錄取通知到手後，我將何去何從? Now That I've Been Accepted, Where Should I Go?

01-29

首先，向那些被各個大學爭相錄取的幸運兒們獻上我最誠摯的祝賀！恭喜，接下來就是你們該挑選學校的時候了，讓別人羨慕嫉妒恨去吧。

即使身為美國本地學生，選擇大學也是一件人生大事。許多聰明的同學會同時做網上調查、聯繫大學校友然後親自參觀校園，以此定下自己的最終目標。

但是美國大學對中國學生來說通常是陌生的，因為中國的學生沒有足夠多的渠道去獲取信息。所以知乎上提問是個不錯的選擇。順便一提，到目前為止，我被問到最多的問題就是「在大學A、B、C中，哪個大學的XX（工程/金融/生物/...）專業最好？」

哪個大學擁有最強勢的XX專業？

總體來說，這是個好問題。因為問這個問題的同學們把上大學當做對將來職業生涯的投資，而不是抱著「我成年啦，該去上大學啦」這種走過場的心態去的。但是，對於這個問題的答案實際上是非常主觀而帶有個人色彩的。每一個專業都有其排名，但是這些排名把考試分數、平時成績、畢業率、給學生的個體投資等因素統統算在內，而不僅是比較學校間的教學質量和就職準備水平。（我在「美國人心目中的美國大學排名是怎樣的? 」中提到過學校排名中存在的一些缺陷。）

我認為比較合理的判斷標準則是：你先把你畢業後的目標列出來，然後再看看那些學校有多少畢業生達到了你的目標。比如你將來相當醫生、律師、新聞記者或者企業家，那你就研究下那些學校分別有多少人本科畢業後去了約翰霍普金斯醫學院、哈佛大學法學院、紐約時報或者是Y Combinator。

為什麼我會覺得這樣權衡比較好呢？因為它直觀地展示了學生們的成就，而非中間的過程。舉個形象點的例子，如果你要跑一場馬拉松，並且你決定選一個最好的健身房供你鍛煉。你會如何選擇「最好的」健身房？是根據健身器械的種類排名嗎？是取決於它有多少台平板卧推架嗎？是去關注它有多少新入的會員嗎？還是參考裡面健身成員的平均薪水？……這些問題都是浮雲。如果是我的話，我就會關注那些最強的馬拉松運動員通常都去哪個健身房；或者看哪個健身房出過最好的馬拉松運動員。

但其實關於如何衡量學生們的畢業後成就，並沒有一個恆定的標準。我一般會直接調查校友的信息。我見過的最棒的查詢校友的工具就是LinkedIn公司開發的 Alumni Tool了！

www.linkedin.com/alumni

在LinkedIn Alumni上面，你能查到：

各個學校的哪個專業領域最受歡迎
各個學校的學生們畢業之後都去了哪些公司工作

這個網站精確地向我們展示了各個大學幫助他們的學生達到他們的目標的能力，非常實用。不同學校都有各自的網路，把畢業生們送往各行各業。

但是有件事你一定要明白：即使你去了哈佛，你也須得靠自身的努力才能成功——學校的名氣再大，也不過是刷牆前凃的那片膩子罷了。

當我挑學校時，我談些什麼

除了考慮以上說的校友成就，我還有另外幾個評估準則。

1. 經費問題

當我申請大學時，我聽到過的最有用的一條建議就是：除非必要，盡量不要申請學生貸款。在錄取我的那幾個大學之中，有一個學習的經費是我的家庭能負擔得起的，而其他幾所學校的費用則要貴出五倍左右。儘管理論上講越貴的學校會越好，但是他們的產出價值真的值得起我付的學費嗎？我是這麼想的：就算那些學費較高的學校要比學費便宜的學校要好，但是他們的質量會比後者好出五倍嗎？我看不是。事實上就在我做出最終決定之後，我的內心還是會在那些名氣好的學校中搖擺不定。但當我從大學畢業之後，我的想法改變了：我意識到挑一個好專業可比挑個好學校重要得多。

2. 學術課程

鑒於挑選一個正確的專業比挑一個名校帶給你的基礎工資要多得多，我會挑一個發展中的領域作為專業。而且，根據我的以往經驗（好的教學必須要有好的老師）我會著重挑選有特殊資源或者有名師的課程。比如說，如果你對研究感興趣，你可以去查找一下高引用指數（h-index)較高的教師 (去美國讀研究生，是選擇專業排名靠前還是綜合排名靠前的學校?)；如果你想學商科，就去查查那些經營著成功企業的教授。

3. 食物

雖然學校的自助餐廳看上去乏善可陳，但是如果三餐進食垃圾食品將會毀掉你的身體。我聽見中國學生抱怨最多的就是吃飯的問題了。這要看你能不能接受一日三餐都是麥片、沙拉、披薩、意粉、肉類和乳酪。如果你連中國的美式食品都吃不慣，那你就得考慮挑一個允許學生做飯的學校（會很花時間）或者是周邊游正宗中餐館的學校了（會很貴）。

4. 日常生活

其他要考慮的因素還包括校園生活和交通問題。比如：學校里有其他中國學生嗎？如果我想出校園逛逛是否需要買車？如果我真的得買車，有沒有固定的停車位？停車證要多少錢？做公交車方便嗎？附近有無地鐵站？哪有購物的地方？銀行在哪？離我最近的醫院在哪？

當我入學後，我談些什麼

這裡是我給新生們提的一些建議：

去美國留學，要注意什麼？

剛上美國本科如何主動交一些本地的朋友？日常的口語在去之前如何提高？

其他資源

IntroAmerica IntroAmerica 中文版

這個網站上有大量關於如何申請和入學的文章，值得一看。

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(Thank you @Sato for this awesome translation!)

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Congratulations on being accepted to several great colleges! And welcome to the enviable challenge of choosing one and rejecting the rest.

This is a pretty daunting decision even for American students. Most prospective students use a combination of online research, talking with current students and campus visits to help them make their decision.

But its hard for Chinese students to come by these resources, so asking 知乎 isnt a bad place to start.

By far, the question that I get asked the most is, "Between School A, School B and School C, which one is better in the _______ (engineering/finance/biology/etc) field?"

Which school is the best in X field?

Overall, I think this is a great question because it frames college in terms of an investment towards a career, rather than a rite of passage. The problem is that a good answer to this question is actually very subjective. There are rankings for each field; but the rankings compare test scores, GPAs, graduation rates, the money spent on each student, etc., instead of the quality of education and the level of preparation for the workplace. (I mention some of the weaknesses of school rankings in my answer to 美國人心目中的美國大學排名是怎樣的?)

I think a much better metric is to pick a post-graduation goal and measure how many of each schools alumni have achieved your goal. For example, if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, journalist or entrepreneur, then how many graduates from each school went on to John Hopkins Medical School, Harvard Law School, The New York Times or Y Combinator, respectively?

Why do I think this is a better metric? Because it measures achievement rather than process. As an analogy, if your goal was to run a marathon and you wanted to pick the best gym to help you, how would you decide? Would you base your decision on some generic ranking of the facilities? How many bench presses? How many new gym members? The average income of gym members? A lot of those numbers are fluff. Personally, I would look for the gym that the best marathon runners train at, or conversely, which gym produces the best marathon runners.

While theres no standard metric for measuring post-graduation achievement, I like to research the schools alumni. The coolest tool Ive found for checking a schools alumni network is LinkedIns Alumni Tool.

www.linkedin.com/alumni

On LinkedIn Alumni, you can see

Which fields are popular at each school
Which companies or graduate schools the students move on to

This is an amazing tool for measuring how effective each school is at propelling its students toward different goals. Different schools have networks set up to easily transition graduates into a field or a company.

Whats important to keep in mind is that even if you go to Harvard, its your individual effort that counts. The schools reputation only sets the first impression.

How would Brian pick a school?

Besides looking at the achievements of a schools alumni, I also have some general guidelines that I think about.

1. Cost

The best advice I received when applying to college was to avoid taking a loan for college unless I absolutely had to. Out of the schools that accepted me, one was affordable on our familys income and the others were five times as expensive. Although the more expensive schools were supposedly better, was the value worth the cost? I reasoned that even if the other schools were better, they probably werent five times better. Even after I made my decision, it was still hard to reject the more prestigious choices. But after graduating from college, I realized that, in terms of salary, picking the right major was much more important than picking the right school.

2. Academic Programs

Since your major affects your entry-level salary much more than the name of your school, Id focus on picking a major in a growing field. Also, since the best education Ive received has generally been from individually amazing teachers, Id look for academic programs with special resources or teachers who have won awards. For example, if youre interested in research, then look for professors with high h-index values (去美國讀研究生，是選擇專業排名靠前還是綜合排名靠前的學校?); if youre interested in business, look for professors with their own successful companies.

3. Food

Although this criteria may seem superficial, bad food can ruin your day 3 times a day. Food is the number one complaint I hear from Chinese students. Only you know whether you can handle a daily diet of cereal, salad, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, meat and cheese. If you dont even like the "American" food in China, then youll want to pick a school that lets you cook (time-consuming) or is surrounded by authentic Chinese restaurants (expensive).

4. Everyday Life

The other factors to consider generally involve campus life and transportation. Are there other Chinese students? Do I need a car if I want to leave campus? If I do need a car, is there long-term parking? How expensive is a parking pass? How convenient are the buses? Is there a metro/subway station nearby? How do I go shopping? How do I get to the bank? How do I get to the nearest hospital?

What Do I Do Once Im At School?

Ive also written suggestions for new students,

去美國留學，要注意什麼？
剛上美國本科如何主動交一些本地的朋友？日常的口語在去之前如何提高？

Other Resources

IntroAmerica http://www.introamerica.cn/cn/ is a pretty cool site with tons of articles about applying to and attending American schools.