The odds of getting into any of the eight Ivy League schools in the country are against even the brightest students in the country.
Imagine getting a yes from all of them. That's what happened to 17-year-old Kwasi Enin of Shirley, N.Y.
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale have all asked Kwasi to be part of their class of 2018.
Long Island's Newsday reports:
"For Kwasi, applying to a competitive college wasn't exactly a gamble. He has an SAT score of 2,250 out of 2,400, which places him in the 99th percentile for all students taking the exam. He has taken and scored high on many Advanced Placement exams. He is an athlete, a shot putter, in fact, and his baritone voice can belt out a tune when he's not playing viola for the school orchestra.
"Still, he said, 'I've never heard of someone getting all eight.'
"He has now surpassed the accomplishments of some of his uncles and cousins, who were accepted to several Ivies. 'I always thought they were far better than me academically,' Kwasi said."
USA Today talked to Kwasi's high school guidance counselor, who said her "heart skipped a beat" when Kwasi told her he was applying to all eight Ivies.
"It's a big deal when we have students apply to one or two Ivies," Nancy Winkler told the paper. "To get into one or two is huge. It was extraordinary."
USA Today reports that Kwasi is a first-generation American. His parents emigrated from Ghana to the U.S. in the 1980s and both of them studied at local colleges to become nurses.
Kwasi hopes to become a physician. And which school might be graced with his presence?
His preference, he told Newsday, is Yale. But he is still weighing his options.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAxNzg0MDExMDEyMTYyMjc1MDE3NGVmMw004))
