In the past year I finally threw away a shiny book by Yale Admissions that had collected dust on my bookshelf for four years. Until recently I did not even realize why I had placed it there in the first place – it was a kind of subconscious sanctuary, a symbol of the future where I thought I was intended. After all, Yale was everything that a high school student could dream of: professors of world class, one -off opportunities and Gothic architecture that seemed to promise wisdom in his stone.
When the letters started to come, it felt surreal. But to the shock of many of my friends, I have rejected Yale. Instead, I opted for a small Bible College.
In the beginning I struggled with the decision. Like many highlights, I grew up with the conviction that the Ivy League represented the highlight of education, proof that you were among the ‘best of the best’. Throwing aside seemed nothing but reckless. But while I waited and listened to my parents’ council, I started reading deeper about Yale and its cultural drift. Faculty that expressed abnormal opinions denied a term of office. Guest speakers with an unpopular view broadcast. A once busy institution of intellectual diversity that increasingly resembles a gated community of ideological conformity.
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That decision was not about fear, or self -doubt, or even finance. It was about conviction. Somewhere. What once stood for intellectual strictness and freedom has been replaced by fragility and indoctrination. The university that has formed presidents and poets now seems more intention to shape activists who need to be protected from uncomfortable truths.
Yale may offer a great line on a CV, but a small Bible college gives spiritual growth. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images, File)
So what did I choose to reject Yale? I chose a different kind of challenge. At my Bible College, the grinding does not come from exchanging bars in a lecture hall, but of struggling with eternal questions: what does it mean to be holy? How do Christ are imitated in a hostile world? Struggling with Augustine or Aquinas is more difficult to parrot than the latest social theory. Learning to forgive a classmate in a clear Christian community is more demanding than winning a sleeping debate. The world sees this as ‘safe’, but I see it as holy.
And surprisingly, the diversity of thinking in the Small College atmosphere is amazing. I have had the honor of giving dialogue with people who believe in an incredibly traditional view of the world and others who want to completely challenge that idea. One of my professors often encouraged the deconstruction if it meant that an accurate, sincere faith was reconstructed from his ashes.
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Which doors did I close? I closed the doors of immediate credibility, the endless networking opportunities, the powerful name stamped on a CV. I closed the door to easy acceptance in elite circles that still believe that the Ivy League is the gatekeeper of the American success.
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But I also opened doors. I opened the door to a formation of the soul, not just the CV. I opened the door to mentors that give more about my character than for my connections. I opened the door to a life where the truth is not measured by applause but by faithfulness. And I opened the door to freedom to think, speak and believe without fear of ideological police work. I have attended various various conservative conferences that their members left or right-hand treatment as intelligent, free-thinking individuals with the ability to argue, reason and defend.
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I refused to act for prestige, vision on prosperity. So yes, I threw the book from Yale. And with that I threw the illusion that success should be dressed in ivy. The training that I have chosen may not come with marble halls or gilded plaques, but it comes with something better: truth, conviction and the courage to live it out.
That is worth more than Yale for me.
