Kwasi Enin, Long Island Teen Accepted To All 8 Ivy League Schools, Picks Yale
MASTIC BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An enviable dilemma comes to an end for a Long Island high school senior.
Kwasi Enin, 17, of Mastic Beach, who was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools, has decided to attend Yale University this fall.
"The visit days last week was incredible," Enin told reporters, including WCBS 880's Sophia Hall. "I met geniuses from all across the world. Everyone there was so friendly, and I believe that their deep appreciation and love for music, like I have, was very critical in me deciding to go there."
L.I. Teen Accepted To All 8 Ivy League Schools Picks Yale
The William Floyd High School senior, who plays violin, said the school met his financial aid needs, which was an important factor to him, CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.
Enin also offered advice to other high school students: "You need to have your passion, the things that you love doing most, to push yourself as far as you can go."
He said his ultimate goal is to become a successful doctor.
Enin, the first-generation son of immigrants from Ghana, began hearing from the schools March 27.
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania all said yes. He was also accepted by SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Geneseo, Stony Brook University, and Duke.
He also sports impressive credentials in and out of the classroom with a 2250 SAT score, a rank of 11th in his graduating class, skills as a track and field athlete, and a penchant for playing the violin.
The teen has received plenty of media attention, even announcing the top-10 list on the "Late Show with David Letterman."
Enin's credentials gave him his pick of schools, but as experts explained the shoe is typically on the other foot.
"A kid who has an international background, who is an underrepresented minority, who is an athlete, a musician, great community service, a legacy, those are chosen up to 80 percent," College Consultant, Andy Lockwood explained.
Excerpts From Enin's Application Essay
• "A wrong decision can be the beginning or end of a lifestyle. In the seventh grade, I nearly ended my music career by opting to select a simple course -- Music In Our Lives -- that met the state music requirement. But this decision would have left me empty."
• "I am now a violinist who has joyously played for nine years. I also now take music in my life. It is the first self-taught and the longest course I have ever taken.''
• "There are millions of combinations of key signatures, chords, melodies and rhythms in the world of music that wait to become attached to a sheet of staff lines and spaces. As I began to explore a minute fraction of these combinations from the third grade onwards, my mind began to formulate roundabout methods to solve any mathematical problem, address any literature prompt, and discover any exit in an undesirable situation.''
• "Playing the works of different composers, such as Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch and Corolan Overture by Ludwig van Beethoven, expands my diverse musical vocabulary, my breadth of techniques and my ability to practice in order to succeed in solo performances."
• "Whenever I perform, whether as a bassist in Men's Doo Wop Group or as a violinist in a Chamber Ensemble, I become immersed in the conversations between performers and the audience. As I become lost in these conversations, I create blissful memories in which I am truly part of my community's culture and eventually its history.''
• "The most important task of a leader is to create harmony between each member of the group, which reveals the group's maximum potential. With improvement and balance comes success and music taught me all of these virtues."
Enin said that he plans to spend the summer "being a kid" before heading to New Haven in the fall.
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