对不起，还没时间翻译，先搬过来：
Jenny Hong is a freshman at Stanford University and a CompassPoint branch leader at Palo Alto High School. In high school, Jenny was a president of the Science Olympiad club, a member of the Math Club, treasurer of the Key Club, and an active volunteer peer tutor. Outside of school, Jenny enjoyed serving as a small group leader in her church, biking (especially to Lynbrook High School, which she attended in 9th grade), gardening, reading, and dabbling in her artistic interests, drawing and singing. Jenny is yet unsure of what field she will pursue in college, but no matter what field it is, she has discovered from her experiences in high school a love for research and teaching.
Jenny spent her past two summers working in research in astronomy and energy resources engineering and is thrilled by the opportunity to create knowledge from her environment. ; Jenny’s research experience may have directed her toward the physical sciences, but more recent experiences have led her to keep her interests open to economics, psychology, and linguistics as well, and she hopes to take advantage of Stanford’s many opportunities for interdisciplinary study and research. Jenny hopes to share her joy of learning with those around her through tutoring and other forms of service. As much as she loves to learn, Jenny hopes to use her skills to love people too.
1(a). What misconception do you think most high school students have about college? What about towards life?
I think most high school students have misconceptions about success and that one, in the pursuit of success, can be above or behind the curve.
Many students fall into the trap of building up a definition of success prematurely and sticking to it stubbornly. This isn’t necessarily a fault; it’s more something we do out of habit or even in pursuit of comfort. Going into high school, I had a vague notion of GPAs and SATs and some combination of the two numbers that constituted the definition of success. I soon learned, in particular through my experiences with peers and older students, that this was not the most satisfying meaning of success. Had I stuck to a resume-building algorithm in high school, it may have been within my comfort zone, and I wouldn’t have had to spend time thinking deep thoughts, but I would not have enjoyed the experience as much or given back as sincerely to the community.
Most high school students, or so I hope, don’t live for their resumes, but what is still hard to learn is that less is more. People’s goals may be noble and worthy, but often we are too goal-oriented and are in such a rush to achieve something that we don’t enjoy the journey there. It was hard for me to learn to slow down; it felt unproductive. I felt like I wasn’t extending myself as much as I could. I cut down on all of my activities. In the end, however, I was able to appreciate life more in the moment. For me, the happy times are the ones that seem longest in my memory, because I really take the time to savor them. Many students live too much for the future. It’s healthy to plan and do everything we’re already doing, but it’s dangerous to let life pass by in a blur and always wait for the next checkpoint to begin experiencing life.
Also, in crafting ideas about success, humans in general tend to be self-centered. Naturally, people want to experience life to the fullest and, as the saying and blog title goes, “get more from life.” Sometimes, however, we need to be reminded that we are not the main character. I consider myself to be in a reciprocal relationship with my surroundings; I seek to be as aware as possible of other people, other communities, and the natural world, and I hope that I might give back a fraction of what they have given me. These are great, fluffy words, but in practice, this goes hand in hand with slowing down the pace of life. I think people often underestimate the value of practicing the humility that comes with learning about one’s place in the world.
Fixing all these misconceptions takes practice. I, too, am still learning. I feel that I spent a good portion of my junior and senior years in high school in “detox” mode. It takes a lot of conscious effort to resist the temptation to fall back on what I thought was my peers’ definition of success. Ultimately, there is no one “peer definition of success.” This is more striking in college than in high school. There’s no one track or one mindset. It’s not so much that you shouldn’t compare yourself to your peers, but that such a comparison is impossible. Each person has such a different approach to life, and you really have to craft your own.
1(b). Because of numerous restrictions, I didn’t get the chance to do research in high school even though I am really interested in the science and engineering field. Will this be a liability in my college applications?
First, I’ll just say that many freshmen I know at Stanford who are intending to major in science or engineering have had little to no prior research experience.
To reiterate a point from 1(a), there is not a curve to be above or a formula to follow. There are many different ways to show an interest in science or engineering! High school students are not expected to be accomplished scientists already. Of course, it’s hard to say what admissions officers think as they are reading through applications, but I think of an application as building up from zero, as opposed to a test where you are graded against a standard, and you are dinged for every place where you fall short. Nothing you put on an application should hurt you!
(P. S. Feel free to email me privately if you have specific questions regarding the application process.)
2(a). Given the choice to redo your high school life, what portion of it, if any, would you redo or modify and why? What lessons do you think can be distilled from this?
I personally would have slept more. Good sleep hygiene has so many benefits! But, that’s just one of the largest problems I identified in myself. More generally speaking, I would have taken the time to sort out my priorities. It would have made my high school experience a lot less messy both emotionally and academically, and it would really have helped me allocate time. I was often very caught up just ploughing through work without time to bring some order into it.
2(b). Jenny, what’s your secret to balancing all of your various activities, academic work, and social life now that you’re at Stanford?
First, I don’t have that many activities to balance in the first place; I’m really trying to practice what I preach about doing less (see question 1(a)), and I have found that fewer commitments often means greater learning. Second, I’m only about a month into the college lifestyle, so I’m still in a highly experimental stage.
But as of right now, according to what I’ve learned from my high school experience, I’m trying to get my priorities straight. Sleep is somewhere on top. I often override my own ordering for special cases, but what’s important for me is that there’s a set of rules to violate in the first place. Decision-making can be painful; there are always a hundred thousand awesome things to be doing at any given moment. Having set priorities makes that process easier.
Of course, other organizational tools are useful as well. I keep a planner of scheduled activities for the day (I’ve tried to schedule in homework time, but that hasn’t worked for me so far. I find that I’m more productive if let myself work without a schedule (eg. do math for exactly two hours, then switch to writing a paper)). I also keep a daily to-do list.
3. I am very interested in math and science, but it’s not something I am exceptionally good at. I am better at the humanities, but its not a field that I will dedicate the rest of my life to. I am planning on majoring in some engineering field in college. So my question is what’s going to help you in the long run: talent or passion?
Both will help in the long run, and the one that will help you for longer is the one that lasts longer. Before I explain that seemingly obvious statement, however, I think it’s worth examining your values. What is your goal for the long run? If it’s to pursue something about which you’re passionate, that’s different (though not necessarily mutually exclusive) from trying to rack up a list of achievements, which is also different from simply trying to find a stable career. I hope I’ll help you answer your question by examining aspects of talent and passion, but ultimately it’s up to you to see how they stack up to your values.
Both talent and passion carry with them some forward momentum. We already hear many people motivate students out of the “high school rat race” by telling them to pursue their passions. It’s true that ignoring interests may not lead to the most fulfilling or happiest career path. The risk comes, however, when students end up riding on an emotional high that isn’t necessarily stable in the long term. Talent has its own source of motivation. Amy Chua proposed a “virtuous cycle” in her book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother; success on one task brings satisfaction and therefore motivation for the future, and I think it’s definitely easy to like something you’re good at. There are also many ways to change your attitude toward a given field. I’m excited to hear that you have a direction for a major in mind, but I don’t know what your reasons are.
To reemphasize the point about values, I believe that doing something for the right reasons is more important than finding that “right” field for you. More often, talent and passion don’t conflict but rather work together. Innate talent is hard to measure, since people’s skills in any one area are determined by a combination of nature and nurture, and if you’re passionate in a certain field, you’re more likely to hone your skills in that field. Conversely, innate passion is just as hard to pinpoint. Passion grows together with your skills. The key that ties them together is hard work. It’s great that you’ve been observant enough to notice fields that you may be good at but won’t dedicate the rest of your life to.
Also, get to know other people’s lifestyles. Talk to adults and ask them how they ended up in their fields. Talk to people who aren’t particularly passionate about their job but are still “good” at it. Talk to people who chose passion when it conflicted with their talents. Talk to people who are in between and managed to merge the two. Look at their lifestyles, and learn from those who have gone before you. Do you like talking to people with a particular lifestyle? Is it something you would want to adopt?
Finally, don’t ever feel stuck in a certain direction. Sure, later in life, you might not be able to just change your career on a whim when you have bills to pay and possibly a family to support. But right now, you have so many opportunities before you! Even if you end up regretting a choice you made, there is still time to change. You can change majors, you can change careers, and you can also mold your own passions and talents.
4(a). What advice would you have for people who have a broad range of interests like you do and aren’t quite sure what they really want to do in life? (b). What are some of the things that you’re considering and resources that you’re using, while choosing a major?
Explore! We’re not old yet! In this respect, I’ve been running around having lots of fun. TED talks are always great, but of course I end up liking everything on there. I try to take classes to try out fields, but I can’t take a class in every subject. I enjoy talking with teachers and professors, and I often barge into office hours for classes I’m not taking, just to chat. Going to one-time or otherwise low-commitment seminars and talks is also a great way to explore.
Just as in question 3 above, I think what you do with your life really depends on your values. For instance, in the case of deciding on a major, I had originally made a flow chart for myself. I would pursue major A as long as I could. If it didn’t work out, I would switch to path B, and so on. This works well if you have a very clear and very strong sense of priorities. My Academic Director at school suggested that I instead pursue fields in parallel for my first two years at college. This goes along well with comments I’ve heard from upperclassmen. At Stanford, people are required to declare a major by the end of sophomore year, and many people feel that they had not really gotten to know their interests well enough by sophomore year because they weren’t as bold as they would have liked to have been in exploring courses.
I’m still at the exploration stage of my college career, and I’m sure that if you ask me again next year, I’ll have some more coherent advice. Things fall into place much easier in hindsight, and that’s perhaps a helpful piece of encouragement to keep in mind.
I would like to thank the CompassPoint Mentorship team for giving me this fantastic opportunity to interact with the CompassPoint network. I hope my answers have been enriching, and I encourage everyone to continue asking questions. Feel free to contact me by email at thadelive@gmail.com if there’s anything else I can do for you guys!
Thanks to Jenny Hong (Stanford ‘15) for this fantastic and wise spotlight session! You can reach Jenny via email at thadelive@gmail.com.
| 张苏盟 (2013-06-22 01:54:44) |
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姐姐，我想看你们大学的照片哦。 |