3.3 Concrete

　　在与美国人的交谈中，我们发现，他们最喜欢用的是for example。只要看到对方有些疑惑，就会说Let me give you an example。既然签证官会认同具体的说话方式，签证时就需要尽量用具体的事例、数字来打动、说服签证官。

　　1.What is Concrete?

　　Concrete就是具体、详细地说明自己的理由，让签证官能够在十几秒钟之内感觉到你的实实在在的去美国学习并学成之后一定回国的前因后果。每个人都有共性和个性，共性不足以构成说服签证官you are qualified的理由，所以，要说服签证官，给“你”签证，就要具体地说出自己的特点、自己的背景和自己的归国理由，以个性来征服签证官。

　　什么是个性？诸如我们从不同的学校毕业，我们将去不同的学校，我们所学的专业不同，专业的应用领域也不同；我们的社会背景不同，父母的职业不同；我们在中国所参与的研究项目不同，导师不同；我们个人的社会关系不同，我们有的有家族产业，有的有亲戚在大型的公司掌权，有的则和导师关系非常好，将毫不费力地得到导师的鼎力推荐；我们所受的资助形式不同，可能是全奖，可能是单位资助，可能是父母资助，也可能是完全靠自己早些年的工资积累。

　　发掘自己的与众不同之处，而不是人云亦云。只有个性才能为你申辩，告诉签证官，即使有90%的中国人留在美国了，你也只可能属于那10%，因为你是不同的，你不断地引用的具体内容说明“你”有你独特的理由回国。

　　2.What should be Concrete?

　　在向签证官阐明你的学习目的、赴美计划、选择学校和专业的原因和“绝对没有移民倾向”而必然回国的理由时，一定要非常具体、非常仔细地说明个人之所以一定回国的特定原因。细节非常重要，Concrete要具体到专业、课题、研究细节以及国内的市场机会、人才价值。

　　a)出国理由

　　在这个问题上，仅仅所谓的“中美技术差距”是不够的。在很多科学与工程的研究领域，中国都落后于美国，而且相关市场会有很大的潜力。但只有量体裁衣的个人设计才能让签证官看到面前的你，不仅是一个“签证申请者”，而是一个特定的具体可感的有追求有前途的青年知识分子。

　　看看下面这个例子：

　　Q：Why do you want to pursue a doctor's degree?

　　Answer 1：The challenges I met and the success I achieved have not only endowed me with confidence but also rendered my realization that what I have learned is still far from enough to conduct research in depth, and spontaneously fired up my desire for pursuing a doctor’s degree.

　　Answer 2：In my research area, only the doctor’s degree can help me achieve my career goal. As a master student, I put what I have learned into applications in the field of RoboCup Simulation. My team has won both national champion and world 2nd place in 2002. (Showing certificate to VO) Since this contest is the test bed of multi-agent systems, my research result shows its feasibility and effectiveness under the simulation environment. But if I want turn it into real applications, my knowledge is far from enough. CMU is the initiator of RoboCup and won world champions many times in nearly all the leagues of RoboCup. So I want to pursue a doctor’s degree in CMU in order to achieve my career goal. (See 14 as reference)

　　Answer1是一个复杂句，用了不少花哨的词汇和表达，但读起来感觉完全没有内容。相对的，Answer 2说得更具体，把自己参加RoboCup Simulation的经历说出来，把自己的专业融入其中，说得非常professional，很容易获得对方的好感。

　　b)归国计划

　　先看下面的例子：

　　【归国计划 1】：I will come back to be a researcher in some high technical companies. First of all, I want to do technology localization for my life-long career. As for technology localization, persons with international technical education background and local custom will be in essential demand. Second, I’m a Chinese and my family is here in China. A high salary cannot buy me a family. To be with my family and my parents is always on my mind. Finally, China is my motherland. I want not only high salary, but also high social position. It will be much easier for me to achieve a high social position in China.

　　【归国计划 2】：I will find a position in one of the power electronic research centers and act as a media of the academic research and the industry application. My studying abroad is just a preface of my career plan in China. My ambition is in the application of electronic packaging in the electric power industry. At the very time of my graduation, there will be a large newborn market for power electronic packaging models in China. The great demand is generally created by San Xia Power Project, the national power generation and supply program. Of course I will not let go this precious opportunity. Let me explain in detail. Power electronic packaging is the key point in transmission, especially for a super high power. In 2009, San Xia will start to generate Electric Power and transmit it through a long way to the east coast, for example, Shanghai City. It will generate a large profit market for power electronic devices up to 2000 million RMB. This will stimulate a large investment in research.

　　对比之下，计划1所说的虽然都是实话，而且这很有可能就是你要回国的真实理由，但是，计划1的失败在于它只讲了共性，你可以说，别人也可以说，你可以过的话，别人为什么不过？如果一个中国人真正就会因为这些东西而回来，那么为何90%的学生签证获得者滞留美国？

　　计划2扎扎实实找一个大环境，找一个有利可图的方向，说细致、说清楚，而具体做什么不重要了。自然而然说下去，该做什么就做什么，professor、researcher、technical specialist都可以，顺其自然就好，就能让人信了。去学这个东西，是因为中国有很多地方需要而在中国，却没有一个大学可以提供满意的高等教育，所以选择了美国。出去，就是为了回来，因这个方向就是能够解决中国的问题的。如果没有strong tie、弥补的方式，第一是说明你搞的东西在中国市场的好，我怎么着都能比在美国混的强；第二，就是你对未来做了详细打算、翔实调查。如做faculty的了解系里招收归国Ph.D.的政策和程序，选择工作的了解几个你将要去的单位的特点、规模、录取人员的水平和背景。上公司网页，甚至打电话与人事经理聊一聊career path以及salary等问题，掌握第一手翔实资料，把虚的plan变成实在的计划。这也是一种对自己未来负责任的态度。

　　3. How can I be Concrete?

　　Concrete我们提出3个标准：(1)第2个人说得出来不？不要让第二人说出同样的话来；(2)涉及到具体专业细节没有？要对自己未来的方向(即使现在只是比较感兴趣)多一些了解；(3)我用形容词没有？不要只依靠形容词去丰富自己的语言。

　　举两个例子，请大家自己去体会如何做到concrete：

　　【例1】：

　　VO: Why you won't work in the United States?

　　Me: The power industry in the US is different from that in China. In America, ever since the early 90s, its power system network got to a stable size. No new power station would be built in the States, so the market for XXX is not and will not be in the States. But in China…

　　【例2】：

　　VO: How did you know this university?

　　Me: Prof XX in my current lab was a visiting scholar from Duke. He highly recommended it to me. I kept myself updated on this university and gradually found it's the best match for me.

　　4. Attention for some mistakes?

　　Concrete可不是“事无巨细”，而是应该“点到为止”(可以参考下面的Concise原则)。事例要精简，而且要说得有艺术，让人愿意听下去，尽量避免被签证官打断。所以，浓缩事例成为签证准备的一个关键的工作。

　　Concrete也不是任何事例都拿来用，要以自己为中心。还是那句话，追求个性，以自己为出发点去找寻具体之处。