To all you high school seniors mentally kicking yourselves because you didn't apply early to college and now have to endure months of nail biting, here's some good news:
对于所有没有申请大学预科而内心挣扎的同学，在接下来的几个月里会很痛苦，但是下面就是不申请预科的优点：
Research suggests you could end up getting more financial aid than those who committed early to college. And 10 years from now, you could very well be happier with whatever college choice you ended up making.
Of course, the data clearly show that applicants who apply early to college are more likely to get acceptance letters.
研究调查表明普通申请的学生得到的奖学金比申请预科的学生多。
当然数据明显地显示出提前申请大学的学生更容易被录取。并且很多学校为学生提供了EA申请来代替约束性的ED申请——限制申请学生在高三的秋天就决定去一所学校，EA申请可以允许申请人申请多所学校。
But experts who've studied the ins and outs of college admissions say that the relief and other advantages of restrictive "early decision" applications comes at a price for late bloomers, those who need aid to pay for college and several other kinds of students. In fact, they say, there are six kinds of students who shouldn't apply early decision:
但是研究过大学申请的专家说约束性的ED对于潜力大的学生来说有很多优势，需要大学助学金的学生和其他几类学生，实际上是不适合申请ED的。
1. Obviously under-qualified. Research by Christopher Avery, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, found that applying early only gave a slight edge to students whose test scores, grades, and other qualifications were slightly below the college's average. Significantly underqualified students were rejected no matter when they applied.
1. 资历不够的学生：哈佛大学甘乃迪政府学院的一个教授Christopher Avery做了调查显示申请预科对于分数以及其他方面的素质较低的学生来说优势并不明显，资历很差的学生不管申请什么学校都不会被录取。
2. Obviously over-qualified. Students who were slam-dunk candidates were admitted no matter when they applied, Avery found, so early applications can unnecessarily limit their options.
2. 水平很高的学生：水平高的申请人不管申请什么学校都能被录取，所以预科申请会限制他们的选择。
3. Reliant on financial aid. Students who get into several colleges get more aid than those who get into only one, research shows. While students can appeal financial aid offers made by colleges, they're likely to have more bargaining power if they can leverage offers from competing schools. In fact, a growing number of colleges including Harvard University, Cornell University, and Carnegie Mellon University now state publicly that they will consider matching financial aid offers from competing colleges. Students who commit to a single college in the fall can't get any competing offers.
3. 依赖奖学金救助：调查显示申请多所学校的学生比只申请一所学校的学生能得到更多的奖学金。很多学校包括哈佛大学，康奈尔大学和卡内基梅隆大学都公开声明奖学金资助要跟竞争学校进行对比。所以只申请一所学校的学生不能申请到有竞争力的奖学金。
4. Late bloomers. While many public colleges' regular admissions deadlines are as early as November, many other colleges accept admissions through the spring of senior year. Students who stumble academically sophomore or junior year—but are able to recover in their senior year—need the extra time to prove to admissions officers (and themselves) that they can succeed in college.
4. “大器晚成”的学生：很多公立大学的常规申请截止日期是11月份，而另外一些大学的申请是在高三的春季。那些高一高二成绩不突出的学生，在高三一年会有突破性的飞跃，他们需要更多的时间去证明自己能在大学里取得更高的成就，预科申请时间太早不能显示出自己的优势。
5. The undecided. Few teenagers have clear career goals and a realistic understanding of what specific kinds of educational qualifications they want. "At the time they need to be preparing for college (many high schoolers) are just forming independent ideas about who they are and what interests them academically and socially," writes Barbara Schneider, an education professor at Michigan State University.
5. 拿不定主意的学生：极少部分的学生对自己有清晰的职业目标和自己想获得的具体的教育层次。密歇根州立大学的教育教授Barbara Schneider写道，在准备申请大学的时候(一些高中生)要在心里有独立自主的想法，对于自我的认识以及学习上和生活上的兴趣爱好。
6. Those who delayed their college search until senior year. It takes time to sort through hundreds of college options. Students need to spend time understanding themselves and the quirks of each college, Schneider believes. Applicants who only start doing research in their senior year often don't have enough time to find a "perfect match" by early deadlines, some of which are as early as Nov. 1.
Schneider, who worries that the pressure to apply to college early could worsen what she calls "college fever," says her surveys of college graduates have turned up "some evidence that students who make these choices very early without having opportunities to explore other options, later on (in their twenties) report some dissatisfaction with their college choices and lives."
6. 在高三才开始查学校的学生：要在成千上百所学校里选择是要花时间的。Schneider认为学生要花时间对自己有个反思并且对学校的一些趣闻怪事要有个了解。一般到了高三才开始找学校的学生，是没时间在截止日期之前找到一所很适合自己的学校的，因为预科申请一般在11月份就结束了。
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