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Long Island Teen Accepted to All Eight Ivies
I write a lot about how a successful college admission has to do more to do with finding the right match than getting into the top schools. No student needs to get into every school they apply to; they only need to get into the one that best fits their needs.
But then someone like Harold Ekah comes along and accomplishes all of the above. This is important not because he should serve as the litmus test for college admissions. It's important because it's rather extraordinary.
Ekah, 18, is the son of Nigerian immigrants. He moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was eight years old. In his admission essay, he wrote of the early difficulties of learning English, and of having an accent so strong that people could scarcely understand him. Many immigrants write of similar experiences, so it probably wasn't Ekah's essay alone that swung the pendulum in his favor.
He's also a straight-A student, with a 2270 SAT score, who is the Editor-in-Chief of his school newspaper and the Chief Executive of his Model United Nations chapter. He was a semi-finalist for the Intel Science Talent Search. He wants to become a neurosurgeon so that he can search for a cure for diseases like Alzheimer's, from which his beloved grandmother suffers.
He is unquestionably inspirational. He has called the acceptances a victory not for himself but for his community. He hopes his success will inspire younger generations to work hard, against any odds.
Ekah has not yet decided where he will attend, but is leaning towards Yale.
Labels: Long Island Teen Accepted to All Eight Ivies
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