Florida Teen Accepted to All Eight Ivy League Schools

One high school senior from Florida has a lot of options when it comes to his future, with all eight Ivy League schools accepting him. The New York Times reports that 18-year-old Craig McFarland of Jacksonville, Florida, received a total of 17 acceptance letters from different college and universities. 

He first received an acceptance to Yale University in December, which he said made him yell “in shock.” What followed was acceptances from Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, and Harvard University. He said he opened all of these letters the same day.

“I was alone with my sister in my room and opened all the Ivy League schools one by one,” he added. “When I opened Harvard as the last one, my sister and I ran to my dog and dance around.” McFarland is set to graduate as the valedictorian of his class at Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville. Not only that, but he will be graduating following a senior year that included French, Spanish, and Arabic classes. “I’m very much self-motivated and driven,” he said.

Among the other acceptances he got were Duke University, Emory University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Florida State University and the University of Florida have offered him full scholarships, too. The Duval County Public Schools congratulated McFarland on Twitter last week, writing that he is “the newest member of a very exclusive club.”