Good for them for using all available resources to make sure they have good options to pick from. My only objection is about misleading news articles to make it sound like they paid application fee and earned million and half in merit money. In reality, their application fees was waived so they could apply to their heart’s delight. Most of this money is financial aid as they are economically disadvantaged and URM. Each can only use one package from one college, millions aren’t their to keep. I just don’t see the novelty in these articles, other than good news that system helps people in need to get up and get ahead if they want.
Ironically, articles didn’t mention their GPA or SAT scores.
The girl was accepted to 35 schools, at least 5 of them for basketball. If they are D1 schools, her scholarship would be 100% COA.
It said the boy was accepted to 26. Who is adding 35+26 and getting 56? Is it the same person adding the scholarship awards?
Post 11 has a more in depth article. True, there is no mention of gpa or SAT scores. They seem like dedicated students.
This articles has lists of acceptances for both.
http://wgntv.com/2016/04/20/chicago-twins-get-into-56-colleges-earn-1-6m-in-scholarships/
lol. This sounds like pure dramatization. When you talk about “all the scholarships” qualified students get it sounds much more impressive than it actually is. You can only accept one. For example, if you looked at all the merit scholarships I received in aggregate, the bulk of which coming from safeties, it’s ~$650,000, and I was accepted to 7.
Additionally, many of these scholarships are fake, where the prices of the schools are so ridiculous that even with a 1/2 tuition scholarship(which looks like a ton), the college costs more than my state flagship.
I’m surprised there aren’t any acceptances from top schools but that explains no mention of GPA or SAT though every article mentioned perfect attendance record.
No comment. 
Good for them.
Two young people who understood their family’s financial situation and were successful in finding schools that will let complete their college education.
Congratulations to the students. Hope they have fantastic college experiences.
So did they or didn’t they add up all four years worth of scholarships to get that number? I’m not gonna bother reading it. 
A lot of those schola we’re probably very simple apps without essays or recommendation letters. So it wouldn’t be as time consuming as it might sound at first. Still a lot of effort, but it paid off.
@choirsandstages, none of the articles say. They also use the word “scholarships” very freely when in fact I bet a lot of it is need based aid – they don’t specify that, either.
@strugglingsenior wrote:
Who are you to judge for other people what is “noteworthy”? Not everyone has drunk deeply the koolaide that achieving their career goals requires a defunct magazine publisher dictating to them what school is “noteworthy”. Lowly ranked Xavier produces more black medical doctors & scientists than any “noteworthy” Ivy League school.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/a-prescription-for-more-black-doctors.html?referer=
The big story here is not that the combined awards totalled 1.6 million, but that it is possible for low income students to find a way to fund college that doesn’t involve competing for a place at a school w single-digit admit rates.
How utterly refreshing it is it read about caring students who want to spare their mother of financial burden, than another tiresome thread asking is it worth it to borrow 60k for NYU, or bitter rants about parents stiffing offspring of their entitlement to attend over-priced dream school.
Yes, but you can’t really tell how many of those schools are actually affordable for those students, and whether a more targeted application process might have given the same number of affordable results.
I see some schools on their lists that we recommend out here regularly (examples: UAlabama, Truman State, DePaul, Howard).
Yes, the articles don’t mention SAT and GPA. Yes, the schools may not be the usual suspects. Yes, they applied to way too many schools. And yes, many schools have been suggested here on CC. None of that negates the main point - it is possible for non wealthy, non stellar students to gain admission to non elite schools with get enough aid to attend. This is not limited to the high stats students aiming for schools with rates in the teens and single digits.
I don’t really case if the aid is need based or merit based. I don’t like the word “scholarship” but way back in the day, the word did reflect need based aid as well as merit aid. Many people just don’t differentiate because many don’t know the finer points of college aid. CC has tons of parents who learn this. Let’s not ding a couple of kids for semantics.
These kids may have been misguided by articles like the NY Times “Frenzy” articles and applied to way too many. The cynical take would be they applied to so many so they could brag and get publicity. Sadly, the article just adds to the frenzy.
(As for how can if the girl was accepted to 36 schools and the boy was accepted 25, how could they be accepted to 56 colleges? Presumably, in several cases, the two applied to and were accepted by the same school. No one double counted schools.)
@GMTplus7 I qualified it with their achievements(the part you didn’t bold immediately after). For pete’s sake, the boy put an open enrollment community college on his list.
His list of schools was almost all made up of what should have been safety, backup, or whatever else you want to call it.
Getting into a school with an 95% acceptance rate isn’t miraculous. Getting into 30 of them? Waste of time.
I got into 5/6 schools. If I applied to every school I could’ve applied to and would have gotten in to… well it wouldn’t be to miraculous. Not even close enough to post.
This looks like a waste of time and money. 5 schools on the boy’s list have graduation rates above 50% in 6 years. That is a joke. I’m sorry, but if you are a perfect attendance student and have supposedly won 40+ academic awards… it would be bigger news to be rejected.
“I’m surprised there aren’t any acceptances from top schools but that explains no mention of GPA or SAT though every article mentioned perfect attendance record.”
Not everyone applies to top schools, worryhurry.
Perhaps they come from a background where getting into college in general is a big achievement in which case good for them for aggressively pursuing scholarships. And shame on those who are proclaiming their schools “not worthy.” Not everyone comes from an affluent milieu where elite colleges are the norm.
I did digging because I could not believe the hype on this.
I learned all of this from his facebook linked to that huffpost article.
He is graduating early and is a 3rd gen college kid.
The boy attends Uplift Community High School which has 93% graduation rate with 95% enrollment of minorities.
Compare that to the nationwide graduation rate of 80%(whites 86%)
Compare that to the nationwide minority graduation rate 72%
He is also dressed nice, has sports jerseys nice jeans.
He has a pair of yeezy sneakers and a burberry shirt.
EDIT: look through and tell me this is not ridiculous https://www.facebook.com/deprice.hunt