Florida teen admitted into 27 colleges with over $4 million in scholarship offers

A Florida teen has some big decisions to make after getting accepted into 27 colleges.

Rutherford High School senior Jonathan Walker applied to 27 colleges, and all have accepted him, including some of the most prestigious institutes in the country. On top of that, he has over $4 million in scholarship offers from all the schools.

“It’s so crazy to think about, that I applied to all these colleges and I got in because that’s such a rare thing to occur. But the fact that it did happen, I’m so excited about it,” said the 18-year-old.

Jonathan said he really took his time during the application stage.

“It’s really just like writing a set of essays for one college and then tweaking them specifically for the colleges,” he said.

Jonathan was admitted into Ivy League universities such as Yale, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania. With under a month to decide, he is still trying to narrow down his choices and take a few more college visits.

“The whirlwind of like decisions coming back, that’s over now,” Jonathan said. “So I’ve just really been trying to soak it in just how much of a blessing that this is that I got into these colleges. So just like sitting back, smelling the roses.”

Jonathan is in the International Baccalaureate Program, which means he finished college-level classes in his junior and senior years of high school. The program includes all subjects and gives students college credits after completing multiple assessments.

Jonathan wants to help people and plans to pursue a career in creating medical devices that will serve underprivileged communities. He’s right on track, as he’s already working on multiple patents.

So far, the teen has invented a braille system, an air filter to turn gas emissions into oxygen, and a pill dispenser to keep track of medications.

“Right now, I’m very interested in engineering and entrepreneurship,” Jonathan said. “I’ve always loved creating devices to help people so I definitely want to further that. I’m looking at majoring in electrical engineering and possibly biomedical engineering to hopefully develop medical technology in order to help disadvantaged communities that have health problems.”

He is also working with colleges to create his own major. He plans to study engineering, business and psychology, and computer science, hoping to start his own company one day.

“Jonathan has not been a typical student. He has continued to persevere despite all the challenges that we faced you know with the hurricane,” said Rutherford High School IB and AP Coordinator Cathy Rutland.

Aside from a love of learning, Jonathan is also into sports. He has played on the Rams football team for the past four years while maintaining a GPA of 4.85.

Jonathan’s advice to students applying to colleges is to put in the hard work and make sure they are passionate.

“Keep grinding no matter what,” he said.

This teen certainly has a bright future ahead of him no matter which college he chooses!

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