When I Dropped Out At 20, My Sister Told Everyone: “She’s The One Who Didn’t Finish.” Twelve Years Later, I’m Yale’s Dean Of Admissions. One Essay Read: “My Family Moved Past My Aunt’s Setback.” The Name? Amanda Chen. My Niece. I Picked Up My Red Pen And…

Nothing about my path had been elegant. I had stumbled through high school half-lost, not because I was lazy but because I had no language yet for the restless, miserable misfit feeling of being smart in the wrong direction. Community college had not been a consolation prize to me; it had been the first place I felt myself wake up. I had learned how continue reading …