URGENT: Prospective Yale Transfer Student has Question

MagiTF
Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:52:35 +0000

This is just my opinion… but I’d be careful in overplaying some of this stuff to draw sympathy from the admissions people. Sure they like to see cases of people overcoming adversity and what not, but I think there’s a line that is drawn when they ask themselves: do we really want someone with this much baggage? If you have a huge laundry list of issues that you have dealt with growing up (and still deal with), they may be more inclined to take the kid whom they know to have his/her life in order.

I guess what I’m saying is: if you’re going to write an essay about this… definitely focus on how you overcame these issues and your ability to reconcile with your past. The last thing you want is to come off as someone who doesn’t look like they have their stuff together. By accepting you, the school invests in you and your future, and it would be a poor investment choice by anyone’s standard to pick someone who seems too unstable to give reasonable returns.