Hometown: Greendale, WI

Year: Sophomore

College: Grace Hopper

Major: Political Science

Extracurriculars: Tour Guide; Students for a New American Politics (SNAP) PAC, chief of staff; Yale International Relations Association

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Applying to Yale University was Jacob Malinowski’s attempt to thwart destiny.

Most people from his small town of Greendale, Wisconsin, never stray far from home—and, Jacob says, most are destined to return to his town soon after finishing college  to start families of their own. But Jacob wanted to take a risk and venture outside of the “homogeneous” Greendale bubble.

As a first-generation college student, Jacob “flew by the seat of [his] pants” during the college admissions process. He looked at smaller liberal arts schools with strong social science programs, and was accepted early to his dream school, Georgetown University.

Up until the day before January 1—when regular decision applications were due—Jacob was set on going to Georgetown. But on a whim, he sent in a second application to Yale—and much to his surprise, got in. He fell in love with the university later that spring during a tour of the campus.

Jacob is a tour guide himself now, as well as the chief of staff for Students for a New American Politics, America’s only student-run political action committee. In 2018, the PAC funded forty-five low-income students from forty-four universities to work on selected campaigns throughout the country. A political science major, Jacob also dedicates time to political campaign volunteer work, Model UN conferences, and the New Haven Urban Debate League. In his free time, he likes to spend time with friends in Grace Hopper College, which he calls a particularly tight-knit residential college community. Reflecting on his college admissions essay three years after writing it, Jacob says that going to Yale did, in fact, help him to expand his horizons beyond the perimeters of his small town—which honored him with the declaration of “Jacob Malinowski Day” the September of his junior year of high school for his representation of Greendale at Boys’ State and Boys’ Nation, civic leadership programs run by the American Legion. Overwhelmingly white and middle class, Greendale only exposed him to “one or two” perspectives on what it means to be a young person, Jacob says. At Yale, he counters, there are 5,400 unique perspectives of “so many cool people from across the country and across the world from so many different backgrounds.”

But Yale has also altered Jacob’s own perspective on his hometown and his feelings toward those who decide to follow their destiny and return to “the bubble.”

“It still rings true in a certain sense that people from small white towns have a tendency to always come back and always have the same path, but when I reread [my essay], I guess I don’t know if that’s a bad thing, to live pretty simply,” Jacob says. “Maybe it’s not a bad thing to live a pretty good life and be proud of who you are.”

Jacob’s essays include his Common App personal statement.

ESSAY 1 (COMMON APP):

Personal Statement

Wisconsin is not an exciting state. My town is not big and exciting, nor full of opportunities. It’s not small enough for everyone to know each other and for everyone to have their role in the community. It’s a great place to grow up, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing special about it. Greendale separates itself from the real world. Actually, it’s known as “the bubble” because nothing bad can permeate it, and nothing ever leaves. In fact, many families return here, generation after generation. My children—and their children—are destined to live here. People in Greendale are normal. Sure, they all have their own careers, different family dynamics, and a variety of interests. But everyone in this town lives a very typical life. This is because Greendale is detached from reality. It is safe. My neighbors don’t lock their doors because they don’t have to. Crime is very low; bad things simply just don’t happen. And this safety isn’t just physical, it’s also a feeling. People return to Greendale because there is no risk involved here. They get a house on a quiet street and work the same job for their entire life. They never need to step outside their comfort zone. Many of the people they associate with share the same views on religion, politics, and many other topics. The chances of some catastrophe affecting them are so low that they are basically nonexistent. It’s this low-risk, echo chamber environment that draws people into Greendale. The desire for a zero-failure place overpowers any qualms about never having that huge success. But I’ve never been able to cope with that feeling. I tried hard in school, participated in many activities, and worked a few jobs to attempt to separate myself from the normalcy and escape the destiny that is Greendale. Once the questions about college started pouring in, I realized I wanted to leave my home in order to further my global sense. That I want to surround myself with people who also take risks and want to see each other succeed as well as themselves. And when people asked where I was applying to college, what I said was not nearly as important as what I didn’t say. I am not applying to University of Wisconsin–Madison. UW-Madison is the end goal for any student at my high school that shows any form of promise; many students only apply here. And UW–Madison is great, it’s just not great for me. I believe many of my colleagues will go here because, once again, it’s not a big risk. With their grades and extracurriculars, they could give plenty of elite schools a great application, but they will definitely get into UW–Madison. It’s only about 80 miles from my high school, which is a quick drive home in case anything goes wrong. I don’t want a security blanket because it’s a limit on being extraordinary. It seems like such a silly struggle when you see citizens around the globe who attempt to fight hunger, poverty, war, and oppression. But there’s no way those people can extricate themselves from conflict without the help of others. And how can I step up to that challenge if I settle and remain safe? This country wasn’t built on caution and security, it was built on bravery and action. Brave people stood up for what they believed in and left their normal lives to pursue greatness. I do not strive to find the easiest way through my life; I want to escape this alleged “destiny.” I believe I can pop the bubble that is Greendale and, with diligence, become a leader and find a meaning beyond my hometown.

From 50 Yale Admission Success Stories: And the Essay That Made Them Happen, edited by the Yale Daily News Staff. Copyright © 2020 by the authors
and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group.