虽然美国大学留学的录取结果是通过综合考量GPA、标准化考试成绩、以及课外活动等方面，但申请综合排名前50的大学，美国留学文书Essay始终是制胜环节。除了Common Application系统要求的两篇Essay保持不变以外，各学校的Essay题目历年都会有所变化。可无论怎么变，都无外乎几种主要类型。本文对一些常见Essay Topic进行了分类，并将每一类的写作思路和选材角度做了详细介绍。

　　申请美国达特茅斯学院的Essay范例7：Artist - Me

　　by Anonymous - February 10, 2007

　　Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

　　Eyes fixed upon the image in front of her, brows slightly furrowed, the girl appeared to be lost in thought. While the others walked on after stopping brily bore the piece, she stood there with her feet glued to the spot. I watched the girl from behind one of the tall white grids on which dozens of frames were suspended in the cafeteria. My eyes traveled from her face to the painting she was looking at, and finally to the tiny card beside it: Title – Colors of Freedom; Media – watercolor and ink; Artist – me.

　　There hung the painting I had poured my heart into, my very own masterpiece. Smiling to myself, I couldn’t help but feel immensely proud, not because the piece was featured in the school’s senior art show but because I knew that it was entirely and uniquely my own, that I gave life to it and therore, no matter where it went, it could never be taken from me.

　　I have loved art for as long as I can remember. My family’s old furniture and my father’s books were my first canvasses, to which the scribbles that cover these objects still attest. When other children abandoned their coloring books for Barbie dolls and baseball bats, I was the one always sitting inside during recess, letting my imagination run wild onto the pages of my sketchbook. As I grew older, immersing myself in the world of my own creation became the perfect antidote for a bad test score or a fight with a friend. Over the course of my life, art has become irretrievably a part of my identity.

　　For me, the most exhilarating thing about art is the process of creation. When I sat down to begin what was to become my featured piece in the show, I felt both eager and curious – knowing that the blank sheet bore me would soon be transformed into something beautiful, yet not knowing what it would look like. My excitement grew as my pencil danced lightly over the roughness of the paper. Then, a moment of fearlessness, as the first streak of color shattered the pallor of the page. Experimentation ensued; sprinkling salt crystals onto wet paint yielded surprisingly satisfying results. The rest of the brushstrokes were laid down with care, threads of ink offered the finishing touch, and at last – something unlike anything else in the world: a portion of my soul, contained within an 11 by 18 sheet of paper, and on display for all to see.

　　At that thought, my mind snapped back to reality. To my surprise, another minute must have passed and the girl was still staring at my painting. “Hey, are you alright?” I walked over cautiously and asked.

　　“Yes,” the girl replied. “Are you the artist?” I nodded and noticed her now smiling mysteriously, not at me but at my painting, as if she knew something that I did not. “Thank you,” she said quietly, turned around and vanished into the crowd.

　　I was lt there in the cafeteria, dumbfounded and speechless, surrounded by a multitude of other students yet feeling quite alone. I didn’t know who she was, if she was in my grade or even went to my school, for I never saw her again. I didn’t know what it was about my painting that had moved her or why she thanked me, for I never had the chance to ask. But what I did learn that day was this: my art wasn’t merely something that fulfilled my own passion; it had the capacity to touch the heart of a complete stranger. Art might begin from within, but it is the connection it makes with the outside world that is perhaps the most beautiful thing of all.

　　面临着大批的申请者，招生委员会是如何快速有效的筛选出优秀的申请者呢?当然，他们无非是看申请者的硬件及软件。所谓硬件，是指申请者自身的高中学校背景(包括高中各科成绩)和标准化考试成绩(TOEFL/ IELTS/SAT等语言考试)。软件则是指申请者的推荐人，推荐信内容，主essay，简历和所申请学校的命题小essay。想要了解更多关于“美国本科留学文书”的信息，请拨打免费留学热线：400-601-0022，或者直接点击网页上的“在线咨询”，与我们的留学专家一对一沟通交流!

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