Aspiring Yale Transfer Student Explains and Defends Her Blog

Shortly after writing about a blog entitled Confessions of an (Aspiring) Yalie, its author, Tammy Hsu, reached out to Above the Law with a defense and explanation of her blog's origins, which we will now share....

This afternoon we wrote about a blog entitled Confessions of an (Aspiring) Yalie. In this blog, Tammy Hsu, a 1L at Wake Forest University School of Law, chronicles her journey through the first year of law school — a journey she hopes will culminate with a successful transfer application to Yale Law School.

As we noted, Tammy Hsu’s blog is now restricted to invited readers. Some posts are still accessible via Google Cache (and in the comments to our original story, some of you identified favorite posts of yours).

Shortly after we wrote about her, we heard from Tammy C. Hsu. She sent us a defense and explanation of her blog’s origins, which we will now share….

Instead of following the traditional format of interspersing excerpts from her statement with our own commentary, we’ll turn the floor over entirely to Tammy Hsu. By way of background, Hsu described the message below as follows:

[This] is my response to all the critics on Top Law School and Auto Admit. I appreciate Above the Law maintaining an objective look at my blog. Please use your best judgment in publishing my response to the many people out there who have made their opinion well-known on internet forums. I cannot think of another way to issue a simple apology, an brief explanation, and a request that a semblance of privacy be returned to me.

As we suggested earlier, it’s probably too late to put the privacy genie back in the bottle. But let’s at least hear what Tammy Hsu has to say about why she started her blog.

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TAMMY HSU — STATEMENT ABOUT CONFESSIONS OF AN (ASPIRING) YALIE

Hello Readers.

I am surprised at the way my personal blog for family and friends has taken hold in the community. Whatever you might think about what I have written, I have my own reasons for all the choices I have made from accepting Wake Forest Law School to the title of my blog. It was indeed a tongue-in-cheek blog that I started after a childhood friend in the Navy challenged me to try for Yale the night before he deployed–the name came from that brief conversation we had, with no other intentions. By documenting observations of daily life over the next several months, it was a way to chronicle my experience until he returned. The audience was intended to be him, my friends and my family, thus my honesty with regard to my observations and feelings stemmed from my trust in my friends and family. Indeed, I probably offended some public readers, and I apologize.

My mistake was not locking this blog, and looking back, I know it was a severe lapse in judgment. However, I never dreamed that an innocent personal blog would go viral. I am aware that it has provided ample entertainment for many of you over the course of these three days. And many of you are interested in whether I transfer to Yale or not. I do not believe my actions either way will impact your life nor will my future actions be interesting enough to be made a public spectacle. I chose Wake Forest amongst many schools because it is a great school, and I know I can receive a stellar education there. I fell in love with the school upon visiting, and I would be very happy to be a Wake Forest Law graduate. That being said, opportunities may open up in the next several months that may lead me another way. If that is the case, I have never locked myself onto a set path. Whatever my choices, I have only myself to answer to. I will always choose the best opportunity after doing a thorough cost-benefit analysis.

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Whether or not I transfer has never been relevant. Unfortunately, many people have taken things out of context, made many assumptions and made a very big deal out of it. Much of what I have read on the web about myself have amused me very much; some comments have been simply disgusting; others have been appalling. But I have only one request going forward: please refrain from passing judgment based on your assumptions of me or what you think you know about me.

I do want to say thank you to all the kind souls who have shown your support during the course of these events. May God bless you.

Thank you,
Tammy Hsu


We thank Tammy Hsu for sharing her side of the story. Here is what we wrote to her in response (and we would say similar things to many lawyers or law students who appear in our pages due to some controversy or another):

Hi Tammy. Confirming receipt of your statement. We will definitely run so as to provide the full context and set the record straight.

As I explained in my post, I didn’t think your blog was such a crazy idea. There were some potential dangers involved with it, as I discussed, but I really didn’t think it was beyond reason.

As someone who has been writing for (and getting attacked on) the internet for years, I guess I’d just say, hang in there. People will say all kinds of idiotic and hurtful things about you, but at the end of the day, it’s just words words words. What really matters are the people in your life, like your family and friends — not random strangers on the internet. You might even want to just take a break and not read all this stuff for a while.

We will be running your statement later today. Thanks for reaching out, and good luck to you.

Best,
David

And that’s pretty much that. I’d just add that when we write about some lawyer or law student who has gotten embroiled in controversy, it’s not because we have anything against the subject of our coverage. Think of Above the Law as a virtual water cooler for the legal profession: we’re often just raising topics that people in the legal profession are already talking about.

As I tweeted the other day, I like to “quote Don Lucchesi to folks who complain about snarky coverage of their law firm or school: it’s not personal, only business. – #TheBlogfather”

Earlier: Confessions of an Aspiring Yale Transfer Student