对于真正的学术类活动要求是:长期而有效的系统性学习,明确自己的大学申请专业方向,远超同龄学生在该领域的认知水平,能达到大学高阶课程涉及的议题难度。
最典型的学术类活动是各学科的奥林匹克竞赛,当然也有一些学生在自己的兴趣领域完成了独立研究,并取得了可作展示的成果符合此条标准。
其他常见的和专业相关的学术活动也包含夏校,和一些通过第三方认可的相对权威的课外活动,这也是大学招生官鉴定学术活动的最简便办法,比如ISEF、西门子科学竞赛、丘成桐科学奖、谷歌科学竞赛等是竞赛类学术活动的权威第三方;Nature和Science还有Pioneer是论文研究类学术活动的权威认证方。这种级别的学术活动,基本代表了国家或世界的顶尖水平。
下面针对具体的学术活动分类,我们来看一下具体如何参与活动并提升专业背景:
Program类
直接从项目官网申请即可,不单包含一些学分夏校,也包含一些无学分类的高认可度知名Camp,比如大家耳熟能详的Ross数学营、斯坦福数学营SUMAC、麻省理工科学研究暑期项目(RSI)。
竞赛类
一般需要组队参与,一定程度上依赖学校和家庭的资源。比如包含数学、生物、计算机、经济、物理、化学六大科学门类的丘成桐科学奖、国内普高学生很喜欢参加的中/美奥林匹克竞赛(可以单人参加且节约时间)、谷歌科学奖(Google Science Fair)等。
Research类
占用时间精力比较多,需要学生对于专业方向上非常清晰且具备一定基础。比如Pioneer Academic学术先修、TCR研究论文、以及更多的是学生们依赖学校和家庭资源完成的,具有自己独特性的论文研究或者报告。
学术活动案例分享
具体的学术活动要做到什么程度呢?或者说,怎样的程度可以最好的展现属于高中生的个人风采呢?
下面就给大家分享一个新鲜的Pioneer学术先修offer,题目围绕音乐与文化的碰撞,从中国音乐文化到美国音乐文化,从古至今,从20世纪60年代到80年代,甚至涵盖各个社会阶级对于音乐的不同贡献,极具个人特色和学术深度。
Program Topic: Mapping Culture through Music (Culture Studies)
What is a culture, how can it be intimately wrapped up in a location, and how can that be mapped out to better understand its inner workings? In the face of globalization and pervasive online communities, what can conventional wisdom--“location, location, location” and “All politics is local”--tell us about the importance of actual places in cultural formations? We will first orient ourselves with a wide range of music mapping projects, as well as projects that directly address the significance of a location. From a base in the interdisciplinary field of ethnomusicology, we will then examine how scenes and subcultures can congeal in particular places and times, mapping them in New York City’s Lower East Side (punk), Greenwich Village (urban folk revival), and South Bronx (early hip hop). Deploying a broad conception of culture, we will cover other art forms (e.g. graffiti and other street art) and social formations. Haight Ashbury (SF) 1960s counterculture, Laurel Canyon (LA) 1970s singer-songwriters, Chicago 1980s post-disco house, and London 1980s post-punk goth will provide complementary case studies. These examples will provide models before students embark on their own to map out a culture of their choice as their final project, using either Google maps or Story Maps. Readings on theories of place and of subcultures will provide blueprints for issues to be explored, including how group identity and a sense of community can be locally constructed and the significance of physical in-person contact in a world of increasingly virtual relationships.
总体来说,优秀的学术活动离不开学生自身的努力和想法、老师的正确引导与规划、还有家长的支持。做学术活动的同时,学生也要了解自己想要申请的学校对于学生的评估更注重活动的哪一个板块,做好院校及专业调研。由此出发来做到发挥长处,弥补短处。
深度活动还是建议学生在自己擅长的领域充分发挥能力,得到认可,这样在申请过程中才会让招生官对个人价值有更清晰的判断。
*内容来自互联网