My journey to Yale was not exactly a conventional one. No one from my high school had been to the US before, let alone to a school like Yale. I couldn’t help but feel unprepared. My school didn’t have a guidance counselor. I struggled through ACT prep books alone, trying to decipher which schools would suit me best. I worked overtime to complete college applications for schools in both the US and at home in the UK.
Many of my classmates thought I was insane. They didn’t understand why I was spending so much time doing something different, when there was an easy path right in front of me.
Why Yale?
I should explain why I chose Yale. UK schools are indeed incredible, but they do not have the liberal arts ethos that US colleges are founded upon. I wasn’t ready to commit myself to one subject, so the exploration Yale offered gave me an academic and personal freedom I could never have imagined. On top of that, Yale has an incredible financial aid program that means it is cheaper for me to study here at a top institution than it would be for me to study at my local university back home. Yale has been able to open so many doors for me. All I had to do was apply.
Even though applying to Yale seemed a huge risk at the time, it definitely paid off. I cannot describe my elation when, on March 28th, I was able to email my high school principal and tell her that everything we had struggled through together had come to an incredible resolution. I was going to Yale.
Every admissions story is a journey, and although I may have taken ‘the road less traveled by,’ I was able to reach my destination. It does not matter if you’re the only one you know applying to Yale, or one of hundreds. If you and Yale are meant to be, the road will most certainly lead you there.
