Elmont High School senior Harold Ekeh applied to 13 colleges, including all eight U.S. Ivy League schools, figuring he would be accepted to at least one great school.
Turns out, the teenager from Long Island was accepted to all 13 schools, including the 8 Ivy Leagues.
“I was stunned, I was really shocked,” Ekeh told The Associated Press during an interview Tuesday at his home near the Belmont Park racetrack. His family is proud of him, and his mother attributes his success to hard work, dedication and prayer.
Born in Nigeria, Harold was eight years old when his parents brought the family to the United States.
“It was kind of difficult adjusting to the new environment and the new culture,” he said. But he saw his parents working hard, “and I took their example and decided to apply myself.”
He referenced that effort in his college essay, writing, “Like a tree, uprooted and replanted, I could have withered in a new country surrounded by people and languages I did not understand. Yet, I witnessed my parents persevere despite the potential to succumb. I faced my challenges with newfound zeal; I risked humiliation, spending my recesses talking to unfamiliar faces, ignoring their sarcastic remarks.”
Harold has a 100.51 grade-point average and wants to be a neurosurgeon. His next challenge: deciding on a school.
He has until May 1 to decide between : Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Stony Brook University and Vanderbilt University.
