Harold Ekeh – The Nigerian Student Whizz-Kid

High school senior Harold Ekeh didn’t just get into one Ivy League university. He was accepted into all eight.

“I am leaning toward Yale,” he told CNNMoney. “I competed at Yale for Model UN, and I like the passion people at Yale had.”

Some of the Yale students he met became his friends and mentors, offering advice on the college application process. Now Ekeh is trying to do the same thing.

Ekeh was born in Nigeria and came to the United States when he was eight. He wrote his main college essay about the struggle to adjust, including being clueless in U.S. history classes at school. He said he would ask his parents repeatedly why they moved.

“We had a fairly comfortable life in Nigeria, but they told me we moved to America for the opportunities like the educational opportunities,” he recalled.

Ekeh, 17, founded a college mentoring program at his school, Elmont Memorial High School on Long Island in the New York city suburbs. His goal is to get more students into top universities.

Principal John Capozzi calls Ekeh “one of the most humble young men I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet.” The lab where Ekeh did his award-winning research is modest and only staffed part-time by a passionate chemistry teacher, but the community makes the most of what it has.

Ekeh will spend the coming weeks visiting all the schools before making his final decision.

His advice to other high school students is simple: “Like my parents always told us, the secret to success is unbridled resolve.”

Source: CNN Money