As graduation inches closer for many seniors, many are focused on going to college.
Most applicants have already been accepted to a college, and many have a received a scholarship or two. One teenager recently got accepted to 113 colleges and has been offered over $4.5 million in scholarships.
Jasmine Harrison has always taken her education seriously, and she wanted to make sure that she was getting into a good college.
She decided to apply for as many scholarships as possible and to as many schools as she could. She and her family were surprised to hear that she was accepted to over 100 schools.
She talked about her experience and how it felt to start getting letters in the mail from these various scholarships. She said:
“When I got the first couple in the mail, I was like, ‘OK, this is really happening.’ I didn’t really think I’d be able to do that. It was overwhelming at first because there were so many options. I could go anywhere, and discover who I am.”
Choosing one of these many great colleges was harder than Jasmine expected.
She had so many options, and it was difficult to decide which one was best for her. After being accepted to a few schools, she wanted to apply to even more. She explained:
“I felt if I can get into all of these, where else can I get in?”
She said that filling out the applications and scholarship forms wasn’t always fun or easy.
Her mom helped her, but there were times they had to take breaks and focus on other things. She said:
“On those late nights when I was filling out those applications with my mom and we just felt like we cannot do this, we just ended up singing gospel songs together to get through the night.”
Jasmine’s teachers have seen how hard she has worked to get these scholarships and to get accepted to so many colleges.
One teacher, Ms. Fletcher, talked about Jasmine, saying:
“Although she has a very quiet and unassuming disposition, Jasmine is the epitome of a ‘go-getter. Last semester, she told me, ‘Ms. Fletcher, my personal goal is to get accepted to 100 colleges.’ I told her to do it and that if she can dream it, she can achieve it. Each week, she would keep me apprised of her progress. Jasmine also stops by just to hang out and *gasp* read! This student is amazing. I anticipate great things in the future!”
She used the general Common Application to apply to 20 more schools.
She also applied to 52 historically black colleges and universities through the Common Black College Application. She applied to colleges in North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, and Colorado. She also saved money on application fees by using programs that are designed to help students apply to multiple colleges without paying a lot of money for the fees.
After a lot of thought, Jasmine has decided to stay close to home and attend Bennet College in Greensboro. She has been offered a full scholarship; it will cover the $28,000 annual tuition cost.
People are incredibly impressed by Jasmine’s hard work.
Many are referring to it as “Black Girl Magic.” Jasmine knows that there was no magic involved, only hard work and dedication.
Jasmine plans on becoming a nurse and working in a neonatal intensive care unit.
She was inspired to become a nurse after her brother ended up in NICU and she met a woman who was caring for him. She saw how much the woman cared about her brother and how well she took care of him, and she decided that she wanted to do the same for others.
Her family, friends, and teachers are all very proud of her and can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for her. If she worked this hard to get into college, it’s pretty clear that she will work even harder to graduate and pursue her passion for nursing.
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