Hometown: Hyannis, MA

Year: Junior

College: Silliman

Major: Political Science

Extracurriculars: Eli Whitney Students Society, co-president; Yale Student Veterans Council, president; Yale Veterans Association, vice president; IRIS; long-distance bicycling

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Tony Grant applied to Yale understanding that his application showed an unconventional path to New Haven. Tony—a Massachusetts native whose father served in the navy throughout his childhood—matriculated at Yale through the Eli Whitney Students Program. EWSP is an admissions program for undergraduate applicants who have had their education interrupted for five or more years. Previously, Tony served in the U.S. Air Force for seven years—first as an Arabic translator, then as a crisis manager, coordinating support for U.S. operations.

After graduating from high school in Mississippi, where his father’s service had brought the family, Tony studied at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with a full scholarship. Although he spent only a year there before leaving to join the military, he always intended to finish his undergraduate degree later in life.

Yale’s residential college system, often the linchpin of students’ social experience, impacts Tony and other Eli Whitney students only tangentially, since they do not live on campus. Although Tony is affiliated with Silliman College, he lives in East Rock with his wife of seven years, who is currently a social worker in the area. Together, they have built a life that centers around Tony’s ability to complete his degree. Students who live on campus or in downtown New Haven live and study in the same area, but Tony has to commute to and from class by bike every day. This forces him to separate his home and school life and be more deliberate about his on-campus plans. Socially, outside of the Eli Whitney cohort, which Tony describes as “real tight,” he initially struggled, lacking an immediate group of close-knit Yale friends as well as structures like the first-year counselor system that most students take for granted. Instead, both in the Air Force and now as a student, Tony has credited religion for his ability to face the challenges and quirks presented by his unconventional path.

Within and alongside his political science major, Tony studies health economics and public policy and hopes to work in that field following his graduation.

Tony’s essays include his Eli Whitney Students Program essay.

ESSAY 1 (ELI WHITNEY STUDENTS PROGRAM):
What are your reasons for applying to the Eli Whitney students program at Yale? What personal and academic goals do you think Yale can help you reach?

When I compiled a list of realistic colleges to attend this fall, Yale did not find a spot on it. In my mind, I did not have the GPA, ACT score, or spotless background leaving high school to belong there. Truth be told, I relinquished the idea when I got my first “B–.” It wasn’t until a Service to School ambassador mentioned Eli Whitney students in passing and said that I should look into it. With a healthy amount of skepticism, I scrolled through the student profiles thinking that I would find a gallery of innovators and geniuses. On the contrary, I repeatedly saw normal, driven people who simply didn’t finish their four-year degree on their anticipated schedule. I was convinced that Yale is offering a second chance to hardworking students who have taken the less-traveled path to college. Therefore, I’m applying to the Eli Whitney Students program to take the once-in-a-lifetime chance to study International Relations at a school with a historic record of excellence that would not have been an option for me before I enlisted in the Air Force.

Completing my undergraduate studies at Yale means more to me than having a selective school attached to my name; It means taking advantage of the opportunity to academically flourish among Yale’s collaborative, high-energy faculty and student body. I plan to spend hours with Dr. Muhammad Aziz and the rest of the department working to attain a greater grasp on Modern Standard Arabic and build upon its dialects that I labored so arduously to refine. I also hope to supplement my area-specific language study with a secondary language in either French or German. Overall, my most ambitious academic goal is to find a logical and unbiased voice to offer solutions on international topics. The renowned Jackson Institute for Global Affairs can help me bridge the gap between in-depth academia and the military-specific knowledge that I gained in the intelligence field to create a more comprehensive view of global affairs. I believe it is necessary to mature out of my niche perspective of the world and to fairly analyze contemporary issues in a future career.

Outside of academics, my personal aspirations gravitate toward veterans advocacy and foreign cultures. I’ve received so much crucial advice and encouragement throughout my career from others that have served, and I want to do what I can to see Yale’s student veteran community strengthen and expand. At the same time, Yale’s diversity offers the perfect environment to interact first-hand with representatives of the world that I dream of visiting.

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.