During my years as an admissions dean, I recruited and enrolled thousands of international students. In working with these students, three questions repeatedly came up during the application process.
在我担任招生主任的这些年里，我招募并招收了数千名国际学生。在与这些学生的合作中，在申请过程中反复出现了三个问题。
Students frequently wanted to know how to tell if their undergraduate degrees from institutions in their home countries were equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree. Another common question was how they could convert a GPA to the 4.0 scale commonly used in the U.S.Students also expressed concerns about how they should approach the standardized test required for the graduate program to which they were applying.Below are answers to these common application questions from prospective international graduate students. 学生们经常想知道如何分辨他们本国的本科学位是否等同于美国的学士学位。另一个常见的问题是，他们如何将GPA转换为美国常用的4.0级，学生们也表达了他们应该如何参加他们申请的研究生项目所要求的标准化考试的问题。以下是来自未来国际研究生的常见应用问题的答案。
问题一：如何确定学术等效性?How is academic equivalency determined? If you received your bachelor's degree outside the United States, an evaluation will be performed by the admissions office to confirm that you have earned the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree.In some cases, you are asked to apply before an evaluation of your educational credentials is conducted. In other cases, an evaluation is required before you apply. Clear guidelines about what constitutes academic equivalency are provided in the application section of a program's admissions website.If you disagree with the decision by the admissions office, let the staff know you believe you have an extenuating circumstance that merits special consideration.Put your request in writing as a short inquiry, but include all the facts and thank the admissions office for taking the time to consider your situation. Offer to provide any additional information, and make it clear that you will abide by the decision.For example, if the institution to which you are applying requires four years of college work following high school and you have a three-year degree, but took additional course work, conducted additional research and received high academic honors, you might consider asking for your situation to be given special consideration.But understand that arguing about an equivalency determination you believe is unfair or does not take into account your particular situation will only make matters worse. Students who argue with and badger the admissions director to make exceptions end up drawing negative attention to themselves. 1.如果你在美国以外的地方获得学士学位，招生办公室会对你进行评估，以确认你获得了相当于美国学士学位的学位。在某些情况下，你被要求在评估你的教育证书之前申请。在其他情况下，在申请之前需要进行评估。在一个项目的招生网站的申请部分，提供了关于什么是学术等效的明确准则。如果你不同意招生办公室的决定，让员工知道你认为你有一个值得特别考虑的情有可原的情况。以书面形式提出你的要求，作为简短的调查，但要包括所有的事实，并感谢招生办公室花时间考虑你的情况。提供任何额外的信息，并明确表示你将遵守这个决定。例如，如果你申请的学校需要四年的大学学习，你有一个三年的学位，但是你需要额外的课程，进行额外的研究，并且获得很高的学术荣誉，你可以考虑要求你的情况给予特别的考虑。但是，你要明白，如果你认为你所认为的等价决定是不公平的，或者没有考虑到你的特殊情况，那只会让事情变得更糟。那些与招生办争论不休的学生们会对自己产生负面的关注。
问题二：绩点如何转换成美国的成绩? How is GPA converted to a U.S. scale? Each admissions office has a procedure for "converting" an academic record from an international college or university into the equivalent GPA at the graduate school to which applications are being submitted.The procedure for doing this is set, and based on my experience, is never altered or changed. No exceptions are made. However, there are steps you can take to ensure that your GPA will be accurately converted.Send transcripts for all undergraduate work with your application. If you took course work at two other institutions before enrolling at the institution from which you received your bachelor's degree, you should submit three transcripts in total.Do not provide your own GPA calculation. Rest assured that admissions directors and committees are as diligent about this part of the application process as they are all other parts.At the start of each academic term, the admissions director is usually asked to provide demographic and academic information for the incoming class. In order to provide accurate information, he or she will be very careful about the conversion of international GPAs. 每一个招生办都有一个程序，将一个国际学院或大学的学术记录“转换”为研究生院的同等GPA并提交申请。这样做的过程是确定的，根据我的经验，不会改变或改变。无一例外。然而，你可以采取一些步骤来确保你的GPA能被准确地转换。在你的申请中，给所有本科生发送成绩单。如果你在获得学士学位之前在另外两家机构上过课程，你应该总共提交三份成绩单。不要提供你自己的GPA计算。请放心，招生主任和委员会对申请过程的这一部分都很勤奋，因为他们都是其他的部分。在每个学期开始时，招生主任通常被要求为即将入学的学生提供人口和学术信息。为了提供准确的信息，他或她将非常谨慎地对待国际通用的转换。
问题三：我应该提交多少种标准化考试成绩? How many standardized test scores should I submit? In addition to demonstrating one's ability to communicate well in English, all applicants, including international students, will have to submit standardized test scores. Depending on the program to which you are applying, you will take the GRE, GMAT, LSAT or Medical College Admission Test, known as the MCAT.Taking the test twice or three times indicates that you are making every effort to provide the best application you can. Taking it more than three times looks desperate, and that does not help.If the admissions committee is genuinely looking for the best students, it will evaluate your application in its entirety and will not place undue emphasis on your test scores. During my years at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, Northwestern University and Columbia University, the range of test scores for the applicants I admitted was quite large, because I found that test scores alone do not predict success as a graduate school student.Communication skills, motivation, initiative, hard work and working well with others – along with academic ability – are, in my experience, much better predictors of success. 除了证明一个人能用英语进行良好的沟通之外，所有的申请者，包括国际学生，都必须提交标准化的考试成绩。根据你申请的项目，你将参加GRE、GMAT、LSAT或医学院入学考试，即MCAT。进行两次或三次测试表明您正在尽一切努力提供最好的申请。超过三倍的时间看起来很绝望，这也无济于事。如果招生委员会真的在寻找最好的学生，它会全面评估你的申请，不会过分强调你的考试成绩。在我就读于芝加哥大学布斯商学院、西北大学和哥伦比亚大学的这些年里，我所承认的申请者的考试成绩范围相当大，因为我发现，单凭考试成绩并不能预测研究生的成功。在我的经验中，沟通能力、动力、主动性、勤奋和与他人良好合作——以及学术能力——都能更好地预测成功。
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