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We talk a lot about our U.S. News & World Report top ranking for social mobility, but we had to share what social mobility really looks like for many of the students who will come through our doors.
Here's an excerpt from a prospective first-year student's admission application for Sage:
Growing up, my family struggled financially. My dad is an artist who never found steady success, so my mom became our main provider. Despite having multiple degrees, she’s always had to find creative ways to support us working as a teacher and later as a self-employed caregiver. Because of her teaching jobs, we moved often, to Arizona, St. Croix, Hawaii, and eventually back to upstate New York where I grew up. While that might sound adventurous, those moves came with sacrifices.
To afford them, we often rented out our home and lived in temporary setups, including tents that weren’t meant for long-term living, especially for a family of five. When I was younger, it felt exciting, but by eighth and ninth grade, it became exhausting to keep packing up my life and leaving my home behind. Each move made it harder to build lasting friendships, and our living conditions were rarely comfortable, crowded trailers, flooded apartments, and unsafe neighborhoods. Still, we made it work.
Through those experiences, I learned to rely on myself. My parents were doing their best to keep us afloat, but I realized that if I wanted stability and success, I had to create it for myself. Our struggles taught me strength and appreciation. I’ve learned to focus on what I can control and to stay driven no matter how uncertain life feels. Now, I’m determined to build a future defined not by survival, but by the stability and opportunity my family always hoped for.
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