藤校家族犹太裔Joel的教育圣经
图 |Joel，美籍犹太裔，InGenius Prep 联合创始人兼CEO，达特茅斯学院本科，耶鲁法学院JD
2020年秋季入学的美国名校本科录取陆续发放，少数WaitingList的学生还在苦苦等待，绝大多数学生已经获知了录取和奖学金喜讯，或无情的拒信。
作为一名独立美国留学观察员，张伟用老师在观察、收集、整理各方报出的美国名校录取、尤其是常青藤盟校的本科录取情况，发现每年滑稽的一幕熟悉地再次上演，以在中国开展留学中介/升学指导的机构发布数据做不完全统计，中国学生今年非常“幸运”，上百人获得哈佛大学本科录取，上千人获得哥伦比亚大学本科录取，真是“皆大欢喜”！
然而，残酷的现实是，《麻省理工零录取中国学生，斯坦福取消大陆面试》相关的新闻与讨论，刷爆了朋友圈。
带着这个问题，我请教了好朋友Joel。Joel是美国升学指导机构InGenius Prep 联合创始人兼CEO。Joel是美籍犹太裔，教育世家。Joel的爷爷奶奶、爸爸妈妈、兄弟姐妹7人，全毕业于康奈尔大学本科，且家族多人升读哈佛医学院和达特茅斯塔克商学院。
图 |Joel的藤校家族。从左到右依次是，爸爸-Cornell/UCSF/Harvard；妈妈-Cornell/Harvard；弟弟- Cornell/Dartmouth (Tuck)；妻子Emily- Dartmouth/Yale PhD；Joel – Dartmouth，Yale; 姐姐- Cornell/Harvard; 姐夫- Cornell/Harvard。
书香门第出才子，Joel也不例外，自小受家族影响，学习之路扶摇直上，拥有几近完美的成绩和背景。成长于康奈尔世家，但Joel不走寻常路，当时本科目标直指哈佛。在第二次获得国家级辩论比赛的冠军时，一直顺风顺水、意气风发的少年Joel认为，哈佛大学已经向他敞开大门，甚至连哈佛大学的辩论导师都认为这是板上钉钉的事情。
然而，Joel拆开的却是来自哈佛大学冰冷的拒信，不得已“屈从”了达特茅斯学院，主修政府和地理两个专业，辅修伦理哲学。Joel继续奋发图强，以GPA 3.99的年度“亚军”毕业，荣获Summa Cum Laude；其关于以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突的论文获奖无数，创造了上个世纪政府系论文获奖数量的记录。研究生升学时，Joel顺利斩获包括哈佛大学在内的美国前十法学院所有的录取，但这一次，他放弃哈佛大学，就读于耶鲁大学法学院。
图 |Joel和妻子Emily在达特茅斯学院的毕业照
Joel创办的InGenius Prep，已成为全球顶尖的升学指导机构。福布斯排行榜单Forbes Best Employer Startup 2020，InGenius Prep名列全美第333位；Inc 5000 the Fastest Growing Companies 2019，InGenius Prep在K-12领域排名全美第一。在美国、加拿大、中国和韩国等地设有办公室，InGenius Prep本年度指导学生获得近千份世界名校的录取，其中美国常青藤盟校57份，美国前十名校67份，前十文理学院13份，包括2名哈佛大学，5名普林斯顿大学，8名耶鲁大学，5名斯坦福大学，遗憾的是，0名麻省理工学院。
当张伟用老师问及，InGenius Prep今年指导如此多的优秀学生升学，为何没有麻省理工学院的本科录取，Joel感慨万千，尤为和我强调:”坦率地说，MIT每年录取的中国学生太少，对此我倒不惊讶。但我对他们选拔国际学生的方式有点失望。”今年情况如此特殊，也确实到了总结经验、准备明年再出发的阶段。
于是我邀请Joel做一次访谈直播，和我及《张伟用谈美国留学》的读者朋友们聊聊他的藤校家族故事，分享犹太裔教育圣经，同时，我们也就时下美国留学热点问题做下讨论，并留出一定的时间直接回应学生家长们的关切，Joel欣然应允。欢迎感兴趣的读者朋友们，一起和Joel这位世界顶级升学机构的掌门人聊聊美国留学那些事儿。
本公益分享活动以视频访谈直播的形式进行，免费向《张伟用谈美国留学》的微信群友开放（入群方式见文中）
访谈将通过在线会议室进行
访谈时间：
美东时间 周五6月5日早上9:00
（北京时间 周五6月5日晚上21:00）
咱们准时开聊！
访谈人：张伟用，旅美学者，独立美国留学观察员，中国教育在线国际部驻北美特约编辑
翻译：Yanny老师，2006年留学美国获得MBA学位，任教美国高中近10年，每年指导很多学生进入美国一流大学。女儿小雨点，今年被常春藤盟校中唯一的医学本博连读项目～布朗大学的PLME项目录取。微博：教在麻省，每日更新育儿心得、分享英语学习经验。
藤校家族故事
1、自你爷爷辈开始，你们一家多人入读康奈尔大学本科。能否和我们分享下，你的家族亲友们的精彩故事？
2、为什么你们家族这么多人获得康奈尔大学录取，有什么特殊“门道”吗？
3、你为啥不读康奈尔大学，而选择又偏远又袖珍的达特茅斯学院呢？
4、你愿意谈谈年少时的伤疤吗？哈佛拒了你，对你产生什么影响？时至今日，你觉得未获哈佛录取的原因是什么？对于想上哈佛的同学和家长们，你有什么话想对他们说？
犹太裔教育圣经
1、在我们很多人眼中，犹太人富有、聪明、高知。你作为犹太裔，怎么回应我们的印象？
2、在美国前十大富豪中，犹太裔占据5席，马克·扎克伯格，迈克尔·布隆伯格，拉里-埃里森，拉里·佩奇，谢尔盖·布林。你怎么看待这些人的成功？你认为他们有什么共性吗？
3、我看过一些数据，美国常春藤盟校中有33% 的学生都是犹太学生，还有差不多同样比例的犹太人在名牌大学任教，甚至美国最高法院中有30% 的书记员是犹太人。你怎么看这些数据和现象？
4、犹太裔作为一个族群，有共享的教育准则吗？
5、你们家族的教育理念是什么？如果有传说中的圣经，希望你不惜赐教。
6、请结合犹太裔教育圣经，及这些年InGenius Prep指导中国学生的爬藤经验，给我们中国学生家长画一个美国名校求学路线图吧！我也希望我的孩子们在人生的某个阶段，能去常青藤盟校读书，哈哈。
时下美国留学热点问题
1、回到我们当初的主题，对于《麻省理工零录取中国学生，斯坦福取消大陆面试》相关的新闻与讨论，你有什么评论？
2、麻省理工学院、加州理工学院和斯坦福大学，虽然在名气上不如哈耶普，也都不是常青藤盟校，但依然是很多学生家长的梦想校，尤其是想读理工科的学生们，哈耶普的工科相对太差了。因此，对于我们中国大陆的学生和家长，尤其是在中国大陆就读的学生，如何做，才能提高录取的机会？
3、你毕业于耶鲁大学法学院，却创办了一家教育企业，好像有点不务正业。你为何要这样做呢？
4、你的教育理念及管理理念是什么？如何确保企业成功，员工成功，学生成功，多方共赢？若相关方发生利益冲突，你的处理原则是什么，如何平衡之间的关系？
5、作为一家教育企业，我觉得这只能适合一部分学生。正如哈佛大学，并不适合所有的学生就读。请你从CEO的角度分享下，InGenius Prep适合什么样的学生，适合什么样的家庭？不适合什么样的学生和家长，或者说，你建议什么样的学生家长别找你们？
张伟用老师在美国做研究学者，研究课题是中国留学生在美国的学业与职业发展。通过《美国西部新闻》开设“美国留学”专栏，向世界各地中文读者介绍美国大学情况。欢迎读者朋友们和我交流互动，我很乐意和大家交流美国留学相关疑难问题，帮助大家顺利实现理想的留学计划，也丰富我的研究素材。
本访谈预告的英文版本：
As the 2020 Fall undergraduate admission offers from top U.S. schools continue to be released, a handful of WaitingList students are still waiting, and the vast majority have already been notified of offers and scholarships, or have been mercilessly rejected. As an independent U.S. study abroad observer, Zhang Weiyong collected and compiled the admissions from various parties, especially the undergraduate admissions from Ivy League schools, and found that every year, the comical scene was once again familiar. With incomplete statistics released by the institutions that conduct study abroad agent business / college guidance in China, Chinese students are very lucky with hundreds of them getting admitted into Harvard College and thousands of them getting admitted into Columbia College. However, the harsh reality is that the news and discussion related to “MIT zero admits Chinese students, Stanford cancels China-mainland interview” has burst into the circle of friends.
With this question in mind, I asked my good friend Joel, co-founder and CEO of InGenius Prep, a Jewish-American, educated family with seven family members, grandparents, moms, dads, and siblings, all of whom graduated from Cornell University, then went on to Harvard Medical School and Dartmouth Tuck School of Business. Joel is no exception to this rule, having been influenced by his family since he was a young boy, and has a near-perfect academic record and background. Growing up in the Cornell family, Joel took an unusual path when his undergraduate goals pointed straight to Harvard. In winning his second national debate competition, Joel, the ever smooth and spirited teenager, thought that Harvard had opened doors to him, and even Harvard’s debate mentors thought it was a done deal. Joel, however, unraveled a cold rejection letter from Harvard University and reluctantly accepted Dartmouth College, where he majored in government and geography with a minor in philosophy of ethics, and continued to strive for excellence, graduating as the “runner-up” of the year with a 3.99 GPA, winning Summa Cum Laude; his award-winning dissertation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict set a record for the number of government dissertations won in the last century. InGenius Prep, which Joel founded, has become one of the world’s leading guidance organizations for students longing for top schools. Forbes Top 100 Forbes Best Employer Startup 2020, InGenius Prep ranks No. 333 in the nation; Inc 5000 the Fastest Growing Companies 2019, InGenius Prep ranks No. 1 in the nation in K-12 With offices in the U.S., U.K., Canada, China and South Korea, InGenius Prep has guided students to nearly a thousand offers from world-renowned schools this year, including 57 from Ivy League schools, 67 from the top 10 schools in the U.S., and 13 from the top 10 liberal arts colleges, including 2 from Harvard, 5 from Princeton, 8 from Yale, 5 from Stanford and, sadly, 0 from MIT.
When Zhang Weiyong asked why InGenius Prep, which has guided so many outstanding students to higher education this year, did not have an undergraduate acceptance from MIT, Joel told me: “Honestly MIT is so rare for mainland China that it doesn’t surprise me that much. I would say it’s more like I am disappointed in them for how they select international candidates.” This year was so special, and it did come to the point of taking stock and preparing to go again next year. So I invited Joel to do a live interview with me and the readers to talk about his Ivy School family story and share the Jewish education bible. At the same time, we will also discuss the current hot issues of studying in America, and set aside some time to directly respond to the concerns of parents. Therefore, I have drawn up an outline for this interview, and welcome all interested readers to join me in talking with Joel about studying in the United States.
The Ivy League School Family Story
Since your grandparents, several members of your family have attended Cornell University for undergraduate studies. Can you share with us the wonderful stories of your family and friends?
Why did so many of your family members get accepted to Cornell University, and is there a special “doorway”?
Why don’t you go to Cornell and choose Dartmouth College, which is remote and small?
Would you like to talk about the scars of your youth? How did Harvard’s rejection affect you? To this day, what do you think is the reason for not being accepted to Harvard? What do you have to say to students and parents who want to go to Harvard?
The Jewish Education Bible
In the eyes of many of us, Jews are rich, intelligent, and highly intellectual. How do you, as a Jew, respond to our impressions?
Among the top 10 billionaires in America, Jews hold five seats, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Bloomberg, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin. What do you think about the success of these people? Do you think they have anything in common?
I’ve seen some data that 33% of students at Ivy League schools in the U.S. are Jewish, and there are almost the same percentage of Jews who teach at prestigious universities, and even 30% of clerks on the U.S. Supreme Court are Jewish. What do you think of these data and phenomena?
Is there a shared educational norm for Jews as a community?
What is your family’s educational philosophy? If there is a legendary Bible, I hope you don’t hesitate to enlighten me.
Please combine the Jewish Education Bible, with the experience of guiding Chinese students to apply for Ivy Leagues schools by InGenius Prep over the years, to give us Chinese parents a roadmap to a prestigious American school! I also want my kids to go to an Ivy League school at some point in their lives, ahaha.
Current Hot Issues for Studying in the United States
Returning to our original topic, what do you have to say about the news and discussion related to “MIT zero admits Chinese students, Stanford cancels China-mainland interview”?
MIT, Caltech, and Stanford, while not as prestigious as Harvard, Yale and Princeton as Ivy League schools, are still dream schools for many students and parents, especially those who want to study engineering, which are relatively weak at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. So what can be done for our students and parents, especially those studying in mainland China, to improve their chances of being accepted?
You graduated from Yale Law School but started up an education enterprise that seems not engaged in proper occupation. Why are you doing this?
What is your educational philosophy and management philosophy? How do you ensure business success, employee success, student success, win-win situation for all? If there is a conflict of interest between the parties involved, what are your principles for dealing with it and how do you balance the relationship?
As an educational enterprise, I feel that this can only be appropriate for a portion of students. Like Harvard, it is not for all students. Could you please share from the CEO’s perspective, what kind of students and what kind of families is InGenius Prep suitable for? What kind of students and parents aren’t appropriate, or what kind of students and parents would you suggest not to come to you?
