背景：8年级课程结束后，我离开了华盛顿去香港国际学校（HKIS）攻读9-10年级。去年暑假，我重返华盛顿继续修读高中课程。
这里穿插一则小故事：有2个小提琴家在面对更换乐队时候的反应：
当一个小提琴家告别了之前的乐队加入新的乐队，他的第一反应是抓狂。因为，在告别的同时，他之前的名誉也随即消失；另外一个表现的和之前的恰恰相反。每一个乐队的指挥都有属于自己的表演风格。无论你欣赏与否，都必须尽快让自己融入整个集体中，否则就会使自己变得格格不入。
再次重返华盛顿的圣奥尔本斯中学原本应该很容易。我本人性格活泼外向，容易与周围的人相处，而且我也比较聪明，学习成绩一向都好。我相信08届那75名“错过”的兄弟一定会张开双臂欢迎我回来。
不幸的是，现实并未达到预期的效果。
第一次考试居然得了D（A/B/C/D/E），从未有过的危机感浮现在我眼前。再加上，我的社交活动越来越少，这也让我很沮丧。活跃的课堂气氛不属于我，学校社团也把我拒之门外。但这不是同学的问题，主要是我太理想化了。他们讨厌我。我的直觉告诉我可能是因为种族问题的关系吧。
虽然如此，我明白最深的痛来自于自己丢失了香港的光辉生活。全校780名高中生几乎人人都知道我。我的身影频繁的活跃在学校校报里。我编写的文章人人都在读。我觉得这已经成为了我生活中一部分。
我不愿接受这个残酷的现实，决定有时间就多与香港的朋友联系，同时也可以安慰一下受伤的心灵。一个星期五的晚上，我感到非常的伤心，于是拨通了朋友Kevin的电话，希望能听他讲讲学校过去的一周里发生的事情。但是，电话铃声始终是“嘟嘟嘟嘟……”没有人应答。我再也无法抑制内心的悲痛，放声大哭。
当我低下头的时候，看到了印在T-恤上的SAT斗牛犬标志，而不是HKIS的龙图样。同学们就在我的窗外，眼前看到的是熟悉的8523 Pelham Rd.而不是蔚蓝的天际线。我终于决定要面对现实：华盛顿就是我的家。即使从香港的朋友那里找寻丝丝慰藉也不能帮助我改变现状。
我决定用积极的心态去面对这次归来。
我要抓住每一次机遇，不要再让自己跌回到幻想的生活中去。我要改变自己，“从头到脚”彻底的改变。小班教学最大的好处就是可以增加与老师互动的机会。在课堂上我可以自由的与老师探讨各种方面的问题：与英语老师探讨《橘子郡男孩》与《红字》中关于人性的问题；与数学老师讨论数学方面的问题；与顾问老师讨论遗传的问题。这些在HKIS都是不可能实现的。之前教我西班牙语的老师邀请我去她家共度感恩节。她和我分享了她的经历：刚结婚的小儿子是名海军，在伊拉克作战中牺牲了。但是，我的老师并没有因此绝望放弃，而是积极乐观的面对，更加努力的生活。这更激励我要勇敢的努力的调整好状态面对现实的决心。有了这种师生情谊的相伴，更让我有足够的信心和乐观的态度来面对我的困难。
随着Model UN（Bridging the Education Gap and Creating Global Citizens）的复活，我的领导能力又一次得到了验证，但是这一次，我不是为了获得这个头衔而去做这件事情，我要真正的切身的去尝试。因此，我没有参加在马尼拉和新加坡举办的会议，我把全部的精力放在学弟学妹的教育和基本活动中。会议的成功让我感到骄傲；尽管我失去了一次游览观光的机会，但是，我却觉得教育可以拉近与别人之间的距离。
改变对我而言不太容易。但是，我相信通过这次的改变会让我更加强大，更有勇气和信心去迎接未来的挑战。
音乐平平，我为过去悲伤。从第二个小提琴家那里我获得了崭新的开始，可以微笑的面对现在与未来。融入新的乐队加上自己在过去获得的经验，乐队指挥很满意，而我也即将开始全新的音乐旅程。
分析
克服改变是大学录取ESSAY的主旋律。但是，作者所表现的不是自己完成了从香港到华盛顿的转变而是将落笔放在自己从中取得的进步，自我的发展与成熟。作者详细描写了自己在新环境下的缺点和弱势。作者没有夸赞自己荣耀的过去而是集中“火力”描写自己的新环境。这一点更加可以突出作者在未来的鲜明转变。
文章的亮点就在于头部与尾部的比喻。作者没有将香港的生活与华盛顿的区分来说，而是将自己与两者有机的融合在了一起。强调作者积极克服困难与挑战，通过丰富的经历完成自我性格的完美塑造。
—Esther Yi
原文参考
(11)ADITYA BALASUBRAMANIAN—“THE SENSITIVE ITINERANT: CHANGES, REPERCUSSIONS（影响）, AND DEALING WITH IT”
Background: After leaving Washington, D.C., at the end of eighth grade, I spent my ninth and tenth grade years in Hong Kong at Hong Kong International School (HKIS). Last summer, I returned to Washington for my junior year.
When a violinist changes orchestras, he often starts from scratch. The reputation he possessed in his old orchestra is gone. The other violinists are unfamiliar. And every orchestra director perceives perfect pitch differently. Whether the new pitch is too flat or sharp, the violinist must tune to the new director’s pitch, lest he plays out of tune with the new group.
Returning to St. Albans School (STA) and Washington, D.C., shouldn’t have been difficult. My extroversion would bring popularity. Diligence would bring academic success. Seventy-five “lost brothers” in the Class of 2008 would welcome me back with open arms.
Unfortunately, expectations proved incorrect.
After a D on my first calculus test, academic disaster loomed on the horizon. Further, rare social interaction left me miserable. Classroom enthusiasm drew eye rolling from peers. Social groups proved reluctant to accept me. But, it wasn’t my peers’ fault; rather, the idealist in me had expected too much. Nonetheless, they angered me. Their racist comments, which I thought them incapable of, stung.
Yet, the greatest sting came from losing my glorious Hong Kong life. Almost all 780 high school students knew me. Serving on the School Senate and writing newspaper articles everyone read blessed me with mobility between social groups few others had. I felt a part of things.
Unwilling to confront the loss of Hong Kong and my illusions, correspondence with my Hong Kong friends whenever possible temporarily appeased me. One Friday night, feeling especially escapist, I dialed my friend Kevin’s number, expecting him to report all the week’s occurrences. The phone rang and rang. No answer. I cried hard.
As my head hung, I saw the STA bulldog emblazoned on my T-shirt, not the HKIS dragon. Peering outside my window, I saw 8523 Pelham Road, not a picturesque skyline. I confronted the reality that D.C. was home. Deriving comfort from my friend in Hong Kong wouldn’t change that.
I decided to deal with being back.
Seizing opportunities instead of lamenting the loss of a “fabled” life helped me deal with this sea change, or, more aptly, this ocean change. Smaller class sizes at a small prep school made meaningful interaction with teachers outside of class possible. In debating my English teacher about why The O.C. captures humanity as well as The Scarlet Letter and learning, mathematically, the genetic consequences of long-term sibling-sibling reproduction with my adviser, I partook in an opportunity HKIS couldn’t offer. My former Spanish teacher invited me for Thanksgiving lunch and shared with me the story of her young, newly married son, a marine who recently died fighting in Iraq. The pain of changed reality in my teacher’s life and her resilience in coping with it inspired me to adapt. Forging these student-teacher relationships helped me to think of life more optimistically, and my teacher’s experience put my own sufferings in perspective.
In reviving a defunct Model UN team, my own experience with leadership as a process, rather than a position, began. Instead of attending Model UN conferences in Manila and Singapore, I spent time teaching underclassmen the basics of the activity and trying to educate them. Our success at the conference made me proud; although distinct from the excitement of traveling to exotic locations, teaching others successfully brought me closer to them.
Change has never been easy for me, this one especially. Nevertheless, it strengthened me for the future.
The pitch was too flat, and I mourned for the old one. But in combining the old technique with the new pitch, I now play the new music and the orchestra director is happy. The other violinists offer me the occasional smile.
COMMENTARY
Overcoming change is the grand trope of college admissions essays, but this piece demonstrates not only the writer’s ability to navigate through a life-changing move from Hong Kong to Washington, D.C., but his wise realization that change is often the major vehicle for progress, self-development, and maturation. The writer clearly lays out the stark differences he encountered as a result of his transcontinental move, detailing the different struggles that came his way and openly acknowledging his shortcomings and weaknesses in a new home. Instead of miring himself in the glory of his former days, the writer explains how he tackled new opportunities—a simple turnaround in the piece that gives him full liberty to do a quick rundown of his accomplishments at his new school.
Beyond the clean execution of the essay, which fulfills the basic expectations for a piece about how an individual overcame a difficult experience, it also utilizes an effective metaphor that appears at the beginning and end of the piece for a well-rounded effect. The writer does not simply discard his old life to fully embrace his new experience in America, nor does he envision himself as someone who has adapted to D.C. at the expense of his former home, but he sees himself as the embodiment of two different sets of experiences. Thereby making clear that he is not someone who simply overcomes change, but one who absorbs challenges and changes into his character to add to the wealth of experiences that already constitute his being.
—Esther Yi
