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…

of permission. A choice you make to save yourself becomes, years later, evidence that somebody else is not crazy for wanting a different life. That did not make my past pain noble. It did make it useful. There is a difference. I had spent so long treating the family rupture as a wound to be survived that I had not fully understood it had also become continue reading …