The letter of recommendation that got me into Yale (and Princeton, and Columbia, and other Ivys) — Transcript

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1. 0:01today i want to talk about
2. 0:03why i believe i got into
3. 0:07the schools that i got into and why i
4. 0:10think teacher recommendations are so
5. 0:11important
6. 0:13and why i think a lot of students
7. 0:17are missing the point of what it means
8. 0:20to try your hardest in school right now
9. 0:23get good grades all that
10. 0:24stuff apply to a great school and to
11. 0:29try to channel whatever passions that
12. 0:31you have right now
13. 0:32into something fruitful and
14. 0:36valuable to your school to your
15. 0:38community
16. 0:39in the future this is what schools look
17. 0:41for
18. 0:42in applicants especially at the top tier
19. 0:46harvard yale princeton stanford mit
20. 0:48these places
21. 0:49i think really want exceptional students
22. 0:52and i just want to share with you
23. 0:55one of those one of the components i
24. 0:58think that
25. 0:59made my application so successful i was
26. 1:01good enough to get into
27. 1:03into yale which i went and graduated
28. 1:06from princeton columbia dartmouth a
29. 1:08bunch of other ivys
30. 1:09so i'm gonna read to you today
31. 1:14my one of my teacher recommendations
32. 1:17uh from my history teacher and
33. 1:21maybe try to show you
34. 1:24or highlight
35. 1:28what someone else saw in me when i was
36. 1:30in high school when i didn't know
37. 1:31anything when i was an idiot
38. 1:33um but saw something something valuable
39. 1:36enough in order to share
40. 1:37to the admissions committee and now
41. 1:40looking back why i believe
42. 1:43i got into the schools that i got into
43. 1:46um
44. 1:47because i know there's some craziness
45. 1:48right now what should i be doing what
46. 1:50teacher recommendation should i get
47. 1:52um what should my essays be about
48. 1:56but i think it's much more important to
49. 1:57talk about the story and about
50. 1:59the individual rather than all the other
51. 2:02superficial things
52. 2:03that matter but don't matter nearly as
53. 2:05much as who you are and what you're
54. 2:07bringing to the table
55. 2:08as a human being uh to preface this
56. 2:12this references some um
57. 2:16some things like some of my hobbies at
58. 2:17the time and they're still my hobbies
59. 2:19today like i
60. 2:19like collecting old fountain pens so
61. 2:22there's a bunch of
62. 2:23references to some fountain pens in here
63. 2:25this was something that i wrote a lot of
64. 2:26my essays about
65. 2:27fountain pen collecting vintage fountain
66. 2:29pen history
67. 2:31research and buying and selling things
68. 2:33like that
69. 2:34so with that said i'll read you my
70. 2:37one of my recommendations that got me
71. 2:39into
72. 2:40uh the ivies that i got into
73. 2:43october 2010 oh my god to whom it may
74. 2:47concern
75. 2:49is the best student that i've ever had
76. 2:51the pleasure of teaching
77. 2:53this is no small feat i've had many
78. 2:56excellent ivy caliber students
79. 2:57however it was obvious right away that
80. 2:59george was brilliant and different than
81. 3:00all the rest
82. 3:02we were discussing the declaration of
83. 3:03independence in class and the question
84. 3:04was asked
85. 3:05why do some things seem to last like the
86. 3:07declaration of independence
87. 3:08and others seem to fade with time i
88. 3:11mentioned
89. 3:13that whether there are a few seminal
90. 3:14recordings of robert johnson or
91. 3:16shakespeare's son sonnet 116
92. 3:18those things which speak to a deeper
93. 3:20part of our being survived the test of
94. 3:21time
95. 3:22we moved into contemporary examples of
96. 3:24what each of us thought was something
97. 3:26that would survive the test of time
98. 3:28george suggested the classic parker 51
99. 3:30pen
100. 3:31i have heard of parker pens but i have
101. 3:33no idea that the parker 51 was the
102. 3:35quintessential pen
103. 3:36or that george was our resident expert
104. 3:38later on that week as i searched through
105. 3:40a junk drawer in my kitchen i ran across
106. 3:42a parker pen
107. 3:43on the side was written in silver
108. 3:44lettering pan am and as i inspected the
109. 3:46pen closer i realized this was a genuine
110. 3:48parker 51
111. 3:49the same pen george was talking about in
112. 3:51class at first i thought
113. 3:53how ironic a classic pen advertising a
114. 3:55defunct airline
115. 3:57i had and have no idea where this pen
116. 3:59was from
117. 4:00or if it had always been in the drawer
118. 4:02but a realization dawned upon me
119. 4:04i was reminded of learning a new
120. 4:05vocabulary term and then seeing it
121. 4:07several times the following week
122. 4:09seemingly for the first time and
123. 4:10wondering whether like the pen
124. 4:12those words had always been there this
125. 4:15is george's gift
126. 4:16he has the ability to see the ordinary
127. 4:18differently than the rest of us
128. 4:20what's more george has the ability to
129. 4:22tell others see it differently too
130. 4:24i found having him in class not only
131. 4:26made his fellow students want to be more
132. 4:27erudite it made me feel the same way
133. 4:30seldom does the student have this effect
134. 4:31on a teacher but george is
135. 4:33no ordinary student whether he is
136. 4:35riffing on the trumpet with went
137. 4:36marsalis in lincoln center or playing in
138. 4:38the all-state band
139. 4:40george humbly and quietly brings his
140. 4:41brilliance to bear he brings it to baron
141. 4:43his music and
142. 4:44his studies george scored a near perfect
143. 4:46on the sat and remains at the very top
144. 4:48of his high school class having taken a
145. 4:49who's who of the toughest classes we
146. 4:51offer
147. 4:52nine ap classes at last count these are
148. 4:54all important in understanding george
149. 4:55but there's
150. 4:56more he is modest and well-liked by his
151. 4:58peers george makes the intellectual cool
152. 5:00and people love to be around him
153. 5:02when i started this letter yesterday i
154. 5:04thought of the parker 51 that started it
155. 5:06all
156. 5:07as i looked for the pen i realized it
157. 5:09wasn't in the kitchen drawer
158. 5:10i described it to my wife and she said
159. 5:12she had thrown it out that very morning
160. 5:13because it was out of ink
161. 5:15digging through the garbage i pulled the
162. 5:16parker 51 out of the trash nonetheless
163. 5:18for wear
164. 5:19rescued from oblivion one last time i
165. 5:22decided upon writing this letter to give
166. 5:24george the pen because really if it
167. 5:25wasn't for him
168. 5:27i wouldn't have known it existed anyway
169. 5:31and it's still even ten plus years later
170. 5:34it actually still
171. 5:35kind of gets me a little bit emotional
172. 5:37again this is actually
173. 5:38the pen uh that my teacher gave me
174. 5:42and if you want to look up the parker 51
175. 5:44one of the greatest pens of all time
176. 5:46one of the greatest design pens of all
177. 5:47time um
178. 5:50still love it still the best
179. 5:54the reason why i read the letter
180. 5:57that i was able to get after applying
181. 6:00and getting into school and everything
182. 6:04it's not about oh look at me look how
183. 6:06great i am
184. 6:07look how smart i am i don't want that to
185. 6:10be the
186. 6:11thing that comes across with this
187. 6:13because trust me i was an idiot
188. 6:15when i was in high school maybe i still
189. 6:18am
190. 6:20but the thing that i am still touched by
191. 6:24is that my teacher at this time was able
192. 6:28to tell
193. 6:29more about me to the admissions
194. 6:32committee in his letter
195. 6:33then i was able to write about myself in
196. 6:36all the different essays
197. 6:38and all the different extracurriculars
198. 6:39and all the different ways that i wanted
199. 6:41to show how great i was how smart i was
200. 6:43how much i deserved to be
201. 6:44at these top elite institutions and now
202. 6:48in hindsight i realize all for the wrong
203. 6:50reasons
204. 6:53but i was fortunate that there was
205. 6:55someone who was able to see
206. 6:56more than just
207. 6:59the superficial yeah it's great that you
208. 7:02get good grades yeah it's great that you
209. 7:04get good sat scores yeah it's great that
210. 7:05you take ap classes yeah it's great that
211. 7:07you have your activities but
212. 7:10can someone else an adult talk about
213. 7:13you as someone special someone who's
214. 7:16unique
215. 7:17someone that can bring something
216. 7:18valuable to the community that you want
217. 7:20to be a part of
218. 7:22that's why it's crazy even after reading
219. 7:25this and it's been a while
220. 7:27to see this it's as i said it still kind
221. 7:30of gets me a little bit emotional
222. 7:31because
223. 7:34the story about something as simple as
224. 7:36this pen i think had so much resonance
225. 7:39to someone who believed in me so much to
226. 7:42write this story down
227. 7:43true story crazy story actually poetic i
228. 7:46believe
229. 7:47um but that was then one of the main
230. 7:51reasons why
231. 7:52i got into the schools i got into and
232. 7:54maybe a little anecdote just to finish
233. 7:55this up
234. 7:58one time when i was on campus at yale
235. 8:01and it turns out that i ran into one of
236. 8:03the admissions officers
237. 8:04who um my regional admissions officer
238. 8:08and uh apparently he would always ask
239. 8:11what you wrote your essays about or
240. 8:12whatever and he was like oh
241. 8:14when i when i was telling about some of
242. 8:15the stuff i wrote about about fountain
243. 8:17pens and about the parker 51 which was
244. 8:19part of some of my essays he's like oh
245. 8:21you're the fountain pen kid
246. 8:23and your teacher gave you that pen i'm
247. 8:24like what
248. 8:26like it that was crazy that
249. 8:30that was the connection or that but that
250. 8:32but in reality maybe that told
251. 8:34all they needed to know and
252. 8:37i was there oh trying to be president of
253. 8:39this club or that club trying to get
254. 8:41this
255. 8:41award or this score or whatever and this
256. 8:43was still out of time when i was still
257. 8:44trying
258. 8:45to get uh a perfect score in the sat and
259. 8:48all this craziness
260. 8:50but now looking back i think the thing
261. 8:53that mattered most
262. 8:54was the passion or the thing that i
263. 8:57cared about the most
264. 8:58which i was maybe even a little bit
265. 8:59embarrassed about or didn't really think
266. 9:01was that all that important but once
267. 9:04again
268. 9:04that was highlighted by a teacher by an
269. 9:08adult
270. 9:09by someone who interacted on an
271. 9:11intellectual level
272. 9:12a personal level that was able to share
273. 9:14this story
274. 9:16to um really fight for
275. 9:20a position and to you know try to
276. 9:22convince
277. 9:23this admissions committee that i was
278. 9:25worthy hopefully of trying to continue
279. 9:27this passion and this interest even in
280. 9:30something as insignificant or seemingly
281. 9:32insignificant as um as vintage fountain
282. 9:35pens so
283. 9:36i just wanted to read you that i wanted
284. 9:38to read you that because i know a lot of
285. 9:39people are asking about
286. 9:43well what should my essay say or social
287. 9:45my teacher recommendations and i know
288. 9:46right now especially is a crazy time to
289. 9:48be applying to school
290. 9:50but my advice that i like to give you is
291. 9:53more of that don't be the idiot
292. 9:57and instead try your best to highlight
293. 10:00and to exposing the show and to share
294. 10:02the things that truly matter
295. 10:05the things that make you interesting
296. 10:07that make you unique
297. 10:08that make you eager to learn that make
298. 10:10you excited
299. 10:13and i hope that that doesn't sound
300. 10:14cliche i hope that that doesn't sound
301. 10:16hollow
302. 10:17because in my opinion this letter was
303. 10:21the reason why
304. 10:22i got into the schools that i got into
305. 10:24in many ways this pen is the reason why
306. 10:25i got into a lot of those schools
307. 10:27because that story
308. 10:29uh almost seems stranger than fiction