Will Jonathan Walker choose Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania or one of the other 24 colleges and universities he applied to?
As of this week, the 18-year-old high school student from Panama City, Fla., hasn’t decided yet.
Each of the three universities mentioned rank in the top 10 of the Best Colleges list of hardest colleges to get into.
“It’s so crazy to think about that I applied to all these colleges and I got in,” said Walker, according to CBS Miami. “That’s such a rare thing to occur, but the fact that it did happen, I’m so excited about it.”
Walker is currently in the International Baccalaureate Program at Rutherford High School in Panama City. While in the program, Walker completed college-level classes in his junior and senior years of high school, said CBS.
According to the school website, it is the only school in Bay County to offer the International Baccalaureate Program. Rutherford, which also has a middle school program, offers Advanced Placement courses and honors level courses to students as well.
“We are committed to our mission of preparing students to be productive citizens and life-long learners in an ever-changing world,” said a statement from Principal Coy Pilson.
Rutherford’s staff members said Walker is an “incredibly hard-working student,” CBS reported. In addition to getting good grades, he plays for the school’s football team, and in his free time the teen invented a device that helps people who are blind and/or deaf.
“I've always loved creating devices to help people, so I definitely want to further that,” Walker said of his plans for the future. He also said his family motivates him to “keep grinding no matter what.”
“I really do look up to them because like they showed me what it's like to be passionate about something,” Walker said.
Regarding how he managed to get into nearly 30 colleges and universities, Walker said the key was his essay preparation.
“It's really just like writing a set of essays for one college and then from there like tweaking them specifically for the colleges,” Walker said.
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