陈念慈，U.S. Diplomat, Education Officer 负责教育的美国外交官员 择校从来都不是一件容易事儿，尤其是在美国有 4000 多所不同的院校供你选择。每个人都会根据什么对自己最重要来作出自己的选择。不管是读研究生还是其他学位，你都需要在充分了解信息的基础上作出选择。 我在美国使馆负责的一个项目是《学在美国》（EducationUSA）。该项目由美国政府支持，在美国中学毕业之后的教育机会方面提供最为全面、及时和准确的信息。在中国，我们在北京、上海、成都、广州和沈阳都设有办公室，并配有留学顾问，免费帮助学生和家长了解如何自己请学校。不久前我曾写过一篇观点文章，解释为什么我认为自己动手(DIY)是做一名成功的美国学生的第一步。（链接: http://edu.sina.com.cn/a/2016-03-22/doc-ifxqnskh1115426.shtml ）我们建议学生用 DIY 的方法来申请。EducationUSA 的顾问们不寻求从学生或美国各大院校身上获利，所以可以为学生提供完全不含偏见的信息。我们努力帮助人们均衡地了解关于考试、申请程序、不同院校类型、签证程序、助学金机会，以及不同专业的信息。任何人想要了解我们提供的各种服务，都可以访问我们的网站http://www.educationusachina.com/。 在申请研究生项目时，应当考虑学校的声誉、项目声誉、学校位置、学校大小、师生比例、你的收入水平、成本（学费和生活成本）、你的竞争力、毕业生就业和其他因素。 我在申请传播学研究生，看各个院校的时候，听从了我的本科教学辅导员的建议，了解了哪些学校的传播项目比较有实力。这也是让我获得有说服力的推荐信的好办法，因为我的教授们在传播学领域都很有名望，而他们对我也十分了解。我记得我的辅导员推荐的学校中，有一个在堪萨斯州，但我不想在那里生活，即便那个研究生项目很有名。另外我想选一个小一些的项目，所以最后我选择了北卡罗来纳州的维克森林大学（Wake Forest University）。那所大学离我家更近，而且给我全额奖学金，外加生活津贴，我还可以给本科生授课，这样我就不用背负学生贷款了。同时他们只招 8 名学生，因此每名学生都会获得教授的很多关注。所以就我个人经验而言，我重点考虑了地理位置、项目的声誉和成本。直到后来我决定调整方向，重点研究国际问题的时候，我才决定去耶鲁读国际关系硕士。做这个决定时，我考虑了不同大学提供的不同项目以及课程要求。我想要一个灵活性较强的项目（在耶鲁大学，只有少量学科是核心必修课，其余学分可以由每位学生自己决定，以便发展他们的专业领域。因此，如果一名学生想要专攻历史学，那么他就可以修更多的历史学课程。如果他们想做更多环境相关的工作，就要修更多环境学院的课程）。就我的个人兴趣来讲，其他学校的项目数目过于繁多，或者过于结构化。很幸运，我得到一笔奖学金来支付学费，这样就不需要背负太多的学生贷款。耶鲁的国际关系研究生并不是那么有名，所以申请时我主要看中的是它灵活多变的课程设置和这所大学的名望。 仅仅依靠排名来寻找和决定最适合你的项目并不是个好办法。排名本身是根据一系列不同标准作出的，因此同一所学校在不同排名机构的排名榜上位置可能会不同。最适合你的学校可能和最适合其他人的完全不同。想想你想住在哪里，以及你在学习期间和毕业以后都能获得什么样的支持。你能在那个项目中脱颖而出吗？那所学校的校友网络有多活跃，是否能帮助你在毕业后迈出下一步？做出决定前花点时间衡量一下所有你最看重的事项，然后就去美国留学，享受生活吧！ Choosing a school is never easy, especially with over 4,000 different institutions in the U.S. from which to pick. Every choice is an individual one based on your own priorities. Whether you are going for a Masters or other degree, it will require you to make informed choices. One program I am responsible for at the U.S. Embassy is the EducationUSA program. This program is supported by the U.S. government to provide the most comprehensive, current, and accurate information about opportunities to study at post secondary institutions in the United States. In China, we have offices and advisers in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shenyang whose job is to help students and parents to figure out how to apply on their own and they don’t charge fees. I wrote an op-ed not long ago to try to explain why I think the first step to success as a student in America is through the DIY process http://edu.sina.com.cn/a/2016-03-22/doc-ifxqnskh1115426.shtml. We recommend that students use the do-it-yourself method to apply. The EducationUSA advisers can give students totally unbiased information because they aren’t looking to make a profit from the students or the U.S. institutions. We try to give people a balanced understanding of the tests, application process, different institution types, visa process, financing opportunities, and different majors. If anyone is interested in more information about the kinds of services that we provide, please check out our website at http://www.educationusachina.com/. When you are looking at Masters programs, you should consider the school’s reputation, the program’s reputation, the location of the school, the size of the school, the student to teacher ratio, the size of your incoming class, costs (both tuition and cost of living), your competitiveness, where graduates from the program end up, among other issues. When I started looking for universities that offered a Masters in Communications, I took the recommendation of my undergraduate academic advisers to know which school had strong programs in the field of communication studies. It was also a good way for me to get strong recommendation letters because my professors were well-respected in the field and knew me well. I remember one of the schools my adviser recommended was in Kansas, but I didn’t want to live in Kansas even though the program had a good reputation. I also wanted a smaller program, so I decided to go to Wake Forest University in North Carolina. The institution was closer to home and they offered me a “full ride” (full scholarship), plus a living stipend and I would get to teach undergraduates. I knew I wouldn’t incur any debts and they only accepted about eight students, so we each got a lot of attention from our professors. So in my personal experience, I weighed location, program reputation, and cost as very important. It was later when I decided to change focus and do more with international issues that I decided to get a Masters in International Relations at Yale. For that decision, I looked at the different kinds of programs offered by different universities and the course requirements. I wanted a program that was flexible (at Yale there were only a few core required classes, and the remainder of the credits could be decided by each student to develop their own areas of expertise. So if a student wanted to focus on history, they would take more history courses. If they wanted to do more related to the environment, they would take more courses in that department.) Other university programs were too quantitative or too structured for my personal interests. And luckily, I received a scholarship to cover tuition, so I didn’t incur a lot of student debt. In that case, I ranked the flexible curriculum and the institution’s reputation highly, since the international relations program was not as well known. Making decisions purely on rankings is not a good way to find your best fit. The rankings themselves are based on a variety of criteria and so a school’s rank may differ according to who is doing the calculation. The best institution for you might be very different from someone else. Think about where you want to live and what kind of support you will receive, both during your studies and after you graduate. Will you stand out in your program? How active is their alumni network and can they help you to take the next step after graduation? Take time to weigh all your priorities before making your decision, and then go to the U.S. and enjoy yourself! 更多讨论，查看 知乎圆桌 · 发现 · 美国 阅读原文
