JHU招生官公布的六篇2025届优秀申请文书（四）-新东方前途出国

4、Queen's Gambit

（by Dante）

No, Dante. Stop, think, and look at the entire board.

I was thoroughly confused. I thought I had procured the complete solution to this elaborate chess puzzle. What am I missing? A knight fork, a bishop move? Am I in check? After a quick glance at the left side of the board, I slapped my hand on my head as I suddenly realized what my chess coach was telling me. My queen was sitting unused, positioned all the way on the other side of the board, and I had no idea. If I were to sacrifice my queen, the opposing rook would be forced to capture it, allowing me to finish the game in style with the illustrious “smothered mate.”

If you begin to look at the whole chessboard, then these puzzles will become a breeze for you.

Ever since that chess lesson, those words have stuck. Indeed, my chess skills improved swiftly as my rating flew over the 1000 Elo threshold in a matter of months. However, those words did not merely pertain to chess. Looking at the whole picture became a foundational skill that I have utilized throughout my life in school and other endeavors. I particularly remember making use of it on the soccer field.

Now, I’m no Arnold Schwarzenegger. Weighing in at a monstrous 125 pounds and standing 5 foot 8 inches, my opponents made it a habit to tackle me to the ground. Once again, I found myself face to face with the defender, and before I knew it, I crumbled to the ground, left isolated and dispossessed. Laying dazed on the pitch, my mind flashed back to the chessboard. It occurred to me that soccer, much like chess, relies on the proper position of the many pieces that combine to create a finished strategy. The “whole picture” of soccer is not just how fast or strong one is or how many tackles you put in; that is only one element of the puzzle. The intelligence and creativity needed in a playmaker is also an essential part of a well-rounded soccer team. I realized that my most significant advantage would always be my in-depth understanding of the game of soccer—where to pass the ball, when to make a run, if the ball should be in the air or driven. I picked myself off the ground, and when that same defender came barreling towards me again, I was zoned in, oblivious to the noise around me. I chipped the ball into the open space right behind him, knowing my teammate would run into the space without even looking. From then on, I continued to hone my skills through intense practice to become the best playmaker I could be, working in conjunction with my faster and stronger teammates to become a well-balanced, unified team.

Through chess and soccer, I have discovered that every piece in a puzzle has a purpose. This new perspective has enhanced my ability to stop, stand back, and analyze the whole picture in the many dimensions of my life. In my scientific studies, it was not enough to examine just one C. reinhardtii cell, but it was necessary to zoom out the microscope to capture all of the thousand cells to truly understand quorum sensing and its consequences. In my studies of music, it was not enough to listen to the melody of the finale of Beethoven’s 9th symphony, but one must realize that the true beauty of the composition lies in the whole orchestra handing off this simple melody to every instrument. All these facets—music, research, soccer, chess—are not only completed puzzles but also parts of a greater whole: my life. Every aspect of myself matters as much as the other. As high school comes to an end, the pieces on my board are set, and I only have success in mind.

Your move.

招生官点评：Dante的这篇文章向读者清楚地表明，他非常好奇，并通过展示而非讲述来表达自己的兴趣。他深思熟虑地将他从国际象棋中学到的经验教训与他在足球场上的表现联系起来，并很好地专注于他所学到的东西，而不是对整个国际象棋比赛或足球比赛逐一复述。读者还可以看到Dante可以将他在一门学科中学到的知识应用到另一门学科中，这对于在霍普金斯大学取得学业成功至关重要。我们的招生委员会可以阅读这篇文章，并找到明确的证据表明Dante的思维方式将帮助他在我们的跨学科课程中茁壮成长。

Dante（佛罗里达州）自述：在整个大学申请过程中，“整体形象”始终是一个重点。我从字面上接受了这个建议。我[用这篇文章]作为一种将我的申请中的所有内容联系在一起的方式，给所有内容一个更有意义的目的，而不仅仅是一份课外活动的清单。我想让委员会知道我所做的一切不仅仅是为了填写简历，而是我想向他们展示我所做的一切都是有意义的，并且是全神贯注和努力完成的，以便让自己变得更好。