散播到一个群体中，这使得在课堂上作为一棵独木存在变得极其容易——吸收养分，年复一年地积累知识的年轮。然而，如果说巨杉那庞大、交织的根系教会了我什么，那就是合作、反馈、支持以及思想的碰撞，能让我和我的社区拥有坚实的基础，甚至能够抵御最强劲的风暴。我正寻求融入一个能够让我继续在社区与个人发展之间保持微妙平衡的环境。
虽然我渴望成为一棵巨杉，但我的自信心却更像是一棵梣树（Fraxinus），数以百万计的梣树已被微小的白蜡窄吉丁（Agrilus planipennis，即翡翠白蜡木螟）毁灭。那些让我居于高中顶尖水平的优异成绩本应铭刻一份自信，但这种自信很容易被自我怀疑以及对残留微小错误的关注所侵蚀，从而驱使我不断完善自己。唯有承认这些脆弱性，并在朋友和导师组成的社区中努力，我才能改善它们，从一棵充满希望与潜力的幼苗，成长为当年那个凝视着上方笼罩着的枫叶的幼芽所渴望成为的——一个全面发展、能为社区做出贡献的人。
招生官点评
在她的文书中，埃蒂娜运用自己对树木的知识和热爱，来象征社区、韧性与扎根。树木的比喻有效地传达出一位能够以反思方式进行跨学科思考的学生形象。我们也看到了社区与个人成长之间深思熟虑的平衡，这表明她理解自己能够蓬勃发展的学习环境类型。
从她的文书中，我们看到了一位珍视归属感、相互支持和共同成长的学生，我们可以想象出她将如何丰富我们的“蓝蓟鸟”（Blue Jay）社区。当这篇文书利用自然界来展现关于自信、发展以及成为一个更稳健、更独立的学习者的个人心路历程时，显得尤为有效。
学生自评
“写个人陈述最难的部分就是写我自己；我打出的每一个字都显得不真诚且缺乏语境。为了克服这一点，我探索了自己在申请材料中未体现出来的兴趣，希望这能带来一种感觉更真实的方法。我最终选择了树木，并用每个树种来突出我自己的一个特质。通过消除我对‘个人陈述应该是什么样’的预判，我成功克服了起步的障碍，真实地展现了自己。”
第五篇：In the Belly of the Ship
By Ruoyu X., ’30
I lay on the bamboo mat in a pool of my own sweat, swaying with the ship. A net around my cot attempted to keep out the mosquitos, and the room’s thin walls leaked every crewman’s cough. Yet as I looked outside the porthole, the greatest discomfort was my own shame.
Growing up in a coastal city, the sea carried a call to action. My father, once a cargo crewman and now a shipping administrator, shared tales of free-spirited voyages and world experience; yet I was most drawn to his depictions of close-knit crews. I was someone who hesitated in small social moments: lowering my eyes in the hallway, uncertain if a wave was meant for me, never taking that initial step. The ship seemed to provide what everyday life lacked: a space where closeness was facilitated.
But when I interned aboard a similar vessel in summer 2024, I quickly discovered the details my dad had left out. My excitement melted under the 100°F sun. There weren’t assigned tasks to distract myself with, and both my journal and copy of Moby-Dick I had brought aboard became nothing more than paper weights.
Worse, I didn’t perceive the camaraderie my father had described. The crew kept to their shifts, mostly isolated in the rooms, caring only that “the ship keeps moving.” The sailors spoke in a provincial dialect I could barely follow, and my father had advised me to conceal my background (as an international school student and administrator’s daughter) for fear it would alienate me from the crew. I tried to join conversations, but with no relatable experience and only fragments of understanding, my words fell short. All I felt I could do was lie flat in my cot and wait for morning.
When I disembarked a week later, my relief was as overwhelming as the heat had been. Yet with time, what returned to me most was the sailors’ faces, carrying stories I had never uncovered.
Which is why, the next summer, I stubbornly boarded again. I carried unease, knowing how physically and emotionally draining the prior voyage had been; but I also carried determination to resist that urge to retreat into my cabin. When I boarded, the engineer (the rare woman aboard) looked at me with surprise and spoke in Mandarin instead of dialect: “most never come back. They don’t appreciate the routine.”
Routine. I became determined to find a routine that wasn’t “hide from the heat.” I volunteered to help: rust-chipping the deck, double-checking the cargo tallies, and washing vegetables. The more I leaned into the routine, the more it carried me. Small things I had ignored before became luminous: hammocks stretched beneath the night sky, chuckles exchanged over bowls of noodles.
With little windows of opening, nods of appreciation or smiles of hello, I took small steps to unearth their experience, not allowing dialect (or a ‘blacklist’ of what truths I should withhold) inhibit me. When I led with authenticity, previous obstacles fell to the wayside. In return, I received incredible stories. Not glamorous sea adventures, but honest experiences from people of all walks of life, all of which were documented in my seafarer’s journal. Everything from a middle-aged couple who decades ago had gone deep into debt (and spent 30 years at sea repaying it), to a young captain sailing from loneliness. Soon, my observations transformed into responsibility; after months of policy research, interviews, and sample collection regarding the crew’s lack of treated water, I led water safety sessions and successfully petitioned the department of transportation for new regulations regarding small vessels’ right to clean water.
My contributions were made possible by that crucible at sea, forged in sweat, silence, and routine: the value of small steps, the power of camaraderie, and the fulfillment of persevering through failure. I’m proud to have been eaten alive by a metal beast, and then entered its jaws once more.
译文：
船舱深处
我躺在竹席上，浑身泡在自己的汗水里，随船摇晃。挂在行军床四周的蚊帐试图挡住蚊子，而房间薄薄的墙壁却漏出了每一个船员的咳嗽声。然而，当我透过舷窗向外望去时，最大的不适感却是我内心的羞愧。
在一个沿海城市长大，大海对我而言承载着一种行动的召唤。我的父亲曾是一名货轮船员，如今是一位航运管理员，他常讲述那些自由不羁的航行和环球阅历的故事；然而我最被吸引的，是他对船员之间亲密无间关系的描绘。我是一个在微小社交时刻会犹豫不决的人：在走廊里低垂双眼，不确定对方挥手是不是在打招呼，永远迈不出第一步。而船舱似乎提供了日常生活中所匮乏的东西：一个能促成彼此亲近的空间。
但当我在2024年夏天到一艘类似的船上实习时，我很快发现了父亲漏掉的那些细节。我的兴奋感在华氏100度（约37.8摄氏度）的烈日下迅速融化。船上没有指派给我的任务来分散注意力，我带上船的日记本和那本《白鲸记》也沦为了毫无用处的纸镇。
更糟的是，我并没有感受到父亲所描述的那种情谊。船员们各司其职，大部分时间都缩在各自的房间里，只关心“船还在继续往前开”。水手们说着我几乎听不懂的方言，而我父亲曾建议我隐瞒自己的背景（作为国际学校的学生和管理员的女儿），生怕这会让我与船员产生隔阂。我试图加入他们的对话，但由于缺乏共同的经历，加上只能听懂碎片化的词句，我的话语显得苍白无力。我觉得自己唯一能做的，就是平躺在行军床上等待天亮。
一周后下船时，我的如释重负感就像先前的酷热一样汹涌。然而随着时间的推移，最常在我脑海中浮现的，依然是那些水手们的面孔——他们身上承载着我从未揭开的故事。
这就是为什么在下一个夏天，我执拗地再次登上了船。我怀着不安，深知上一趟航行在生理和心理上是多么令人精疲力竭；但我同时也怀着决心，要抵御那种退缩回自己舱室的冲动。当我登船时，轮机长（船上罕见的女性）惊讶地看着我，用普通话而不是方言说：“大多数人再也不会回来了。他们受不了这种枯燥的日常。”
日常。我决心找到一种不是“躲避酷热”的日常规律。我主动请缨帮忙：清理甲板上的锈迹、复核货物清单以及洗菜。我越是融入这种日常，它就越是滋养着我。以前被我忽略的微小事物开始散发出光芒：夜空下张开的吊床、面对面吃面条时会心的笑声。
随着一道道敞开的心扉、赞赏的点头或问候的微笑，我一步步迈出微小的脚步去探索他们的经历，不再让方言（或是那些“我不该透露的真相黑名单”）阻碍我。当我用真诚待人时，先前的障碍便迎刃而解。作为回报，我收获了令人难以置信的故事。那不是光鲜亮丽的海上冒险，而是来自各行各业的人们最真实的人生经历，这一切都被我记录在了水手日记中。从数十年前背负巨额债务（并在海上度过30年偿还债务）的中年夫妇，到为了逃离孤独而航行的年轻船长。很快，我的观察转化为了某种责任感；在对船员缺乏经处理饮用水的问题进行了数月的政策研究、访谈和样本采集后，我主持了水安全讲座，并成功向交通部门提交请愿，促成了关于小型船员享有干净饮水保障的新规出台。
我的贡献得益于海上那段在汗水、沉默和日常中铸就的磨炼：微小脚步的价值、同袍情谊的力量，以及在失败中坚持到底的充实感。我很自豪能曾被这头钢铁巨兽吞噬，并再次勇敢地迈入它的巨颚之中。
招生官点评
若宇的文书通过她在海上实习的经历，展现了极强的韧性与坚持。通过这段体验，若宇意识到她想要创造属于自己的影响，而不是亦步亦趋地跟随前人的脚印或消融于船员人群之中。她尝试了新事物，尽管第一次尝试并未达到预期，但她依然有勇气重新归来。这向招生委员会展示了她的决心、毅力、通过研究追求卓越的精神，以及她在意想不到的地方建立社区的能力——所有这些品质都勾勒出了一位优秀的霍普金斯大学学生的形象。
作者点评
“我选择这个主题是因为它超出了我学生生活的日常范畴，而这个选择也让结尾成为了最难写的部分。几个月来，我为最后一个自然段写了多个版本，因为我发现很难确定应该用什么意义（如果有的话）来界定我的经历。在我动笔时，我还缺乏足够的时间距离来明白我的故事究竟意味着什么。归根结底，一段真挚的经历与一篇真挚的作品之间的距离，仅仅是时间在悄无声息中所做的功。”
