斯坦福的拒信：大学是人生路上一个简单的纪念碑

早申已经结束，今天留学早规划分享一篇斯坦福招生官理查德·H·肖（Richar H. Shaw）写给被拒绝的学生以及学生家长的信。
希望能引发同学们的思考，真正能够影响我们一生的，并不是你在哪里上的大学，而是在哪里你学到了什么，以及与他人的与众不同之处。
也希望大家今后无论是升学还是就业，都能够淡定从容地面对人生的各种得与失。学历永远都不是衡量一个人的唯一标准。

斯坦福大学全称为小利兰·斯坦福大学（Lelan Stanfor Junior University），在多个世界大学排名当中都位列前五，是美国最知名的高校之一。该校曾诞生过60位诺贝尔奖得主，也因为临近硅谷，诞生过改变世界的顶尖科技企业，例如谷歌、惠普、雅虎、罗技、特斯拉、思科等世界顶级企业的创始人都从这里毕业，并在创业之中受斯坦福帮助颇多。

下面是这封信的英文原文及中文翻译。

THIS AFTERNOON, my office sent out over 34,000 email notifications to high school seniors who applie Regular Decision an were waiting with anticipation to learn whether they woul be invite to spen the next four years at Stanfor.
今天下午，我们斯坦福招生办向3万4千多名递交了常规申请的、期待着在斯坦福度过自己四年大学生涯的高中学生发出了邮件。
Even though I have been in the amission fiel for over 30 years, I still feel quite a bit of pain at the en of this week (as I o each year) about the many exceptional youths who were not offere a space in the class. I also expect that in the following weeks I will hear from parents who are unerstanably istraught that their sons an aughters with top high school class rankings, very high SAT scores an some truly impressive extracurricular accomplishments were enie entry.
即便我已经负责招生工作长达30年之久，在这个周末，我依然为那些没能如愿以偿拿到Offer的年轻人而感到遗憾。同时，我也能预见到很多家长会因为自己的孩子有着十分优异的教育背景，很高的SAT成绩但最终被斯坦福拒绝而感到心烦意乱。
Clearly, I believe that a Stanfor eucation is wonerful, but my experience suggests it’s often parents who are more upset about our amission ecisions than the kis. I can relate to their concerns: I foun myself getting jittery as my own aughter waite for her college application ecisions. But given that toay’s teens alreay have enough pressure in their lives, I wish to impart three creos to these parents.
我一直相信斯坦福的教育水平是无与伦比的。 但我的经验告诉我，当这些孩子被斯坦福拒绝的时候，他们家长会比他们更感到沮丧。我能体会到这些家长的感受。当我的女儿在等待大学的录取决定时，我也曾经紧张和不安。鉴于孩子们已经承受了太多的压力，在这里，我想与所有家长分享三条理念。
First, it’s all relative. While the number amitte into the unergrauate class has remaine unchange for years, Stanfor, like many of its peer schools, has ha a recor number of total applicants – more than 42,000. Regarless of arguments over whether too much preference is given to one category over another, thousans of stuents are going to be turne away, an there is no oubt that the vast majority of them coul have met the emans of a Stanfor eucation. We coul, for instance, have fille incoming classes four or five times over with applicants who achieve grae point averages of 4.0 or greater.
首先，一切都是相对的。虽然每年录取的本科生人数已经保持不变数年之久，斯坦福像他同一级别的其他学校一样，每年会收到超过42000份申请。先不管录取时对申请人资质的侧重和倾向问题，每年都会有数千学生会被无情的拒绝掉。毫无疑问的是， 这些被拒掉的学生中，绝大多数是符合斯坦福的申请要求的。 实际上，有着GPA4.0的申请者的数量是我们实际录取人数四到五倍。
I wish there were a formula to explain who is accepte an who isn’t, but the ecision-making is as much art as it is science. Each class is a symphony with its own istinct composition an soun; the final roster is an effort to create harmony, an that means that some extraorinary bass players on’t get a chair. What’s more, even among my staff there are legitimate ifferences about applicants. The bottom line: The worl is not going to juge anyone negatively because they in’t get into Stanfor or one of our peer institutions.
我也希望有这么一个公式来解释谁能够被录取，谁会被拒掉，但决定是否录取一名学生是一门艺术，而并非科学。 每一个课堂就像一个交响乐团，需要其独特的组合和声音；我们的目的是营造一个和谐而多元的环境，这就意味着额外的贝斯手是没必要的。另外，即便是在我的同事内部，我们也对申请者持有不同的看法和意见。但我想告诉你们的是： 世界不会因为你被斯坦福拒绝了而否定你自己的价值和努力。
Secon, celebrate the bigger picture. Despite the constant meia buzz about the turbulent state of youth toay, most of the applications I reviewe – as well as those reviewe by my colleagues at Stanfor an elsewhere – are truly remarkable. An in most cases, those enie amission to some schools are amitte to others. The transition from high school to college is a monumental turning point, an it’s more important to focus on how a young ault is moving on to a new stage than where that stage happens to be. This is the moment when parents shoul mark the success of their chilren an rejoice in the excitement that the next four years will bring.
▲斯坦福大学的创办者斯坦福一家。曾担任加州州长的铁路大王利兰·斯坦福一世及其妻子创办斯坦福的部分目的是出于几年早夭的儿子利兰·斯坦福二世
其次 ， 看得长远一些 。即使现在的媒体称现在的年轻人是垮掉的一代，就我所审核的这些申请斯坦福的年轻人来看，他们是无与伦比的出色。 通常来说，这些被我们拒绝的学生最终会被其他同一级别的大学录取。 从高中升入大学，是人生的一个重要的里程碑。对于年轻人来说，如何完成这个转变而从此走上人生新的阶段要比在哪里完成重要得多。在这个时候，家长们需要注重自己孩子取得的成就以及享受他大学四年中带来的惊喜。
An that leas to my final point: Eucation is what a stuent makes of it. Of course, certain schools have resources that others on’t, but they all offer opportunities to learnan to grow.
这就要提到我要说的最后一点上了： 教育成就人 。不可否认， 不同的大学之间教育资源的差距是存在的，但他们都能给予学生学习和成长的资源和空间。
I am remine of a teenager grauating high school in Sunnyvale, Calif., in 1975, who applie to only Stanfor an one other school. He was unerstanably isappointe when enie amission here, but he later excelle as an unergrauate at the istinguishe university across San Francisco Bay, UC Berkeley.
这让我想起了1975年加州Sunnyvale的一名高中毕业生。他申请了斯坦福和另外一所学校。当他得知被斯坦福拒绝之后十分沮丧，但后来他却被另一所名校，加州大学伯克利录取了。
He went on to earn a octorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology an to become a research scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington an an ajunct professor at Johns Hopkins. In 2003, he joine the Stanfor University School of Meicine an was the co‐winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or meicine in 2006.
他后来在MIT完成了他的博士学位，随后成为了华盛顿的卡内基学院的研究员和约翰霍普金斯大学的教授。2003年，他加入了斯坦福的医学院，并在2006年获得了诺贝尔奖。
Anrew Fire is not atypical when it comes to Stanfor applicants. Nor for that matter is John Etchemeny, the Stanfor provost an philosophy professor who also was enie amission as an unergrauate. Nor are any of the thousans of others who aren’t accepte to Stanfor an go on to have fulfilling lives.
Anrew Fire在当年申请斯坦福的学生中，并没有什么过人之处。现在的斯坦福哲学教授John Etchemeny当初也没能拿到斯坦福本科的offer。实际上， 他们和所有被斯坦福拒绝过，但仍然取得了辉煌的人生成就的人一样。
An unergrauate egree from Stanfor, or an Ivy League college, may well en up being only one line at the bottom of a resume. What parents an college applicants across the country nee to remember is that the news they receive, whether goo or ba, is but a single step on a much longer journey.
一个斯坦福的本科学位，亦或是任何一所常青藤盟校的本科学位，在漫长的岁月中只会成为你简历中的最不起眼的一行字而已。所有正在申请大学的学生和家长应该懂得的是， 不论你是被录取了还是拒绝了，进入大学，相对于慢慢人生路来说，只是一个简单的纪念碑。
最后，祝大家在申请季都取得理想的结果！