张扬：很中国的家长们对美国高校录取程序并不熟悉的，特别是像斯坦福这样的名校的，您能不能向中国家长们简单介绍一下录取程序呢？

肖恩：哦，当然可以。拥有互联网实在是太方便了，中国的学生也可以通过它网上申请。我们的首选是Common Application系统，来自世界任何地方学生都可以利用它申请，这个系统会将学生信息汇聚给斯坦福。使用互联网有两个好处：一是学生可以通过浏览学校的网站，细致地了解学校的学术背景，和奖学金等诸多信息。然后他们就可以直接进入申请系统进行网上申请，且每一个步骤都有详细介绍，确保学生能够轻松而又正确的完成。申请中有若干简短的问题以及三个较长的问题。我们的申请过程被认为是全美最全面的，至于那些申请中感到懊恼得人们需要多花费点时间去完成。因为我们确实想从不同角度更全面的了解我们的候选人，所有这些只需在互联网上完成，不需要学生邮寄任何材料，也不必为了国家间不同的邮政体系所带来的问题而担心。（张扬：成绩单也不用邮寄吗？）这个得看情况，成绩单可能需要邮寄。但也可以传真到学校。要求成绩单原件是为了使我们作出的决定更准确无误。这一切实际上都很简单，你可以随时开始申请。申请分两个阶段，其中一个叫“提前申请”。所以如果你对斯坦福感兴趣，你甚至可以在11月1日前就递交申请，这样刚到12月中旬就能得知自己的录取情况。或者你可以选择在1月1日前递交申请，然后4月1日前得知录取情况。所以说学生可以从这两个申请周期中选择一个，两者实际上没有什么区别。大多数中国学生和国际学生一般都选择第二个，也就是在1月1号截止日期前。

5. Alex: The early applicants get more chance?

Shawn: No. (That’s a good question). In fact, if you look at the academic strength of the early group and then the overall group, it’s actually slightly stronger, so I don’t think you have an advantage. You have to self-select and it has to be exceedingly competitive. That early cycle might result in you being deferred and then reconsidered during the regular cycle. And that happens, we took a number of students issue from that second view. Or you can just apply during the regular cycle. But it’s hard to get in. Very very hard to get in.

张扬：提早申请意味着录取机会多吗？

肖恩：不是。（问的好）。事实上，你如果比较一下提前申请的学生和正常申请的学生,你会

发现提前申请的学们总体学术能力会比后者稍微强一些。所以我不认为提前申请是个优势。这个你需要自己选择，总之竞争都非常激烈。提早申请的一个结果是，你的申请可能会被延期，之后在正常录取阶段被重新考虑。这种情况下，我们会选择若干个学生，进行比较和二次选择。或者你干脆就在正常申请阶段申请就好了。但，总而言之，被（斯坦福）录取难度很大，真的非常非常难。

6. Alex: So that doesn’t mean “early birds always have worms to eat”?

Shawn: Right, if you are extraordinary early we’ll take you early, if you are extraordinary later, we’ll take you later. So I think it’s a matter of what’s best for students, and what’s good for the school and of course for many students this may be a new experience to apply outside the country and so may take a little bit more time.

张扬：您的意思是早起的鸟儿也不一定有虫吃？

肖恩：是的，如果你很优秀，而且提前申请了，那么我们就提前录取你。如果你很优秀，稍微晚一些申请了，那么我们就稍微晚一些录取你（意思是只要你很优秀，什么时候申请并不重要）。所以我认为这其中目的只是为了使学生，使学校更加方便。而且对于很多学生来说，申请国外的大学是一件从未经历过的事情，所以可能需要多花点时间。

7. Alex: So how you process so many files?  

Shawn: But we sort of managed that pretty well, every students get a full reading. We need a committee room, where we talk the candidates, and we vote.

张扬:你们是怎样处理那么多申请资料的？

肖恩：可以说，我们处理的一直都很好，而且确保了审阅每一个学生的每一份资料。一般，我们聚在一个专门的评审办公室来讨论这些候选人，并且大家都为各自认为不错的候选人投票。

8. Alex: You vote for everyone?

Shawn: We actually move through a process whereby we touch every student in the committee room.

张扬：你们会为每一位申请者轮流投票吗？

肖恩：实际上我们用一个规定的流程，保证在评审办公室里的所有学生都被评估。

9. Alex: Is that possible for your staff to read all those files?

Shawn: Yes, they read. They read them all.

张扬：读每一份资料，这有可能吗？

肖恩：是的，每一份我们都会去读，并且读完所资料有为止。

10. Alex: Wow, that’s loads of work.

Shawn: Yeah, in fact these people that read the (files from) People’s Republic are quite experts in understanding the systems, understating the schools, and come in with these expertise to the committee room. And they try to determine who they are going to provide the strongest advocacy for, and then we listen to that and we vote yes or no. And one of the challenges in China is it’s hard for the Chinese students to get access to the test that we ask for. So the College Board Test, the SAT which is the primary test, often students will have to go to Hongkong to take it. So we don’t require, because we understand the difficulty of it, but we do have a strong preference for it. Because it helps us to understand, on the world wide basis, how students related to the overall applicant poll.

张扬：哦，那可不是个小工程啊。

肖恩：的确是。审阅资料的教授们对中国的教育体系、学校都非常了解，这些专家把他们的意见带到评审办公室，并最终决定他们认为最合适的人选。我们会听取他们的推荐理由后投票决定是否录取。中国学生存在的一个难题是他们有时无法参加我们要求的一些考试，像College Board 最重要一门考试，SAT就需要学生去香港参加。考虑到中国学生的难处，我们不强行要求，但我们还是很希望学生能够提供SAT成绩，因为SAT成绩能帮助我们了解该学生在来自世界各地学生当中，他的水平处于一个什么样的位置。

11. Alex: Do you have any minimum requirements?

Shawn: We don’t really talk about minimums. But in reality, our testing is probably averages on 800 point scale on three sections, all of them above 700. So it’s very high. For students from the PR China, English is a second language; we understand that, so we certainly invite the TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language as well, we are trying to make determination about the (students’) ability to be part of an English Speaking Curriculum. 

张扬：你们有最低分数线吗？

肖恩：我们不谈最低分数要求。但实际上，在每部分满分为800分的考试中，被录取学生们平均成绩基本都700分以上。这个分数的确很高。我知道这对中国学生来说很难，因为英语毕竟是他们的第二语言。所以我们就要求他们提供TOEFL成绩作为接受英文授课能力的一项评定。

12. Alex: What are the common mistakes that the Chinese applicants often made, according to experience?

Shawn: Well, this is very difficult. It’s a little bit of a cultural challenge, I think, because we have to make selections from among and between students. So we want their personality to emerge. We want to know what makes them tick, so we ask of them. To some extent, expose themselves to us in terms of their aspirations, what they love to do, and in some ways, it’s countering to be humble. Chinese humble is a great characteristic. If everybody applies and looks exactly the same, we have difficulties in making selections. So what I would encourage students to do is, to the extent that they really respond to our questions very comprehensively, to really take the time to think about who they are as human beings, what’s their hopes and aspirations and their dreams are as it relates to an opportunity to get world class education in another country, so I think to some extent this means you have to open up about who you are. And also talk about what sorts of things really excites you. If it’s mathematics, it’s fine, if it’s volunteering, if there is a disaster in the country, that’s fine, doing special kinds of research that’s fine, also playing musical instruments, you need to let us know what really gets you excited because we are trying to figure out how you fit with Stanford’s student body and how you will take advantage of Stanford education. And also what you will bring to us.