◎ By Jennifer Delahunty Britz1)
譯/高燕定2)
A few days ago I watched my daughter Madalyn open a thin envelope from one of the five colleges to which she had applied. “Why?” was what she was obviously asking herself as she handed me the letter saying she was waitlisted3)。
Why， indeed? She had taken the toughest courses in her high school and had done well， sat through4) several Saturday mornings taking SAT's and the like， participated in the requisite number of extracurricular5) activities， written a heartfelt and well-phrased essay and even taken the extra step of touring the campus.
She had not， however， been named a National Merit finalist6)， dug a well for a village in Africa， or climbed to the top of Mount Rainier. She is a smart， well-meaning， hard-working girl， but in this day and age of swollen7) applicant pools that are decidedly female， that wasn't enough. The fat acceptance envelope is simply more elusive8) for today's accomplished young women.
I know this well. At my own college these days， we have three applicants for every one we can admit. Just three years ago， it was two to one. Though Kenyon was a men's college until 1969， more than 55 per cent of our applicants are female， a proportion that is steadily increasing. My staff and I carefully read these young women's essays about their passion for poetry， their desire to discover vaccines9) and their conviction10) that they can make the world a better place.
I was once one of those girls applying to college， but that was 30 years ago， when applying to college was only a tad11) more difficult than signing up for a membership at the YMCA12)。 Today， it's a complicated and prolonged run that begins early， and for young women， there is little margin for error： A grade of C in Algebra II/Trig13)? Off to the waitlist you go.
Rest assured14) that admissions officers are not cavalier15) in making their decisions. Last week， the 10 officers at my college sat around a table， 12 hours every day， deliberating16) the applications of hundreds of talented young men and women. While gulping17) down coffee and poring over18) statistics， we heard about a young woman from Kentucky we were not yet ready to admit outright. She was the leader/president/editor/captain/lead actress in every activity in her school. She had taken six advanced placement courses and had been selected for a prestigious state leadership program. In her free time， this whirlwind19) of achievement had accumulated more than 300 hours of community service in four different organizations.
Few of us sitting around the table were as talented and as directed at age 17 as this young woman. Unfortunately， her test scores and grade point average placed her in the middle of our pool. We had to have a debate before we decided to swallow the middling scores and write “admit” next to her name.
Had she been a male applicant， there would have been little， if any， hesitation to admit. The reality is that because young men are rarer， they're more valued applicants. Today， two-thirds of colleges and universities report that they get more female than male applicants， and more than 56 percent of undergraduates nationwide are women. Demographers20) predict that by 2009， only 42 per cent of all baccalaureate21) degrees awarded in the United States will be given to men.
We have told today's young women that the world is their oyster; the problem is， so many of them believed us that the standards for admission to today's most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men. How's that for an un in tended con sequence of the women's liberation movement?
The elephant that looms large in the middle of the room is the importance of gender balance. Should it trump the qualifications of talented young female applicants? At those colleges that have reached what the experts call a “tipping point，” where 60 percent or more of their en rolled students are female， you'll hear a hint of desperation in the voices of admissions officers.
Beyond the availability of dance partners for the winter formal， gender balance matters in ways both large and small on a residential college campus. Once you become decidedly female in enrollment， fewer males and， as it turns out， fewer females find your campus attractive.
What are the consequences of young men discovering that even if they do less， they have more options? And what messages are we sending young women that they must， nearly 25 years after the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment， be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation's top colleges?
In the meantime， I'm sending out waitlist and rejection letters for nearly 3，000 students. Unfortunately， a majority of them will be female， young women just like my daughter. I will linger over letters， remembering individual students I've met， essays I loved， accomplishments I've admired. I know all too well that parents will ache when their talented daughters read the letters and will feel a bolt of anger at the college admissions officers who didn't recognize how special their daughters are.
Yes， of course， these talented young women will all find fine places to attend college—Maddie has four acceptance letters in hand—but it doesn't dilute22) the disappointment they will feel when they receive a rejection or waitlist offer.
I admire the brilliant successes of our daughters. To parents and the students getting thin envelopes， I apologize for the demographic realities.
幾天前，我看到我女兒瑪德琳打開一個薄薄的信封，那是她申請的五所大學中的一所大學的來信。當她把這封將她的名字放在錄取候補名單上的信遞給我時，她明顯在自問“為什么?”
到底是為什么?她選修了她所就讀的高中里開設的最難的課程，并且取得很好的成績;她連續幾個星期六早晨參加SAT等考試;參加了好幾項課外活動;寫出了動人心弦、修辭生動的申請論文;甚至還到幾所學校去看過。
誠然，她沒有當選為國家榮譽學者決勝者，沒有為非洲的農村挖過井，也沒有攀登過瑞尼火山。她確實是個聰明的、懂事的、刻苦的女孩。但是，在這個申請者蜂擁而至的年代，以上的條件無疑地對于女孩來說是絕對不夠的。厚厚的錄取信封對于今天有成就的年輕女性來說更加難以獲得。
我對這一點是太了解了。最近，在我自己的學校里，每 3個申請人中，我們只能錄取一個，而在3年以前，是2：1.雖然凱尼恩學院在1969年以前還是一個男子學校，現在卻有超過55%的申請者是女性，這個比例還在持續增長。我和我的職員們仔細地閱讀這些年輕女性的申請論文：感受到她們對詩歌的激情，對找到疫苗的渴望，以及她們能夠將世界變得更加美好的信念。
我也曾經是個像她們一樣的女孩，我也申請過大學，不過，那是30年前的事情。那時候申請大學只比登記成為一個基督教青年會會員稍稍難一點。如今，申請大學是一件非常復雜的、很早就開始的長跑。對女孩來說，不允許有一點點的差錯：你在代數II及三角函數課上拿了一個C意味著什么呢?意味著你只能排到候補名單上了。
請放心，招生人員絕不是隨隨便便地就做出決定的。上個星期，我們學校的10位招生人員，每天12個小時，齊齊地圍坐在桌子前，從數百位優秀的申請者中小心翼翼地進行篩選。一邊大口地喝著咖啡，一邊認真研究各種統計數據。這會兒，正說到一個來自肯塔基州的女生，我們還沒有痛痛快快地做出錄取的決定。她參加學校的各項活動，身兼領導、主席、編輯、球隊隊長、戲劇主演等等。她選修了6門AP (大學課程，譯者注)，并且被選拔參加州里著名的領導才能培訓項目。在她的課余時間里，她在4個不同的組織里做了超過300個小時的社區服務，使她獲得旋風式的成就。
坐在桌子前面的我們，沒有幾個人在17歲的時候像這位女生那么優秀和那么有定向性的。遺憾的是，她的考試成績和平均學分績點處于所有申請人的中間段。我們不得不進行一場辯論，然后才決定，忍受這個中等的分數，在她的名字旁邊寫下“錄取”。
如果她是一位男生，我們即使猶豫過——如果有的話——也不會那么難決定錄取她。現實的狀況是，男生比較稀罕，他們成了更有價值的申請者。如今，2/3的大學統計報告指出，他們收到的女性申請者多于男性，全美國大學里的女生(本科)超過了56%.人口統計學家預測，到了2009年，美國的學士學位將只有42%是授予男生的。
我們曾經告訴今天的青年女性，世界是你們的，問題是，她們中有那么多人相信我們，然而，今天大多數錄取難度大的大學對于女生來說，錄取難度要大于男生。這難道就是婦女解放運動預期不到的結果嗎?
性別平衡的重要就像把大象放在一間屋子中央那樣不可忽視。難道優秀的女性申請者的素質要屈從于性別平衡?在那些入學女生達到被專家們稱之為“臨界點”的60%的大學里，你從招生官員的談吐中，能夠感覺出絕望。
除了冬季大型舞會的舞伴匱缺外，性別不平衡在住宿大學里有很多大大小小各方面的問題。一旦你的學校女生絕對的多于男生時，不但男生不愿意來，女生也會覺得這個學校沒有吸引力。
當男生們發現，盡管他們付出較少，卻仍有較多的選擇時，將會造成什么樣的后果?在權利平等修正案夭折將近25年以后，難道我們給青年女性發出的信息是，她們必須比男生更有成就，才能與男生一樣，獲得著名大學的錄取?
其間，我正給將近3000位學生發出候補通知和拒絕信。很不幸的是，其中多數是女生，正是像我女兒一樣的年輕女性。我流連在一封封信中，在這些信里，我回憶著我所見過的一個個學生，一份份我喜愛的申請論文，一項項我所欽佩的成就。我非常清楚地知道，在優秀的女兒們讀著這些信的時候，他們的家長將是多么心痛，他們將對招生官員沒有認識到他們女兒們的不平凡而暴怒。
當然，這些優秀的女生最終都將找到不錯的學校入學——瑪德琳手上也已經有了4份錄取通知——不過，這并不能沖淡她們接到拒絕信和候補通知時失望的感覺。
我很欽佩我們的女兒們所取得的輝煌成功。對于接到薄薄的信封的家長和學生們，我為這個人口統計學上的現實向他們道歉。
1. Jennifer Delahunty Britz：本文作者，為美國著名文理學院凱尼恩學院(Kenyon College)的招生院長。
2. 高燕定：1986年旅美，在美國得克薩斯A&M大學任研究儀器專家至今，為獨立升學顧問。熱衷教育研究和考察，深入了解美國教育。20年來，以獨特的視角潛心探究美國教育文化，融合中西方教育思維之優勢，形成自己對精英人才綜合素質培養的獨到見解，本文即摘自他的個人博客 (http://blog.sina.com.cn/m/gaoyanding)。
3. waitlist v. 把……登入申請人名單
4. sit through：一直挺到結束，耐著性子看完(或聽完)
5. extracurricular adj. 課外的，業余的
6. finalist n. 參加決賽的選手
7. swollen adj. 腫脹的
8. elusive adj. 難以捉摸的
9. vaccine n. 疫苗
10. conviction n. 信念
11. tad n. 微量，少量
12. YMCA：Young Men's Christian Association，即基督教青年會
13. Trig：即Trigonometry，[數]三角學，尤其研究三角函數
14. rest assured：放心
15. cavalier adj. 自由自在的，傲慢的
16. deliberate v. 慢慢地考慮，權衡
17. gulp v. 吞，一口吞下
18. pore over：注視，鉆研
19. whirlwind n. 旋風
20. demographer n. 人口統計學家
21. baccalaureate n. <美>學士學位
21. oyster n. [動]牡蠣，蠔
