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…

I became an associate professor and joined Columbia’s undergraduate admissions committee. That last role altered me more than any title before it. Reading applications all day stripped away any illusions I had left about merit as a clean system. I could see immediately how much brilliance gets disguised by imperfect transcripts, how often resilience continue reading …