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…

stable. That was a freedom for both of us.

Sometimes I still think about that Thanksgiving dinner in 2012 as if it belongs to someone I once knew intimately and no longer am. I can still see the crystal, the turkey skin, the candlelight trembling in my mother’s silver holders. I can still hear Jennifer saying the word failure as if she were issuing continue reading …