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　　Congratulations - you’ve just taken the hardest exam of your life thus far. The gaokao makes most American high school exams look like a piece of cake [1]. Three years of intense studying have culminated in these three days: June 7, 8 and 9. Now that you’re done, what’s next?

　　For those of you thinking about applying to college in the United States, be aware that the applications for this year have already passed, and you would be applyingfor the 2009-2010 application cycle[2]. Sometimes, students choose to wait one year between graduating from high school and entering college - this year is called the "gap year". Some students have already been accepted to a university, but choose to spend a year traveling or working. This is quite common among Western students, especially European students.Other students, including a few Chinese students applying to college abroad, take this year to do things they are interested in and simultaneously strengthen their candidate profile to apply to university. However, you won’t be able to relax too much, because there are quite a few things to be done this summer and in the coming fall. The good news is that the US exams are not as intense as the gaokao, although they can be a challenge, especially as regards the writing sections. The not-so-good news is that applying to a US college will require you to engage in a wide array of potentially unfamiliar activities. I will outline these below, but for more specific details, please reference the 给要进入高三的学生的建议 section of our Summer Guide, recently published on our blog. Much of our advice for you will be similar to the advice we offer for students entering 高三， because both you and they plan on applying to college for the 2009-2010 cycle。

　　There are many tasks for you to complete this summer, with some slight differences from what we have recommended for students entering 高三.First, ask your high school teachers for recommendation letters while your student record is still fresh in their minds, because they are the most recent teachers to have taught you. 高三 teachers and/or teachers who have taught you for several years are preferred, but you can ask 高二 teachers as well. If you plan on interning/volunteering over the summer or during your gap year, you can also consider asking someone you are working for to write you a recommendation letter that testifies to your having wisely used your gap year. Second, start your college search if you haven’t already. Begin with an expansive list of all colleges you are even slightly interested in, then prioritize your selection criteria (location, strength of a certain major, etc。) so that you will be able to pare down the list to a final set of schools. Be sure to be in touch with admissions offices over the summer.Third, plan to take or improve your scores on the SAT I and SAT II Subject Tests as soon as possible, if you haven't already. Consult the College Board website for test dates, and remember that if you have not taken any SATs, you will have to sit for the SAT I and three SAT IIs at separate dates. Fourth, start writing your essays, which need to be personal, creative, passionate and philosophy-focused. Take a look at questions from past applications, and read sample essays – all available online. Since you are taking a gap year, it's important to show that you made this time worthwhile, so you should consider writing your essay on an activity that you are continuing or starting this summer and/or gap year。

　　The main rule of thumb [3] for students applying after high school graduation is that you must clearly show in your application that this coming gap year will make you a stronger candidate or competitive universities. It’s not a good idea to make applying to colleges your only activity this coming school year. There is going to be a slew of highly qualified candidates in their last year of high school applying at the same time you are, and you must prove that your extra year has made you a more mature, competitive applicant. Unfortunately, telling colleges that you took a gap year merely because you were busy studying for the gaokao will be considered a poor reason that may even hurt your application. You need to emphasize in a uniform and firm fashion in all aspects of your application that you are taking this gap year to strengthen your application. Starting this summer, you should continue already existing activities or start new ones. However, they should not end with the submission of the application, but rather extend throughout the entire 2009-2010 school year, so that colleges can see that you are productively making use of the year. This is crucial for gap year applicants, and we cannot over-emphasize its importance。

　　So your immediate next step should be to commit to activities! As we have mentioned in previous posts, activities constitute a key, qualitative component of the application, and they can serve to set you apart from the multitudes of academically qualified candidates. You must carefully plan this year to maximize the activities you’ve already committed to and/or engage in refreshing and meaningful yearlong commitments. There is no formulaic requirement for the type of activity – pursue what inspires passion and intellectual curiosity [4] in you, especially since you have an entire school year free to do it! Make sure that there are tangible results and consequences for your activities – if you want to learn Spanish, don’t just self-study and write that on the application. Create your own project, link up [5] with a Spanish cultural center, and produce something that you can show to others. Similarly, if you are going to the Sichuan earthquake site, think about publishing an article about your experiences, or even making a photographic or video documentary, if you have the resources. The possibilities are endless, just take something you love and run with it [6]。

　　As you can see, there are quite a few tasks at hand [7] and ahead of you in this post-gaokao period. Don’t be anxious, however. You still have almost six months before applications are due, and a bit of judicious planning before you launch into the tasks I laid out above will ease the load [8]。

　　Good luck,

　　Kate

　　[1] Idiom: a piece of cake. Explanation: very easy. In this case, we are saying that most American high school exams are easy compared to taking the gaokao。

　　[2] Definition: application cycle. Explanation: A college application cycle is the time period within which one applies for admission to college. In the United States, the cycle usually runs from September to January of the next year; hence this coming cycle will run from September 2009 to January 2010。

　　[3] Idiom: rule of thumb. Explanation: general guideline that is not strictly true for every situation, but is true for most。

　　[4] Definition: intellectual curiosity. Explanation: Intellectual curiosity is the voluntary eagerness and sincere desire to explore a wide range of subjects with an open mind。

　　[5] Idiom: link up. Explanation: partner with, work with. In this case, we encourage you to connect and work with a Spanish cultural center to make the most of your language learning。

　　[6] Idiom: run with it. Explanation: dive into and explore something. In this case, we encourage you to find what you love and go explore your interests。

　　[7] Idiom: at hand. Explanation: immediately in front of you. In this case, tasks at hand refer to tasks that you should work on right now。

　　[8] Idiom: ease the load. Explanation: make something less difficult. In this case, if you plan ahead, you will find it easier to carry out the tasks described above。

　　首先要恭喜你完成了到目前为止最难的考试。和高考相比，美国的高中考试就容易了很多。3年的寒窗苦读经历了6月7、8、9三天的考验。高考结束了，你又有什么计划吗？

　　如果你在考虑申请美国的大学，那么请你务必要明确，今年的申请已经全部截止了，你只能申请2009-2010年度的项目。有时候，学生们选择在高中毕业和上大学之前休学一年，这一年也被称作“间隔年”。有时候，学生们被大学录取了，也会选择休学一年来旅行或者是工作。在西方，这种做法很常见，尤其是在欧洲。另外，一些学生(包括一部分申请国外大学的中国学生)，利用“间隔年”来尝试自己真正感兴趣的事情，同时丰富自己申请大学的资历。但是，在“间隔年”你也不能太过放松，因为你需要在暑假和秋季完成好几件事情。好消息就是，美国的考试和高考比起来，准备量不算太大，虽然写作方面比较有挑战性。不算太好的消息是，申请美国的大学，你需要参与到一系列不太熟悉的活动中去。我回在下面简单的介绍一下这一系列的活动，要是你需要具体的建议，请参见我们之前一篇博客—《2009年暑期指南》中给要进入高三的学生的建议。我给你们的大部分意见和建议都与给要进入高三的学生的意见和建议相同，因为你们都是准备申请2009-2010年度的项目。

　　暑假里，你有好些任务需要完成，有一些任务和我们给要进入高三学生的建议有很小的差异。第一，及时向你高三的老师索要推荐信，因为他们是你最近期内教过你的老师。最好是教过你几年的老师，高二的老师也可以。如果你打算在暑假或者是在“间隔年”期间实习或者是做志愿者，你也可以让你的监督人给你写推荐信，证明你很好的利用了“间隔年”来发展自己。第二，开始收集学校信息。最开始，寻找所有你感兴趣的学校，然后根据你自己的标准(地点、专业等)给学校排序，最后精简你打算申请的学校。别忘了在暑假联系学校的招生办公室。第三，准备 SAT I 和 SAT II 的考试。访问College Board的网站去寻找关于考试时间的信息。如果你还没有参加任何SAT 的考试，你必须在不同的时间参加SAT I 和3门SAT II 的考试。第四，开始为申请写文章。文章要求是个人的、有创意的、有激情的和富有哲理的。在网上找一些历届申请的问题，看一看写作范文。你必须要展示“间隔年”给你带来的价值，所以，可以考虑在作文中写一些你在这个暑假或者是“间隔年”期间做的事情和经历。

　　在高中毕业之后再申请美国学校的学生，有一个普遍的真理：你要努力呈现经历了“间隔年”你成为了一个更有竞争力的申请者。我们不推荐你在“间隔年”就只干申请学校这一件事情。因为同在这一年，也有很多很有实力的高三学生也在申请，你必须向学校展示经历了“间隔年”的你是一个更加成熟、更有竞争力的申请者。如果你告诉学校在“间隔年”里申请，仅仅是因为前一年你主要专注于复习准备高考，可能会不利于对你的申请。你必须在申请的任何方面都展示出你是利用“间隔年”来完善、强化你的申请。在即将到来的暑假，你应该继续已经开始的活动或者开始新的项目。而且，这些活动和项目不要随着申请的结束而结束，而是要持续到整个2009-2010学年度。这样，学校可以看到你充分利用了自己的“间隔年”。这一点对于在“间隔年”申请的学生尤为重要。

　　现在，马上应该做的，就是参加课外活动。我们之前也讨论过了，课外活动是把你和大部分学习成绩好的学生区分开来的决定因素。你应该仔细计划，利用这“间隔年”的时间开展已经开始的活动或是开始新的持续性的活动。对于活动没有什么硬性的要求，只要是能点燃激情和兴趣的活动就可以，尤其是你可以有一年的时间来做自己喜欢做的事情。确保你参加的活动有具体的结果。比如说，你打算学习西班牙语，不要只是自学，然后把学习过程写入申请。独立开创一个项目，与西班牙语文化机构合作，做出一些可以向人展示的成果。类似的，如果你去访问四川大地震的遗址，尝试在杂志上发表你的经历，或是拍摄一些照片或者是录制一段纪录片。你可以做的事情有很多，所以，选择一些你喜欢的，然后就开始行动吧！

　　你也看到了，在高考之后，有好多可以做的事情。不要担心，距离申请截止还有将近6个月的时间，为我提到的以上任务做一个明确的计划，然后就一步步去完成吧。

　　祝你好运

　　王可