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…

standards I could not inhabit without flattening. Amanda stood in the same generational line and somehow had enough inner freedom to ask a different question. Not how do I stay admired? But how do I stay alive to myself? “That’s the right reason to choose a place,” I told her. “Not because it will impress the most adults. Because it will enlarge your continue reading …