A once in a lifetime feeling!!
“It just kept getting better and better,” David told WCBS. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.”
This highflyer boasts of not just one acceptance into an ivy league but seven!! And 15 universities in total.
17 year old Bloomfield High School senior, David Odekunle who grew up in the small town of Jebba, Kwara State, Nigeria before relocating to the states impressively received letters of acceptance to the most prestigious of universities including; Princeton University, Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, Dartmouth University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University among others.
The determined young man said having faced much more in his home country rather than deter him, gave him even more drive to succeed;
“Growing up in Nigeria, I had so much more adversity and challenges,” David told WCBS. “So being able to use that to not let it deter me from achieving what I want to achieve is what has played such a huge role in my life.”
“When I moved to the United States, I knew it was important to join activities, and find a community that fit me,” Odekunle told Daily Voice. “So, I joined the chess club, mock trial club, and poetry club, and through these activities, I was able to grow socially and academically.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic, applying physically at colleges was a no no so he decided to send in as many applications as possible to be safe, it paid off obviously.
“I chose colleges that I could see myself going to and made a list of safeties, targets, and reaches,” he said. “I think it’s definitely important to have a healthy mix of colleges that one applies to.”
David derives his strong support from his driven family; his parents both became doctors upon moving to New Jersey, while his brother Emmanuel was also accepted to multiple Ivy League schools two years ago, WCBS reported.
“My secret is that I encourage them to be hard-working,” mom Florence Odekunle told the outlet. “I always tell them hard work, it doesn’t kill people. When you are hard-working, you will reap the benefits later in life.”
David hasn’t made hjs final decision as to the school he’ll be attending in the fall, but knows that he wants to study biology, and later go to medical school to become a doctor.
“I have been very fascinated and interested in learning more about human life and about our place with respect to other organisms living in the world around us,” he said.
“Currently, though, I am still undecided on where I am going, but I am considering all of the choices and trying to see the best place that fits me.”
Odekunle has one major piece of advice for students going through the college application process: be authentic and show your true self.
“We are all unique, and each of us has our own set of interests and passions, and being able to clearly communicate one’s story is essential,” he told the outlet of advice he’d give to those applying to college. “There is no certain mold one needs to fit, but as long as one is committed and staying true to oneself, then one can have the best chances of being accepted into great universities.”
